The Northwestern University Two-Generation Study of Parent and Child Human Capital Advancement

Children Clinical Trial

— NU2Gen  

Official title:

The Northwestern University Two-Generation Study of Parent and Child Human Capital Advancement

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02743039
• Other study ID #: STU00201886
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 2016
• Est. completion date: September 2020

Study information

• Verified date: July 2021
• Source: Northwestern University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The Northwestern University Two-Generation Child and Family Outcomes Study (NU2Gen) of the Community Action Project of Tulsa County's (CAP Tulsa's) CareerAdvance® program examines the effects of CareerAdvance® on parent and child human capital outcomes (e.g., child academic achievement, parent educational advancement and certification, and psychological and family functioning), and (2) explore mechanisms that might give rise to program effects (e.g., home language environment; coping, balance, and stress; and parent and academic and career identity).

Description:

The Northwestern University Two-Generation Study (NU2Gen) of Parent and Child Human Capital Advancement is funded through Community Action Project of Tulsa County's (CAP Tulsa) Health Profession Opportunity Grant (HPOG II) from the Administration for Children and Families and through the HPOG II University Partnership grant. The federal awards support the implementation of CareerAdvance®, a workforce training and career employment program for parents living in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the surrounding communities, as well as our Northwestern-based research project.

CareerAdvance® provides education and training, career coaching, and other supportive services for parents while their children attend CAP Tulsa-run Head Start programs, other Tulsa-area public preschool programs, and Tulsa-area K-12 public schools. The explicit goal of the program is to promote the economic self-sufficiency and well-being of low-income families across generations.

The evaluation is composed of two parts: the Two-Generation Human Capital Outcomes Study and the Two-Generation Explanatory Mechanisms Study. Through parent surveys and parent and child administrative data we will examine the effects of CareerAdvance® on parent and child human capital outcomes (e.g., child academic achievement, parent educational advancement and certification, and psychological and family functioning). Using innovative measurement tools (e.g. Language Environment Analysis (LENA)) along with parent and child focus groups and interviews, we will also explore mechanisms that might give rise to program effects (e.g., home language environment; coping, balance, and stress; and academic and career identities). Participants will actively take part in the study for three years and we will collect child administrative data for study parents' children until they turn 18 years old or graduate high school, whichever occurs last. Current funding for NU2Gen is through September 2020.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 478
• Est. completion date: September 2020
• Est. primary completion date: September 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Applicants to CAP Tulsa's CareerAdvance® program under the HPOG II evaluation study, including participants who are randomly assigned not to participate in CareerAdvance® by the HPOG II evaluation study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not proficient in English

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Children
• Parents

Intervention

Behavioral:
• CareerAdvance®
CareerAdvance® is a dual-generation program providing education, career coaching, and soft-skills training for parents while their children attend CAP Tulsa's Head Start programs.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Northwestern University	Evanston	Illinois
United States	Community Action Project of Tulsa County	Tulsa	Oklahoma

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Northwestern University	Department of Health and Human Services

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Parent's employment	We expect higher rates of employment	Year 2
Primary	Parent's healthcare sector employment	We expect higher rates of employment in the healthcare sector	Years 1 and 2
Primary	Parent's income	We expect higher income	Year 2
Primary	Parent's income	We expect lower income	Year 1
Primary	Parent's healthcare training certification	We expect higher rates of healthcare training certification and credentialing	Years 1 and 2
Primary	Child's academic achievement	We expect higher levels of academic achievement	Year 2
Primary	Child's attendance	We expect higher rates of school attendance	Years 1 and 2
Primary	Child's grade promotion	We expect higher rates of grade promotion	Years 1 and 2
Secondary	Parent's depression	We expect less depression; Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996)	Year 2
Secondary	Parent's optimism	We expect increased optimism; Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994)	Year 2
Secondary	Parent's work-family balance	We expect better work-family balance; Fragile Families Study; CAP Family Advancement Study (NU)	Year 2
Secondary	Parenting stress	We expect stable or increased parenting stress; Aggravation in Parenting Questionnaire (APQ; Cooper et al., 2009); Fragile Families Study	Year 1
Secondary	Parent's perceived stress	We expect stable or increased perceived stress; Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen & Williamson, 1988)	Year 1
Secondary	Parent's hope/goal efficacy	We expect higher levels of hope/goal efficacy; State Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1996)	Year 2
Secondary	Parent's social capital	We expect higher social capital; Willingness to ask for/offer help (Adapted from the Boston Non-Profit Organizations Study survey; Tran, Graif, Jones, Small, & Winship, 2013)	Year 2
Secondary	Child adaptive skills	We expect an increase in child adaptive skills; Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS-RS; Gresham & Elliott, 2008)	Year 2
Secondary	Home language environment	We expect an increase in positive home language environment factors (e.g., books, reading time, learning activities) and a decrease in negative home language environment factors (e.g., television, video games/computer time, phone); Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system	Year 2
Secondary	Time use	We expect improved time use in the home; LENA Time Diary (Northwestern University, 2017)	Year 2
Secondary	Routines	We expect more stable routines in the home	Year 2
Secondary	Child emotional and behavior problems	We expect stable or increased child behavior problems; Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000)	Year 1

External Links

•   Study description via website