Dating Abuse Prevention in Teens of Moms with Domestic Violence Protection Orders, North Carolina, 2010-2011 (ICPSR 33381)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

On October 1, 2008 the National Institutes of Justice (NIJ) funded a two-year long pilot study to:

1. Develop an intervention to prevent dating abuse in 12 to 15 year old adolescents exposed to domestic violence (Aim 1) and
2. Conduct a small randomized trial to pilot test the procedures that would be used in a future large randomized efficacy trial of the program (Aim 2).

These data are from the small randomized study conducted for Aim 2 referred to as the Pilot Randomized Trial. The specific purposes of the Pilot Randomized Trial were to:

1. Assess the feasibility of the recruitment approaches;
2. Pilot baseline and follow up telephone interview procedures;
3. Examine the psychometric properties of scales;
4. Obtain expected participation rates and expected follow-up rates for both treatment and control families;
5. Assess the receptivity of mothers and teens to the intervention;
6. Pilot all study protocols and procedures; and
7. Assess preliminary trends in program effects.

This information was used to revise and finalize the procedures being used in a CDC-funded large randomize efficacy of the program that was developed, called Moms and Teens for Safe Dates.

Study Design View help for Study Design

The Pilot Randomized Trial involved the conduct of a pre-test post-test control group experimental design. Recruitment for the study began in March, 2010 and data collection ended in January 2011. When a woman called about the study, the researchers described the study to her, assessed her and her teen's eligibility, informed her of required aspects of consent, and if she was interested in participating, obtained verbal consent from her for her own participation and for her teen's participation. When the mother provided consent for her teen to participate they also informed the teen of the required aspect of assent and if he/she was interested in participating they obtained his/her verbal assent for participation. Once enrolled into the study, mothers and teens each completed a 25-minute long baseline telephone interview. Each mother and adolescent was paid $10 for completing baseline interviews.

After completing the baseline interview, sets of three families were matched on the time of completion of the baseline interview and randomly allocated to one of three groups. Group 1 was a group that received both the booklets and the health educator call; Group 2 was a group that received only the booklets; and Group 3 was the control group. Program participation (i.e. booklet completion) was compared for Group 1 and 2 to determine if the health educator calls should be part of the program that will be evaluated in the large randomized efficacy trial.

The matched families allocated to the two treatment conditions (Group 1 and Group 2) were immediately mailed the Getting Started booklet (for mothers only) and Booklet 1. For those in Group 1, two weeks after that mailing, a health educator called the mother to determine if she had completed the booklet, encouraged participation, and assessed reactions to the booklet. If the booklet had been completed, then the next booklet was mailed and the health educator called again after two weeks. This procedure was followed until all 5 program booklets and health educator telephone calls were completed. If the family had not completed a booklet, then the health educator scheduled the health educator call for a later date to give the family more time. Families in Group 2 were mailed a booklet every two weeks but did not receive health educator calls.

Additionally, mothers in Groups 1 and 2 received a 10-minute long implementation interview about 12 weeks after they were mailed the first booklet to determine how many booklets had been completed and to collect contact information needed to trace the family for the follow-up interview. Mothers in Group 3 (Control Group) also received a telephone interview about 12 weeks after their matched treatment families were sent the first booklet to collect contact information needed to trace the family for the follow-up interview. One month after the Group 1 family completed the last health educator telephone call, the mother and teen from all three matched families (Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3) completed the follow-up telephone interviews.

Sample View help for Sample

The women for the Pilot Randomized Trial were recruited using the following methods: One-page flyers were distributed throughout two North Carolina counties by posting them on bulletin boards, court houses, bus stops, and other locations that eligible women would tend to go to; agencies that interact with women who have been victims of domestic violence, primarily in North Carolina but in other states as well, were provided with one-page and tri-fold flyers to distribute to their clientele; study fliers were attached to Ex Parte applications in several local North Carolina courts; an email about the study was sent through the University of North Carolina mass email system and other large listservs such as Craigslist; information about the study was sent to the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and women were approached when they were in courts filing for a Domestic Violence Protective Order (DVPO) in two North Carolina counties.

51 families were enrolled into the study as defined by completing baseline questionnaires and being randomized into a study condition. The average age of the mothers was 38.3 years with ages ranging from 28 to 54. 60% of the mothers had education beyond high school, 60% were unemployed and 68% were single. More female (76%) than male (24%) adolescents participated in the study. Their average age was 13.7 years and 68% reported at baseline that they had ever dated. Of the 51 families, 17 were randomly allocated to each of the three groups.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Focus group and phone interview survey data from mothers of adolescents who:

1. Had been a victim of domestic violence at some time in their past,
2. No longer live with the abusive partner,
3. Had an adolescent 12 to 15 years old,
4. Spoke and read English, and
5. Had access to a telephone.

Eligible adolescents were those of the eligible mothers and were between 12 and 15 years old and spoke English.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Source View help for Data Source

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

The survey contained items covering topics such as perceived teen susceptibility, perceived severity of dating violence, response efficacy for talking about dating violence, self-efficacy for talking about dating abuse with adolescent, mother rule setting for dating, attitudes toward dating abuse, perceived consequences for dating abuse, conflict resolution skills, anger management skills, gender stereotyping, communication, attachment, exposure to abuse, health, and peer violence.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

In Group 1 (booklets and health educator calls), 59% of families completed at least one booklet and 29% completed all 6 booklets. In Group 2 (booklets only), 65% completed at least one booklet and less than 1% of families in Group 2 completed all 6 booklets. Program fidelity was assessed through the health educator calls (in Group 1) and the 12-week implementation telephone interviews (Groups 1 and 2). 41% of mothers in Group 1 did not complete any health educator calls and 24% of those in Group 1 completed the 12-week implementation call. 47% of those in Group 2 completed the 12-week implementation call.

The overall follow-up questionnaire rate was 62% for mothers and 58% for adolescents.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-type scales were used

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2018-07-19

Weight View help for Weight

None