EMBRace With Grandparents

NCT04096378 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: HUM00160402
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 10
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Research on racial discrimination (RD) continues to show the debilitating toll on mental and physical health for adolescents throughout their developmental trajectory, particularly for Black Americans. While adolescents may employ emotion-focused behaviors (e.g., overeating, etc.) in-the-moment to reduce discriminatory distress, such risk-laden behaviors can result in later disparities in their overall health. While this link has been repeatedly established in the literature, racially-specific protective mechanisms (e.g., racial socialization; RS) have been shown to disrupt the pathway from discrimination to health-related outcomes in adolescents. Although informative, the literature on RS has yet to advance our understanding of ways to improve upon these protective processes in Black families. Thus, the proposed study will further our understanding by aiming to improve RS competency (e.g., skills and efficacy) among African American caregivers and youth (ages 10-14) in Detroit, Michigan through the Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race (EMBRace) intervention. The EMBRace intervention facilitates spaces where Black caregivers strengthen and develop skills to be attentive to their adolescent's racial trauma while also reducing their own stress via racial coping knowledge and RS strategies. Parents and adolescents start each session by engaging in separate therapeutic sessions to process experiences of their Black identity. They will then join together for a family session that focuses on enhancing messages about racial pride, bias preparation, rationales behind promoting distrust, and why not engaging in RS practices may be detrimental to youth. EMBRace sessions will take place at the University of Michigan Detroit Center and community sites, and will be video recorded to improve upon the delivery of therapeutic techniques to the families we serve.

Conditions

Racial Discrimination; Depression; Anxiety; Stress; Trauma, Psychological

Keywords

Racial Socialization; Family Functioning; Stress and Coping

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Change in Racial Socialization Competency

  Racial Socialization Competency (RaSCS) consists of 28 items that include " teach my child to initiate a conversation about race with peers" and "share my emotions about my positive racial encounters." Participants will answer the following questions based on their experiences within the last year. When they do the following with their children, participants indicate A) how much they think they can; B) how prepared they are; and C) how stressed they are.

  Measured in caregivers at pretest (week 1), Posttest (week 7), and 6 week follow-up (week 13)

• Change in Adolescent Depression

  The Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale-6 (KADS-6) is a self-report scale specifically designed to diagnose and assess the severity of adolescent depression. The abbreviated 6-item scale will be used instead of the 16 or 11 item scale. The scales identify as 0-Hardly Ever, 1- Much of the time, 2 most of the time, and 3- All of the time.

  Measured in youth at pretest (week 1), Posttest (week 7), and 6 week follow-up (week 13)

• Change in Problem Behaviors

  Brief Problems Monitor (BPM), is a 19-item scale designed for parents to better assess their child's Internalizing (INT), Attention Problems (ATT), Externalizing (EXT), and Total Problems (TOT). Scales comprise items from the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 (CBCL/6-18), Teacher's Report Form (TRF), and Youth Self-Report (YSR). Statements such as "acts too young/old for his age" are accompanied by a scale of 0 (being not true), 1 (somewhat true) and 2 (very true). The items, scales, and norms are based on decades of research and practical experience, as summarized in the BPM Manual.

  Measured in youth at pretest (week 1), Posttest (week 7), and 6 week follow-up (week 13)

• Change in Perception of Stress

  The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress. It is a 10-item Likert-based measure of the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. Each of the items on the PSS-10 are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (very often). Items were designed to tap how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded respondents find their lives. The scale also includes a number of direct queries about current levels of experienced stress. The PSS was designed for use in community samples with at least a junior high school education. Moreover, the questions are of a general nature and hence are relatively free of content specific to any subpopulation group. The questions in the PSS ask about feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, respondents are asked how often.

  Measured in youth and caregivers at pretest (week 1), Posttest (week 7), and 6 week follow-up (week 13)

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change in Adolescent Coping Behaviors

  Measured in youth at pretest (week 1), Posttest (week 7), and 6 week follow-up (week 13)

• Change in Adolescent Racial Distress

  Measured in youth at pretest (week 1), Posttest (week 7), and 6 week follow-up (week 13)

Study Arms (2)

EMBRace Intervention Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Over 13 weeks, participants will engage in a pretest (week 1) 5 weekly sessions (weeks 2-6), a posttest (week 7) and a follow-up (week 13). The intervention (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race: EMBRace) seeks to reduce racial trauma for both youth and caregivers and increase family functioning via psychoeducation and therapy.

Behavioral: EMBRace Intervention Group

EMBRace Waitlist Group

OTHER

Participants will wait for thirteen weeks without receiving EMBRace or alternative therapeutic sessions. The waitlist group will subsequently become the intervention group with the opportunity to participate in the EMBRace intervention protocol above.

Behavioral: EMBRace Waitlist Group

Interventions

EMBRace Intervention Group BEHAVIORAL

The EMBRace intervention will consist of five weekly sessions (weeks 2 - 6) that will be facilitated by EMBRace-trained therapists. Throughout the 8-week intervention, families will be scheduled for 2-hour blocks with sessions being administered to each parent and adolescent for 90 minutes (individually for 30 minutes, 15-minute break, and 45-minutes session with parent and adolescent together). The sessions will cover research-based types of Racial Socialization, including cultural pride, preparation for bias, and attentiveness and balance towards societal racism. Parents and youth will also learn and practice five literacy skills to process and manage the stress of racial encounters including the ability to recognize racial discrimination, accurately appraise the stress of self and others, reduce one's stress, engage instead of avoid, and finally resolve toward healthy outcomes.

EMBRace Intervention Group

EMBRace Waitlist Group BEHAVIORAL

The waitlist group will be asked to complete a pretest and posttest while the treatment group goes through the EMBRace intervention. During this time, the waitlist group will not have any additional requirements and will not be given any form of comparative treatments. Upon the completion of the treatment from the intervention group, the waitlist group will be consented for entry into the intervention arm of the study and will follow the procedures for the intervention group above.

EMBRace Waitlist Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 10 Years - 99 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• The child must be between the ages of 10-14 years.
• At least one caregiver will be primarily designated to attend sessions.
• At least one biological parent must identify or be identified as African American.
• The participant is a resident of the Detroit Metropolitan Area.
• The participant's primary language is English

You may not qualify if:

• Having a relative who is currently an EMBRace staff member.
• At least one of the biological parents does not identify as African American.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Michigan: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Michigan Detroit Center

Detroit, Michigan, 48203, United States

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Anderson RE, Stevenson HC. RECASTing racial stress and trauma: Theorizing the healing potential of racial socialization in families. Am Psychol. 2019 Jan;74(1):63-75. doi: 10.1037/amp0000392.

  PMID: 30652900 BACKGROUND

• Anderson RE, McKenny MC, Stevenson HC. EMBRace: Developing a Racial Socialization Intervention to Reduce Racial Stress and Enhance Racial Coping among Black Parents and Adolescents. Fam Process. 2019 Mar;58(1):53-67. doi: 10.1111/famp.12412. Epub 2018 Dec 15.

  PMID: 30552778 RESULT

• Anderson RE, Jones SCT, Navarro CC, McKenny MC, Mehta TJ, Stevenson HC. Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Black American Youth and Families: A Case Study from the EMBRace Intervention. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 May 2;15(5):898. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15050898.

  PMID: 29724068 RESULT

• Anderson RE, McKenny M, Mitchell A, Koku L, Stevenson HC. EMBRacing racial stress and trauma: Preliminary feasibility and coping responses of a racial socialization intervention. Journal of Black Psychology 44(1): 25-46, 2018.

  RESULT

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Racism; Depression; Anxiety Disorders; Psychological Trauma

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Prejudice; Social Behavior; Behavior; Social Discrimination; Behavioral Symptoms; Mental Disorders; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders

Study Officials

• Riana E Anderson, PhD

  University of Michigan

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 12, 2019
• First Posted: September 19, 2019
• Study Start: April 3, 2023
• Primary Completion: May 5, 2023
• Study Completion: May 5, 2023
• Last Updated: May 9, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)