Supporting families in a high-risk setting: proximal effects of the SAFEChildren preventive intervention.
Four hundred twenty-four families who resided in inner-city neighborhoods and had a child entering 1st grade were randomly assigned to a control condition or to a family-focused preventive intervention combined with academic tutoring. SAFEChildren, which was developed from a developmental-ecological perspective, emphasizes developmental tasks and community factors in understanding risk and prevention. Tracking of linear-growth trends through 6 months after intervention indicated an overall effect of increased academic performance and better parental involvement in school. High-risk families had additional benefits for parental monitoring, child-problem behaviors, and children's social competence. High-risk youth showed improvement in problem behaviors and social competence. Results support a family-focused intervention that addresses risk in low-income communities as managing abnormal challenges.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60608, USA. tolan@uic.edu.
Patrick
P
Tolan
Deborah
D
Gorman-Smith
David
D
Henry
D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires