School and Families Educating Children (SAFE Children)

Introduction: Schools and Families Educating Children (SAFE Children) is an efficacy trial of a family-based comprehensive preventive intervention that was conducted with inner-city families with children who were entering first grade. The goal of the intervention was to affect key risk markers for later alcohol and/or drug use. Over a 9-month period, this intervention combined components focused on 1) enhancing parent and child orientation to and involvement with school; 2) academic tutoring; 3) social competence and peer relations of the child; and 4) parent and family functioning to enhance the child's academic performance, the parental investment in the child's well-being and development, and the social competence and self-control of the child. Half of the original intervention participants were randomized to participate in the booster intervention during 4th grade.

 Methods: A total of seven elementary schools were selected to participate.  In the spring of 1997, parents of all kindergarten children in each of the seven schools were contacted and asked to participate in the study.  A total of 424 families (84% of eligible) consented to participate, completed at least one baseline assessment, and were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. Of those assigned to the treatment condition, 82% completed the intervention.  A total of 11 waves of data were collected over the course of approximately 13 years from first grade through high school completion.  Data were collected from the target children, their parents, and their teachers (through elementary school).

 Results: The intervention had positive effects on reading achievement and parental involvement in school. High risk families had additional benefits for parental monitoring and child behavior problems. High risk children showed improvement in problem behavior and improvements in social competence. The booster led to a relative improvement in child aggression and concentration in school for the overall sample, with additional benefit for high-risk groups in academic achievement, behavior, and family organization.  Analyses of long-term effects of the intervention are ongoing.

 Conclusions: The results support the efficacy of the SAFE Children intervention. Access to the data archived at NAHDAP provides an excellent opportunity to conduct longitudinal analyses of development in a sample of inner-city children and their families.