Children's self‐selection into prevention programs: Evaluation of an innovative recruitment strategy for children of alcoholics

Abstract

Systematically evaluated the efficacy of a self-selection strategy to recruit elementary-aged children into a school-based prevention program for children of alcoholics. Recruitment involved: a film about parental alcoholism, a follow-up meeting, and an invitation to participate in a prevention program. Of the 844 4th-6th graders exposed to recruitment, 67% showed no interest in the program, 26% attended the follow-up meeting, and 11% obtained parental permission. Analyses focused on group differences according to selection classification on measures of symptomatology and resources available to the child. Significant differences were noted on level of concern about parents' drinking, depression, conduct disorder, and self-worth. Children interested in the program tended to score higher on measures of symptomatology. The potential of a self-selection model for identifying children at risk and areas for future research are discussed.

The Cross-Ethnic Equivalence of Parenting and Family Interaction Measures among Hispanic and Anglo-American Families

“…Thus, families were recruited from the communities around those schools that offered the prevention program. Families whose children had at least shown an interest in joining the prevention program (see Gensheimer, Roosa, & Ayers, 1990), who were presumed to be at bigb risk for alcobol abuse, were oversampled using several methods.…”

Interpreting children's reports of concern about parental drinking: Indicators of risk status?

“…This study was part of a district-wide evaluation designed to assess the impact of the schools' substance abuse prevention programs (Gensheimer et al, 1990). Consequently, passive consent procedures were used.…”

“…Data for Study 2 were obtained from all fourth, fifth, and sixth graders attending four elementary schools who took part in an epidemiological study (Gensheimer, Roosa, & Ayers, 1990) in the same city where the sample for Study 1 was drawn. From a total of 654 children who were tested in Study 2, 536 (82%) answered all three screening items.…”

An examination of the cross‐ethnic equivalence of measures of negative life events and mental health among Hispanic and Anglo‐American children

“…Families whose children had at least shown an interest in joining the prevention program (cf. Gensheimer, Roosa, & Ayers, 1990) and were presumed to be at high risk for alcohol abuse were oversampled using several methods. Families of children who showed an interest in the prevention program were recruited systematically via fliers, telephone calls, or home visits (when there was no telephone in the home) to make sure that 50% of the sample came from this group.…”