Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

Project SAFE (Strengthening America’s Families and Environment)

OVERVIEW

Project SAFE is a multicomponent prevention program which seeks to prevent risk-enhancing behaviors which can lead to substance abuse. The program is composed of two main components: the I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) program which focuses on problem solving and critical thinking and the Strengthening Families (SF) program which provides parents, children, and families with problem solving and communication skills. An experimental evaluation randomized first grade classrooms in 12 rural schools. Participants received either one of the programs alone, or both together. The controls received no treatment. The evaluation found that the dual component ICPS and SF program was effective in improving student school bonding, parenting skills, social competence, family relationships, and student self-regulation.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: 1^st graders in rural areas

Project Safe is composed of two separate components; the I Can Problem Solve and the Strengthening Families programs. The Strengthening Families is a short term (7-14 session) intervention which consists of weekly sessions in parent skills training, child skills training, and family life skills training. The I Can Problem Solve program uses a variety of interactive tools like games, stories, puppets, and role playing to supply children with problem-solving and critical thinking skills. The program is taught in a series of 83 twenty-minute sessions which occur over the course of a school year.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Kumpfer, K. L., Alvarado, R., Tait, C., & Turner, C. (2002). Effectiveness of school-based family and children’s skills training for substance abuse prevention among 6-8-year-old rural children. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16(4S), S65-S71.

Evaluated population: 655 students in first grade recruited from 12 schools in the Rocky Mountain region. The racial breakdown of the child population was 87% Caucasian and 8% Hispanic. The sample was 53% female, and 6% of the sample was in a special education class.

Approach: Children were recruited from two school districts in the Rocky Mountain region. Random assignment was conducted at the classroom level. Classrooms were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) program only, Strengthening Families (SF) program combined with the ICPS program, Strengthening Families (SF) parent training component only combined with the ICPS program, and a no-treatment control group. 256 children were assigned to the ICPS only condition; 56 were assigned to the ICPS and SF combination program; 21 were assigned to the ICPS and parent component SF program; and 322 were assigned to the control group. Children receiving the ICPS program component attended 83 twenty-minute sessions over the course of the first grade school year. Children and parents of children assigned to a SF component condition attended 14 weekly sessions with the option of booster sessions at 6 and 12 months after the program’s conclusion. Children and parents were assessed at pre- and post-test on measures of school bonding, parenting skills, social competence, family relationships, and self-regulation.

Results: The researchers defined attrition as children not attending at least 11 of the 14 SF sessions and, according to this definition, around 23% of children dropped out of the study. There were no differences between those who dropped out and those who remained in the study.

At posttest, children in the ICPS only and the ICPS + SF full treatment group had larger gains in school bonding than children in the control group. The ICPS + SF parent training component intervention had no impact on school bonding. Parents in the ICPS + SF full treatment group had larger gains in parenting skills compared with the control group. The other two treatment groups had no impact on parenting skills. Children in both of the combination ICPS/SF treatment groups had higher social competence than those in the control group. The ICPS only group did not have higher levels of social competence. The ICPS + SF full treatment group had better family relationships compared with the control group. The other two treatments had no impacts in this area. Children in all three treatment groups outperformed children in the control group in terms of self-regulation outcomes.

Overall, the combined treatment focusing on both the family and the school environments was the most effective. The researchers note that the effect sizes found in this study were relatively large compared with previous evaluations of prevention programs. They also note that their sample was limited in that only 21 students were assigned to the ICPS and parent component SF intervention and that this may have limited power in analyses of program impacts.

Note: Unpublished findings from a 4-year follow-up (Kumpfer, personal communication, 2007) indicate that the positive impacts for the combined program continued to exceed those for either of the individual approaches.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

Program curriculum for the I Can Problem Solve curriculum is available for purchase at: http://www.researchpress.com/product/item/4628/

The project website for the Strengthening Families program can be found at: http://www.strengtheningfamilies.org/

References

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 1^st graders / Program age ranges in the Guide: middle childhood

Program components: parent or family component; school-based

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