Facilitating Developmental Interactions With Children in Out-of-Home Care

NCT07283471 | Enrolling By Invitation

• 2 other identifiers: 141953R01HD109329
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 300
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The first goal of this single arm clinical trial is to develop the Developmental Interactions Workshop Series (DIWS). The second goal is to learn about the DIWS's acceptability, feasibility, and usefulness by implementing it in agencies who provide residential care for children. The main questions it answers are

• Does participating in the DIWS help caregivers to become more capable, motivated, and purposeful about using developmental interactions in their caregiving role?
• Do caregivers and children see more developmental interactions during their routine daily activities after the caregivers complete the DIWS? Caregiving staff will
• Attend the DIWS
• Complete surveys 2-4 before and 4-6 weeks after the DIWS
• Complete telephone interviews before and after the DIWS (a subset of caregiving staff) Children in care will complete brief surveys 2-4 weeks before and 4-8 weeks after their caregiving staff attend the DIWS.

Conditions

Psychological Trauma

Keywords

trauma; children; out-of-home care

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Frequency of Caregiving Practices over the past week from prior to attending the Developmental Interaction Workshop Series to 4 weeks after the final workshop

  This self-report measure of staff practices is adapted for the residential child care setting from the Involvement subscale of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (Shelton, Frick, \& Wootton, 1996, Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 253:317-329). The 7-point response scale for each of the 13 items ranges from 0=not at all to 6=Very Often, yielding overall scores ranging from 0=not at all to 78=very often on all items with higher numbers indicating more positive practices.

  From completion of the staff survey 2 weeks prior to the initial workshop to 4 weeks after the final workshop. The two parts of the workshop are delivered 3-4 weeks apart.

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in commitment to the goal of increasing developmental interactions currently, from before attending the Developmental Interaction Workshop Series to 4 weeks after the final workshop

  From completion of the staff survey 2 weeks prior to the initial workshop to 4 weeks after the final workshop. The two parts of the workshop are delivered 3-4 weeks apart.

Study Arms (1)

Developmental Interaction Workshop Series

OTHER

The two-part Developmental Interactions Workshop series is designed for adults who work with children in out-of-home care settings and the people who supervise these adults. Part 1 and Part 2 of this series include two sessions each: one session for direct caregivers and their supervisors, and one additional session for supervisors only. Part 2 of the workshop series should take place 3-4 weeks after Part 1. The focus of these workshops is helping caregivers to take advantage of the everyday and ordinary moments in daily life to create developmental interactions with children that help the child feel connected to others, capable, and autonomous. Supervisor only sessions will focus on the ways in which they can support and assist their staff to intentionally create these moments with children.

Behavioral: The Developmental Interaction Workshop Series (DIWS)

Interventions

The Developmental Interaction Workshop Series (DIWS) BEHAVIORAL

Many children living in out-of-home care have experienced ongoing trauma, toxic stress, and adversity. These experiences have had a significant impact on children's ability to regulate their feelings and behaviors, enjoy healthy relationships, and grow along typical developmental pathways. To help these children to begin to heal from their past experiences and resume a more typical developmental trajectory, they need repetitive developmentally enriching interactions with adult caregivers. This requires caregivers with the willingness and ability to engage in frequent daily interpersonal exchanges with children that meet their emerging developmental needs and strengthen their internal resources to engage, grow, and heal. The DIWS is designed to help caregivers take advantaqe of the everyday and ordinary moments in daily life to create developmental interactions with children that help the child feel connected to others, capable, and autonomous.

Developmental Interaction Workshop Series

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 8 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Residential care staff in agencies participating in the Developmental Interactions Workshop Series
• Children 8 years of age or older living in agencies participating in the Developmental Interactions Workshop Series

You may not qualify if:

• Children 7 years of age or younger living in agencies participating in the Developmental Interactions Workshop Series

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Cornell University: lead
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Cornell University

Ithaca, New York, 14853, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Klein HJ, Wesson MJ, Hollenbeck JR, Wright PM, DeShon RP. The Assessment of Goal Commitment: A Measurement Model Meta-Analysis. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process. 2001 May;85(1):32-55. doi: 10.1006/obhd.2000.2931.

  PMID: 11341816 BACKGROUND

• Shelton, K. K., Frick, P. J., & Wootton, J. (1996). Assessment of parenting practices in families of elementary school-age children. Journal of clinical child psychology, 25(3), 317-329.

  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Psychological Trauma; Wounds and Injuries

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Deborah Sellers, PhD

  Cornell University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The intervention is a workshop that includes two sessions for staff and supervisors together and two additional sessions just for supervisors. The goal of the workshop series is to help staff and supervisors who care for children in residential settings learn how to provide more developmentally enriching interactions for the children in their care, who frequently suffer from the effects of maltreatment and/or neglect or other adverse childhood experiences. For these children, the accumulation of consistent interactions with adults who are attuned to the child's needs and feelings, listen to and respect those needs and feelings, and help the children learn to cope with those needs and feelings provide pathways to more normative developmental trajectories.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 11, 2025
• First Posted: December 15, 2025
• Study Start: January 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Last Updated: January 28, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)