Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

SAFEChildren

OVERVIEW

The SAFEChildren program is a family-based preventive intervention with support for the child entering the first grade that seeks to address and negate risk factors in low-income inner city neighborhoods. The intervention consists of weekly meetings which are designed to help increase parenting knowledge, family cohesion, and children’s social competence, academic achievement, and positive attitudes toward school. A randomized evaluation of families by classroom was conducted in inner city Chicago neighborhoods found that the program was effective in increasing children’s reading ability and retaining parent involvement in the school over time. Additionally, for children who were high-risk for behavior problems or who came from high-risk families, the program was effective in reducing problem behaviors such as aggression and hyperactivity as well as increasing child leadership and parental involvement in the child’s education.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Inner city first graders who live in high-risk situations or who are at risk for developing behavior problems. The study defined “risk” at the neighborhood level, rather than the individual level.

The SAFEChildren program consists of two components; multiple-family group sessions and a reading tutoring program. The group sessions focus on parenting skills, family relationships, managing family challenges, engaging parents in their child’s education, and managing neighborhood problems. The sessions are also designed to give parents a peer support network with other parents. These sessions occurred weekly for a series of 22 weeks. Children attended twice weekly tutoring sessions each of which lasted for 30 minutes.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Tolan, P., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D. (2004). Supporting families in a high-risk setting: Proximal effects of the SAFEChildren preventive intervention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72(5), 855-869.

Evaluated population: 424 families with children entering first grade recruited from high-risk, inner-city neighborhoods of Chicago. 42.5% of the sample were African-American and 57.5% were Latino. 59% of families had a family income below $20,000, and 44% of parents did not graduate from high school. 401 (95%) families completed all 5 assessment points.

Approach: The sample included 5 inner city Chicago schools which had 40% or more of students living below the poverty level, crime rate higher than the cities average, and a concentration of social problems. The intervention employs a developmental/ecological perspective. Parents and children completed a baseline assessment and then families were randomly assigned on a classroom level to the intervention or control group. Pre-test data were collected from parents and children when the children were at the end of kindergarten and at the beginning of first grade. Post-test data were collected from parents and children at the end of first grade and at a 6-month follow-up period. Data were collected on child school functioning, child behaviors, child social competence, and parenting and family relationships. For the purpose of subgroup analysis, families were given the designation of high-risk if they scored significantly lower than the average on measures of family relationships or parenting practices; 23.5% of families were classified as high-risk according to this procedure. Additionally, 20% of children were classified as high-risk for negative behaviors based on a measure of aggression, hyperactivity, and concentration.

Results: Children in the intervention condition had a greater increase in reading level than children in the control condition. The intervention had no impact on children’s attitudes towards school or teachers; levels of aggression, hyperactivity, concentration, social skills, leadership, or adaptability; parental monitoring or discipline; family cohesion, beliefs, or structure; or teacher- or parent-rated involvement.

In subgroup analyses of high-risk families, there no impacts of the intervention on measures of child school functioning, social competence, hyperactivity, leadership, or adaptability. Within high-risk families, children in the intervention condition showed greater declines in aggression than their counterparts in the control condition. High-risk families in the intervention condition also had greater improvement in parental monitoring than their counterparts in the control condition.

For the subgroup of children who were categorized as high-risk, children in the intervention condition had greater declines in aggression and hyperactivity and slightly larger improvements in leadership skills than their counterparts in the control condition. Parents of high-risk children who were assigned to the intervention condition had greater improvements in self-rated involvement in their child’s education than their counterparts in the control condition. There were no impacts of treatment for high-risk children with respect to their levels of school functioning, concentration, social skills, and adaptability, parental monitoring, parental discipline, family cohesion, family beliefs, family structure, or teacher-rated parent involvement in child’s education.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

Website: http://www.psych.uic.edu/fcrg/index.html

References

Program also discussed in the following Child Trends publication(s):

[Reference of either American Teens (KF) or Clark documents that discuss program; these will be linked to the actual docs online]

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 5-6 / Program age ranges in the Guide: middle childhood

Program components: mentoring/tutoring; parent or family component; school-based

Measured outcomes: education and cognitive development; social and emotional health and development; behavioral problems

Program information last 7/19/07