Based on Research Conducted at OSLC
This project uses data harmonization techniques to aggregate information across multiple KEEP® studies to evaluate whether culturally specific adaptations made to KEEP® reduce mental health disparities among youth with child welfare system involvement and improves care quality for Native, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American, and sexual and gender minority youth.
Project Overview
This study capitalizes on a current contract with the Oregon Department of Human Services Child Welfare to implement the KEEP intervention state wide in Oregon with a focus on increasing access to services for foster/kin parents caring for underserved minority youth populations (e.g., sexual and gender minority, Native, and Black/African American youth). Further, the context of a current class-action lawsuit underway in Oregon (Wyatt B. vs. Brown) has created a policy need, which in turn created an intervention opportunity for KEEP to be adapted for underserved minority populations and for adapted curricula to be delivered in “affinity group” format.
This project uses data harmonization techniques and propensity score matching to aggregate information across multiple KEEP studies (including the on-going implementation of KEEP in Oregon and three previously conducted randomized control trials of KEEP) to evaluate whether culturally-specific adaptations made to KEEP improve youth mental health outcomes for underserved populations.
Adaptations made to the KEEP curriculum for four types of affinity groups (i.e., sexual and gender minority youth, Native youth, transracial placements [where youth are placed in homes with foster/kin parents of a different race/ethnicity], and the Spanish-language groups) are posited to be associated with improved youth mental outcomes (i.e., reduced depression/anxiety, PTSD symptoms, suicidality, and externalizing behaviors) at the end of the intervention (5 months post baseline) compared to similar non-affinity KEEP participants and control participants who received services as usual.
This study provides a unique opportunity to formally evaluate local adaptations of an evidence-based foster parent intervention to reduce disparities and improve care quality and mental health outcomes for underserved minority populations in Oregon.
Year Project Began: 2022Funder: National Institute of Mental Health