Impact of a mentoring and skills group program on mental health outcomes for maltreated children in foster care
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of the Fostering Healthy Futures program in reducing mental health problems and associated problems. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Denver metropolitan area. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 9 to 11 years who were maltreated and placed in foster care. INTERVENTION: Children in the control group (n=77) received an assessment of their cognitive, educational, and mental health functioning. Children in the intervention group (n=79) received the assessment and participated in a 9-month mentoring and skills group program. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Children and caregivers were interviewed at baseline prior to randomization, immediately following the intervention, and 6 months after the intervention. Teachers were interviewed 2 times after baseline. Measures included a multi-informant index of mental health problems, youth-reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress, dissociation, and quality of life, and caregiver- and youth-reported use of mental health services and psychotropic medications. RESULTS: After adjusting for covariates, intent-to-treat analyses demonstrated that the treatment group had fewer mental health problems on a multi-informant factor 6 months after the intervention (mean difference, -0.51; 95% confidence interval, -0.84 to -0.19), reported fewer symptoms of dissociation 6 months after the intervention (mean difference, -3.66; 95% confidence interval, -6.58 to -0.74), and reported better quality of life immediately following the intervention (mean difference, 0.11; 95% confidence interval, 0.03 to 0.19). Fewer youths in the intervention group than in the control group had received recent mental health therapy 6 months after the intervention according to youth report (53% vs 71%, respectively; relative risk=0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.57 to 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: A 9-month mentoring and skills group intervention for children in foster care can be implemented with fidelity and high uptake rates, resulting in improved mental health outcomes. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00809315.
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Fostering Healthy Futures evaluations showed evidence of fewer dissociative symptoms at 6-month follow-up (d = −0.29, 95% CI [−0.50, −0.09] in the 2010 evaluation).
“with evidence of fewer dissociative symptoms at 6-month follow up in a 2010 (d = −0.29, 95% CI [−0.50, −0.09]) and a linked 2019 evaluation of Fostering Healthy Futures (Taussig & Culhane, 2010; Taussig et al., 2019)”
From Effectiveness of Mental Health and Wellbeing Interventions for Children and Young People in Foster, Kinship, and Residential Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Taussig & Culhane, 2010
The Results > Outcome Analyses report fewer dissociative symptoms among intervention youth at T3, which the Abstract > Main Outcome Measures identifies as six months post-intervention. The paper gives a mean difference of −3.66 (95% CI, −6.58 to −0.74), not the cited standardized effect size of d = −0.29 (95% CI, −0.50 to −0.09); those exact d values are not established by the passages in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTwo quantitative studies found that mentored young people in foster care manifested improved social skills, mental health, quality of life, and greater trust in others than did foster care boys and girls in control groups, but mentees in foster care had shorter matches than mentees not in foster care.
“Although two quantitative studies have found that mentored young people in foster care manifested improved social skills, mental health, quality of life, social skills, and greater trust in others than did foster care boys and girls in control groups [147,148,149] found that mentees in foster care had shorter matches than mentees not in foster care.”
From Unpacking Community-Based Youth Mentoring Relationships: An Integrative Review (2021) · cites this paper as [148]
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThree evaluations of two interventions assessed quality of life with child-reported measures at short and long-term follow-up.
“Three evaluations of two interventions assessed quality of life with child-reported measures at short and long-term follow-up (Crespo et al., 2020; Taussig & Culhane, 2010; Taussig et al., 2019).”
From Effectiveness of Mental Health and Wellbeing Interventions for Children and Young People in Foster, Kinship, and Residential Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Taussig & Culhane, 2010
Certain targeted, time-limited mentoring programs have been shown to yield positive youth outcomes.
“In fact, provided that there is suf fi cient opportunity to forge a productive bond, certain targeted, time-limited mentoring programs have been shown to yield positive youth outcomes (Cavell and Elledge 2014; Taussig and Culhane 2010).”
From The Effects of Youth Mentoring Programs: A Meta-analysis of Outcome Studies (2019) · cites this paper as Taussig and Culhane 2010
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- Authors
- Taussig, H. N., & Culhane, S. E.
- Affiliations
- Children's Hospital Colorado (US)
- ORCID
- Taussig, Heather N.
- Venue
- Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 2010-08-01
- Volume
- 164
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 739-46
- ISSN
- 1072-4710 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3009469
- OpenAlex
- W2145758062
- Cited by
- 112
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 17.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Pioneer Fund
- Daniels Fund
- Kempe Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH01972, 1 K01 MH01972, R21MH067618, R01MH076919, K01MH001972)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- child abuse, foster care, mentoring, child mental health, dissociation, post-traumatic stress, quality of life, mental health service utilization, psychotropic drug use, multi-informant assessment, children aged 9 to 11
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Child, Child Abuse, Female, Foster Home Care, Humans, Male, Mental Health Services, Mentors, Treatment Outcome
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