Document text
Principal Investigator: STEPHEN S LEFF
Organization: CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $573,901
Funding agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
ABSTRACT
The proposed study is in direct response to two gaps in school-based aggression prevention programming and
research. First, there are very few culturally-sensitive relational aggression prevention programs with
documented success among high-risk urban minority girls and their classmates despite clear evidence that
these behaviors negatively impact girls' social and emotional health and the broader classroom environment.
Second, when such programming is conducted, it is often led by externally funded facilitators in the context of
a research grant, which does not equip school staff with skills to run the program and makes it exceedingly
difficult for schools to sustain programming efforts after research funding has ended. This is particularly
concerning in urban schools where aggressive students are often referred to counselors who typically do not
have the training and/or resources available for a proactive or systematic response. To address these gaps,
this proposal is grounded in the Friend to Friend Program, which was initially designed through an iterative
partnership-based research process uniquely for 3rd-5th grade minority relationally aggressive girls in urban
schools. Friend to Friend was proven effective through a clinical trial for decreasing relational aggression and
improving problem-solving and leadership of relationally aggressive girls with effects maintained one year later,
and for producing broader positive effects on aggression and student-teacher relationships for the classmates
of the aggressive girls. In the trial, Friend to Friend was conducted by research staff, and no schools continued
the program when the study ended. Therefore, preliminary studies were conducted to translate Friend to
Friend from researcher-led to school-led with coaching from the research team to address the imperative need
to build the capacity of schools to run programs on their own in an effective and sustainable way. As such, the
primary goal of this proposal is to examine for the first time the effectiveness of Friend to Friend with Coaching,
as conducted by teachers and counselors with active coaching from the research team. Through a cluster
randomized control trial including 40 urban schools, 20 schools will be randomly assigned to the F2F with
Coaching intervention and 20 control schools will follow standard school practice of referring aggressive youth
to the counselor. We will examine indicated and universal effects for students and self-efficacy of school staff
for intervening with relational aggressors. In addition, theoretical advances will be made by exploratory goals
related to understanding mediators and moderators of program success. Further, we will also explore the
effectiveness of Friend to Friend with Coaching the following year when minimal coaching is provided, as well
as the facilitators and barriers of program adoption by school staff. Collectively, this study will demonstrate the
effectiveness of school-led Friend to Friend with Coaching and the ways in which it works for improving the
social and emotional health of relationally aggressive girls and their classmates, and the study will also inform
considerations for sustainable program adoption and large scale dissemination.
Terms: <12-20 years old><4th grade><5th grade><Address><Adolescence><Adopted><Adoption><Aggression><Aggressive behavior><Behavior><Clinical Trials><Counselor><Deterioration><Effectiveness><Emotional><Friends><Funding><Future><Future Teacher><Geographic Area><Geographic Locations><Geographic Region><Geographical Location><Goals><Groups at risk><Health><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Investigators><Knowledge><Leadership><Mediating><Mediator><Minority><Mission><NICHD><National Institute of Child Health and Human Development><National Institute of Children's Health and Human Development><People at risk><Personal Satisfaction><Persons at risk><Populations at Risk><Preservice teacher><Prevention><Prevention program><Problem Solving><Process><Professional counselor><Program Effectiveness><Program Sustainabilities><Program Sustainability><Public Health><R-Series Research Projects><R01 Mechanism><R01 Program><Randomized><Randomized, Controlled Trials><Research><Research Grants><Research Personnel><Research Project Grants><Research Projects><Research Resources><Researchers><Resources><Risk><Running><Safety><Schools><Self Efficacy><Social Behavior><Social Problems><Social status><Students><Target Populations><Time><Training><Translating><Urban Community><Work><Youth><Youth 10-21><adolescence (12-20)><adolescent minority><aggression prevention><assess effectiveness><classroom environment><cohort><college atmosphere><collegial atmosphere><collegiate atmosphere><design><designing><determine effectiveness><early adulthood><education atmosphere><educational atmosphere><educational environment><effectiveness assessment><effectiveness evaluation><emerging adult><emotion regulation><emotional regulation><evaluate effectiveness><examine effectiveness><fifth grade><fourth grade><future faculty><geographic site><girls><group intervention><high risk><implementation fidelity><improved><intellectual atmosphere><intervention design><interventional strategy><learning atmosphere><learning environment><low SES><low socio-economic position><low socio-economic status><low socioeconomic position><low socioeconomic status><minority children><minority youth><ostracism><ostracize><pediatric minority><peer><peer exclusion><pre-service teacher><prevent><prevent aggression><preventing><primary outcome><program sustainment><programs><randomisation><randomization><randomized control trial><randomly assigned><response><scale up><school atmosphere><school climate><skills><social><social disturbance><social exclusion><social position><social standing><sociobehavior><sociobehavioral><student teacher><success><teacher><therapy design><training atmosphere><treatment design><university atmosphere><urban minority><urban school><well-being><wellbeing><young minority>