Long-term impact of the Fostering Healthy Futures for Preteens program on suicide-related thoughts and behaviors for youth in out-of-home care: A randomized controlled trial

Taussig, Heather N., Fulginiti, Anthony, Racz, Sarah J., Evans, Rhiannon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0239-6331 and Cary Katz, Colleen 2024. Long-term impact of the Fostering Healthy Futures for Preteens program on suicide-related thoughts and behaviors for youth in out-of-home care: A randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Community Psychology 10.1002/ajcp.12745 Item availability restricted.

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 4 March 2026 due to copyright restrictions. Download (423kB)

Abstract

Youth in out-of-home care are at high risk for suicide-related thoughts and behaviors (STB), yet there are no known efficacious interventions that reduce STB for this population. Fostering Healthy Futures for Preteens (FHF-P) is a 9-month community-based mentoring and skills training preventive intervention for children in out-of-home care. A randomized controlled trial enrolled 156 participants aged 9–11 years who were placed in out-of-home care over the prior year. Participants were 48.9% female, 54.1% Hispanic, 30.1% Black, and 27.1% American Indian. Follow-up interviews, conducted 7–12 years postintervention (85.2% retention rate), asked young adult participants, aged 18–22, to self-report lifetime STB as indexed by non-suicidal self-injury, suicidal thoughts, plans, and/or attempts. There was a nonsignificant reduction in the odds of STB for the intervention group at follow-up (OR = 0.74; CI, 0.32, 1.69). However, FHF-P significantly moderated the effect of baseline STB; control youth who reported baseline STB had 10 times the odds of young adult STB (OR = 10.44, CI, 2.28, 47.78), but there was no increase in the odds of adult-reported STB for intervention youth. Findings suggest that FHF-P buffers the impact of pre-existing STB on young adult STB for care-experienced youth. Further research is needed to identify mechanisms that may reduce STB in this population.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0091-0562
Funders:	Health and Care Research Wales, National Institute of Justice (2013-VA-CX0002, H. Taussig, PI) and the National Institute of Mental Health (K01 MH01972, and R21 MH067618, H. Taussig, PI) as well as from the Kempe Foundation, Pioneer Fund, Daniels Fund, Children's Hospital Research Institute, the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) and the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab (Colorado Lab) of the University of Denver
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	19 March 2024
Date of Acceptance:	23 January 2024
Last Modified:	22 Mar 2024 06:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167353

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item