Family Foundations for Special Education Trial

Penn State University120 enrolled

Overview

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the program's impact on parent self-efficacy and co-parental support around (a) accessing health and educational services and (b) parenting for co-parents of children with disabilities entering the Special Education system before their first Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does the program improve co-parenting support and coordination and parent efficacy in accessing services for and parenting their child? Does the program improve parent mental health, service access, engagement, and adherence? Does the program improve parenting quality? Does the program improve child adjustment (mental and behavioral health, academic engagement)? Researchers will compare pretest and posttest questionnaires from Treatment Group A with Control Group B to see if the program improves parent and child well-being, co-parenting relations, relations with service providers, ability to access services and meaningfully participate in IEP and other meetings. Participants will: * Complete pre- and post-test questionnaires * Treatment Group A will participate in 6 learning sessions, each 1 hour to 1½ hour long, over a 6-8 week period

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

120

Conditions

Mental Health

Interventions

Family Foundations for Special EducationBEHAVIORAL

Families in the intervention group receive the new enhanced supports and participate in six private virtual learning sessions focused on understanding the special education system, improving communication, and enhancing collaboration as co-parents in the IEP process. Each session lasts 60-90 minutes and will be scheduled weekly according to the participants preferred schedule, including evenings and weekends. A workbook with supporting documents for each session will be sent to each participant prior to the start of the sessions.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Parents/parental figures who are over the age of 18, and are involved in childrearing together. * Coparenting a child being evaluated for special education services * Has not yet had their first IEP meeting. * The target child must attend a Philadelphia elementary school (K-8). * The target child must be the first child in the family to go through the IEP process. * Co-parents must be fluent in English.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Coparenting Relationship Questionnaire

A validated, parent-report questionnaire on key dimensions of the coparenting relationship.

Time frame: From enrollment to the last learning session for intervention group, approximately 2 months after enrollment for the control group.

Parenting Sense of Competence Scale

Parent-reported, 17 item scale (Gibaud-Wallston \& Wandersman, 1978) assessing parent self-efficacy in accessing services for their child. Higher scores reflect higher degree of sense of competence.

Time frame: From pretest to two months post-intervention