Family Translational Research Group, Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care College of Dentistry, New York University, 137 E. 25th Street, New York, NY, 10010, USA.
Partners for Our Children, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Prev Sci. 2017 Nov;18(8):899-910. doi: 10.1007/s11121-017-0795-z.
Child outcomes due to a paid professional mentoring program, Friends of the Children (FOTC), were investigated across the first 5 years of an ongoing multi-site randomized controlled trial. Participants were 278 children attending kindergarten or first grade who were identified as "at risk" for adjustment problems during adolescence. The program was delivered through established nonprofit community-based organizations. Mentors were hired to work full time and were provided training, supervision, and support to work individually with small numbers of children. Recruitment took place across a 3-year period. Random assignment to the intervention condition or a services as usual control condition was conducted at the level of the individual, blocking on school and child sex. After the initial assessment, follow-up assessments were conducted every 6 months. Differences in growth curves across the elementary school years were examined in intent-to-treat analyses. Significant effects favoring FOTC were found in terms of caregiver ratings of positive school behavior and less trouble in school, with a trend for higher child behavioral and emotional strengths. Effect sizes were in the range typical in recent trials of youth mentoring.
儿童在付费专业导师项目（Friends of the Children，FOTC）中的表现，通过一项正在进行的多地点随机对照试验的前 5 年进行了调查。参与者是 278 名正在幼儿园或一年级就读的儿童，他们被确定为青春期有适应问题的“高危”儿童。该项目通过成熟的非营利社区组织提供。导师全职工作，他们接受培训、监督和支持，以便与少数儿童进行个别合作。招募工作持续了 3 年。随机分配到干预组或常规服务对照组是在个体层面进行的，按照学校和儿童性别进行分层。初始评估后，每 6 个月进行一次随访评估。在意向治疗分析中，考察了整个小学阶段的增长曲线差异。在照顾者对积极的学校行为和更少的学校麻烦的评价方面，FOTC 表现出明显的优势，儿童的行为和情绪优势也有上升趋势。效应大小在最近的青年导师试验中处于典型范围。
