PARENT EDUCATION AND RESOURCES FOR SELF-INJURIOUS YOUTH

NICHD/NIMH
ID: 1R43HD071660-01A1
PI: LORRAINE TAYLOR, JANIS WHITLOCK
TERM: 09/12 – 08/13

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is an increasingly common self-harming behavior among adolescents and young adults, with current estimates of NSSI in youth ranging from 12-37%. Although NSSI is associated with other mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, disordered eating) and is a risk factor for suicide and severe unintended injury, evidence-based treatment and prevention models for NSSI are scarce. In addition, few resources are available for parents despite evidence of their important role in youth’s recovery from self-harming behaviors. Factors such as parents’ basic knowledge of NSSI and youth developmental processes, as well as parents’ own emotion and communication skills, have a direct impact on a young person’s recovery process. However, engaging parents in their child’s recovery process can be challenging due to barriers for families (e.g., time, stigma regarding the self-injury behavior) and clinicians (e.g., balancing youth and parent needs). A web-based psychoeducation program provides a mechanism for overcoming these barriers in order to provide parents with education, skills and support to help their children.

This SBIR project will develop and test Parent Education and Resources for Self-injurious Youth (PERSY), a specialized web-based program for parents of youth who are receiving treatment for NSSI. Through this SBIR Phase I grant, we will develop a prototype of PERSY and conduct feasibility and usability testing to gather feedback from key stakeholders prior to full product development. Three specific aims will be accomplished in this Phase I project: (1) creating the PERSY prototype including three web-based modules and outlines of the accompanying program materials; (2) conducting stakeholder feasibility and usability tests of the PERSYprototype to assess the feasibility, usability, innovation, and quality with 30 mental health professionals and 30 parents of 12-20 year olds in clinical treatment for NSSI; and (3) establish final prototype specifications using data compiled and analyzed from the feasibility testing. PERSY will include a range of web-based modalities including video presentations, didactic education, interactive self-assessments, social skill modeling, and personalized feedback.

To our knowledge, no other product exists that provides this type of knowledge enhancement, skill development, and support to parents of youth with NSSI. Phase I research is expected to demonstrate strong support for the proposed product across stakeholders and provide the necessary foundation for full product development. Once the PERSY program is finalized in Phase II, we will conduct a randomized clinical trial to examine treatment effects for (1) parenting knowledge, skills, and positive engagement with their child, (2) youth self-injury recovery, and (3) youth positive engagement with parents. This SBIR project will be instrumental in establishingPERSY as an efficacious competitor in the psychoeducation marketplace. The final product will serve as a valuable resource for parents and mental health professionals with the potential to have a significant impact on the lives of youth with NSSI and their families.

DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Expertise

  • autism
  • early development
  • behavioral measurement
  • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

Education

  • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

Selected Publications

  • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
  • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
  • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
  • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.