Family Bereavement Program: FBP

This grant was funded to conduct an experimental trial of a theoretically based preventive intervention for bereaved children and their surviving caretaker (NIMH R01-MH49155). The program includes 12 group and 2 individual sessions to build coping skills and coping efficacy for children and adolescents and 12 group and 2 individual sessions to build and support effective parenting during grief.

The program has been successfully delivered to over 135 children and adolescents, as part of the experimental trial which altogether involved 245 children and adolescents.

The Program has been carefully evaluated, and results from the outcome evaluation are being published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The outcome evaluation involved comparing two randomly assigned conditions, the Family Bereavement Program versus a self-study comparison condition. The Family Bereavement Program works with caregivers and children/adolescents to improve risk and protective processes, such as parenting, family stability and child/adolescent coping. The program was implemented with a high degree of fidelity, and attendance in the program was excellent. The program was evaluated using multi-method, multi-reporter assessments. Attrition from assessment was very low and was not differential across experimental conditions. Intent-to-treat analyses of immediate posttest and 11 month follow-up data revealed positive effects on family functioning and child/adolescent coping and reductions in child/adolescent and caregiver mental health problems. At 11-month follow-up, the program reduced the rate of clinically significant internalizing problems for high risk children/adolescents. A pattern of interaction effects indicated that greater program benefits were often found for children/adolescents who were functioning more poorly at baseline and for girls. Effect sizes were generally in the moderate range at posttest and at 11-month follow-up. Program effects on mental health problems were stronger at 11-month follow-up than at immediate posttest.

The project is also conducting extensive studies on factors that affect the mental health of bereaved children, including patterns of coping, parenting and family functioning that relates to better mental health and well-being of the children. A six-year follow-up of the sample is currently in progress. Information on the program and the assessment measures are available from the investigators.

Investigators:
Irwin Sandler, Principal Investigator
Sharlene Wolchik, Jenn-Yun Tein, William Griffin & Tim S. Ayers