Knowledge translation in child welfare: improving educational outcomes
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN38968073 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN38968073 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | 230009 |
- Submission date
- 14/09/2017
- Registration date
- 18/09/2017
- Last edited
- 19/12/2023
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
A disproportionately high number of children in families receiving support from Child Welfare Services (CWS) end up marginalized from society in adulthood. For many of these children, a strong contributing factor to their poor outcomes is academic failure. These are also widespread issues internationally. The researchers have developed an intervention called Enhanced Academic Support (EAS) for children at risk of academic failure. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the intervention with three municipal CWS agencies in Norway.
Who can participate?
Children aged 6 to13 (primary school grades) and their parents
What does the study involve?
Participating families are randomly allocated to one of two groups. One group receives the EAS intervention from a trained practitioner in six home-visits with support between visits over a period of 6 months. The other (control) group receives regular child welfare support from a practitioner who has not been trained in EAS. Business as usual includes advice and guidance, parent training, financial aid and parent relief. Participating children and parents are assessed before the intervention starts, after the intervention has ended (after about 6 months) and again 6 months later.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Participation in the study can increase parents', teachers' and child welfare staff’s awareness of the participating children’s academic strengths and needs. The intervention can potentially prevent gaps in the curriculum, and improve children's learning, their homework routines, and their parents' involvement in school. Participating children might not feel motivated to receive academic support if they believe it to be unnecessary. Participants in the control group risk not receiving the intervention after the study period, as the intervention is contingent upon the family still being child welfare recipients. Participating families who are allocated to the control group might feel disappointment.
Where is the study run from?
The Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (Norway)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
September 2017 to January 2022
Who is funding the study?
1. The Norwegian Research Council
2. The Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Norway (RBUP)
3. The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development (NUBU)
Who is the main contact?
Dr Solveig Holen
solveig.holen@r-bup.no
Contact information
Scientific
Gullhaugveien 1-3
Oslo
0405
Norway
 ORCID ID |
0000-0003-4976-4717 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +47 (0)93 01 77 76 |
| solveig.holen@r-bup.no |
Study information
| Study design | Multi-centre hybrid type 2 individually randomized controlled intervention trial |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Study setting(s) | Home |
| Study type | Other |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use the contact details to request a patient information sheet |
| Scientific title | Implementation and evaluation of enhanced academic support to improve educational outcomes for children in child welfare |
| Study acronym | KTCW/KOBA |
| Study hypothesis | 1. Integrated Knowledge Translation will be a useful strategy to develop and successfully implement Enhanced Academic Support in Child Welfare Services 2. Enhanced academic support delivered by child welfare practitioners to children and families will improve children's educational achievement and parental involvement in school |
| Ethics approval(s) | Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD), 27/10/2016, ref: 47161 |
| Condition | Education for children in families receiving support from Child Welfare services |
| Intervention | The method of randomization is block randomization with a block size of ten. A computer software (confirmit) generates a random numbers table-approach to assign random numbers to participants within blocks. Randomization is done site-wise. Each family enrolled in the study will be randomized to either receive the EAS intervention from a practitioner trained in the intervention or receive regular child welfare support from a practitioner who has not been trained in EAS. 1. The experimental intervention is Enhanced Academic Support, which is a flexible and locally tailored research supported intervention delivered in-home to families in Child Welfare by Child Welfare practitioners in addition to the help or care the families already receive. Enhanced Academic Support is based on common elements of effective community- and home-based interventions to improve educational attainment for children at risk of failing in school. It includes guidance in positive parental involvement, academic training with direct instruction in reading and math, guidance in structure and routines for homework, and guidance in positive reinforcement, praise and correctional feedback. 2. The comparison condition is business as usual in Norwegian Child Welfare services, which includes a variety of measures such as advice and guidance, parent training, financial aid, parent relief etc. Participating children and parents will be assessed before the intervention starts, after the intervention has concluded (approximately after six months) and again six months later. |
| Intervention type | Mixed |
| Primary outcome measure | Primary outcome measure as of 22/10/2018: Primary effectiveness outcomes: 1. Children's reading abilities, assessed using the Oral Reading Fluency Test, Arnesen et al., 2016 2. Children's mathematical abilities, assessed using Regnefaktaprøven, Lesesenteret 3. Parental involvement in school, assessed using Parent and School Survey, Ringenberg et al., 2005 Assessed pre-intervention, post-intervention (after 6 months) and at follow up (after 12 months) in the families homes by trained interviewers Primary implementation outcomes are indexed by intervention specific fidelity-checklists measuring: 1. Adherence to core intervention components and competence in delivery 2. Parent comprehension of core components 3. User involvement and satisfaction with delivery of intervention components Checklists are completed by child welfare practitioners using smartphones after each intervention session, and by parents answering the same questions in telephone interviews after each intervention session. Checklists include: 1. Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM, Weiner et al., 2018) 2. Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM, Weiner et al., 2018) 3. Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM, Weiner et al., 2018) Previous primary outcome measure: Primary effectiveness outcomes: 1. Children's reading abilities, assessed using the Oral Reading Fluency Test, Arnesen et al., 2016 2. Children's mathematical abilities, assessed using Regnefaktaprøven, Lesesenteret 3. Parental involvement in school, assessed using Parent and School Survey, Ringenberg et al., 2005 Assessed pre-intervention, post-intervention (after 6 months) and at follow up (after 12 months) in the families homes by trained interviewers Primary implementation outcomes are indexed by intervention specific fidelity-checklists measuring: 1. Adherence to core intervention components and competence in delivery 2. Parent comprehension of core components 3. User involvement and satisfaction with delivery of intervention components Checklists are completed by child welfare practitioners using smartphones after each intervention session, and by parents answering the same questions in telephone interviews after each intervention session |
| Secondary outcome measures | Secondary implementation measures: 1. Organizational readiness for change, assessed using unpublished questionnaire made by study authors, administered pre and post intervention 2. Organizational climate for implementing evidence based practice, assessed using Implementation Climate Scale, Aarons & Ehrhart, administered pre and post intervention 3. Practitioner's perceived competence in providing academic support, assessed using unpublished questionnaire made by study authors, administered pre and post intervention 4. Satisfaction with implementation process and intervention, assessed using focus groups with practitioners and collaborators conducted post intervention Secondary effectiveness measures and covariates, administered pre, post and follow up: 1. Child mental health, assessed using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Goodman 2. Social skills, assessed using Social Skills Rating System, Gresham & Elliot 3. Executive functions, assessed Five to Fifteen, Kadesjö et al. Semi-structured interviews are also conducted with participating families after the intervention to learn more about their experiences with the intervention. |
| Overall study start date | 08/09/2017 |
| Overall study end date | 31/01/2022 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Other |
|---|---|
| Age group | Child |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 120-150 |
| Total final enrolment | 82 |
| Participant inclusion criteria | 1. Children in families receiving services from municipal Child Welfare Services 2. Children (boys and girls) in 1st to 7th grade and their parents/caregivers Consent, assent and the questionnaires will be available in Norwegian, English, Arabic, and Somali. The study also includes practitioners at local child welfare services in and around Oslo, Norway |
| Participant exclusion criteria | 1. Developmental disability 2. Parents not able to give informed consent due to language restriction (not able to understand Norwegian, English, Arabic or Somali) |
| Recruitment start date | 08/09/2017 |
| Recruitment end date | 31/12/2019 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Norway
Study participating centres
0580
Norway
3008
Norway
Norway
Sponsor information
Research organisation
Gullhaugveien 1-3
Oslo
0484
Norway
| Phone | +47 (0)22 58 60 00 |
|---|---|
| post@r-bup.no | |
| Website | www.r-bup.no |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/042s03372 |
Funders
Funder type
Research council
Government organisation / National government
- Alternative name(s)
- Forskningsrådet, Norwegian Research Council, Research Council of Norway
- Location
- Norway
No information available
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 31/12/2023 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Available on request |
| Publication and dissemination plan | The trialists plan to publish or add a protocol, including a statistical analysis plan, by the end of 2017. Results from this project will be presented at both national and international conferences, used to raise public awareness about the school situation for children in the CWS, used for educational purposes and published in peer-reviewed and scientific journals. It is anticipated that the first results will published in January 2020. |
| IPD sharing plan | Parts of the datasets generated during the current study will be available upon request after 2020 from Solveig Holen, PI (solveig.holen@r-bup.no). Requests for datasets will be considered by the research team at RBUP. Criteria for granting access to data include non-interference with the planned publications of the PhD and post doc fellows or any other plans for publications from the research team, and that members of the research team are co-authors on all publications of data from this study. Requests will be considered on a case by case basis. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol article | protocol | 29/12/2018 | Yes | No | |
| Other publications | Early academic struggles among children with home-based support from child welfare services | 01/12/2021 | 17/02/2023 | Yes | No |
| Other publications | Exploring how intervention characteristics affect implementability: A mixed methods case study of common elements-based academic support in child welfare services | 01/10/2021 | 17/02/2023 | Yes | No |
| Other publications | Individual level predictors of implementation climate in child welfare services | 01/12/2020 | 17/02/2023 | Yes | No |
| Results article | Results and lessons learned | 06/05/2023 | 19/12/2023 | Yes | No |
Editorial Notes
19/12/2023: Publication reference added.
17/02/2023: Publication references added.
17/01/2023: The intention to publish date was changed from 31/01/2023 to 31/12/2023.
13/12/2021: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The overall end date was changed from 31/12/2021 to 31/01/2022.
2. The intention to publish date was changed from 31/12/2021 to 31/01/2023.
3. The plain English summary was updated to reflect these changes.
18/05/2021: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The overall end date was changed from 31/05/2021 to 31/12/2021.
2. The trial website was changed from "http://www.skolestøtte.no"; to "https://www.r-bup.no/forskningsprosjekter/koba-mestring-i-skolen-for-barn-i-risiko";.
3. The plain English summary was updated to reflect these changes.
02/02/2021: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. Contact details updated.
2. The overall trial end date was changed from 14/01/2021 to 31/05/2021.
3. The intention to publish date was changed from 01/12/2020 to 31/12/2021.
29/01/2020: The total final enrolment number has been added.
05/07/2019: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The recruitment end date was changed from 30/06/2019 to 31/12/2019.
2. The overall end date was changed from 30/06/2020 to 14/01/2021.
3. The plain English summary was updated to reflect these changes.
04/01/2019: Publication reference added.
22/10/2018: The following changes were made:
1. The recruitment end date was updated from 08/09/2018 to 30/06/2019.
2. The overall trial end date was updated from 08/09/2019 to 30/06/2020.
3. The intention to publish date was updated from 01/01/2020 to 01/12/2020.
4. The primary outcome measure was updated.
