Study
O’Connor and colleagues (2014) conducted an evaluation of the INSIGHT intervention program, using a sample of 22 elementary schools in an urban area, in which 11 schools were randomly assigned to INSIGHTS. The remaining 11 schools were assigned to a supplemental reading program (attention-control condition). The sample included 435 children and their parents, and 122 teachers. The majority of parent–child pairs began participating in the study when the children were in kindergarten (n = 329), while the remaining enrolled in the study in the first grade (n = 106). A large percentage (90 percent) of students qualified for reduced or free school lunch, were African American (75 percent), and participated with their biological mothers (84 percent). Demographics for teachers resembled that of the students (61percent African American). A random table of numbers was used to assign the schools to either the INSIGHTS program or to the supplemental reading program.
The data for the intervention was collected in 5 data periods, or waves. The baseline data for kindergarten students was collected in the winter of the year prior to the intervention, Wave T1. Intervention data for kindergarten students was collected in the second wave, T2. Baseline data for 1st-grade students was collected in Wave T3, and intervention data in T4. Follow-up data was collected in Wave T5, in late spring, after intervention data was collected for 1st-grade students. Child behavior problems were measured by the Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory (Eyberg and Pincus 1999) across all five intervention waves. Teachers reported behaviors such as “acts defiant when told to do something” or “is overactive and restless.”
A fitted, unconditional growth model was used to examine the measurement throughout the intervention.
Study
McClowry and colleagues (2005) evaluated INSIGHTS in six elementary schools in an inner northeastern city. The sample included 148 students, their parents, and their teachers (n = 46). Eighty-nine percent of the students were Black (n = 132), 55 percent were boys, 60 percent of the students lived with single mothers, and 86 percent qualified for free lunch programs. Participating schools were selected from the same school district with comparable sociodemographic characteristics, and assigned randomly to the intervention group or the comparison group. The intervention schools received the INSIGHTS program and the comparison schools received the Read Aloud attention-control program.
First- and second-grade classroom teachers were recruited throughout the six selected schools by attending a 30-minute informational session. A variety of strategies were implemented to recruit parents; and once parents consented to participate, their children had to give assent. Parents were given $30 dollars for baseline data-collection activities, teachers received $20 dollars, and children were given a book. Parents and teachers were given a total of $150 dollars if they participated in the full INSIGHTS intervention.
The intervention was conducted over a 10-week period, by facilitators and puppet therapists, who received 30 hours of training before participating in the program. The parent and teacher programs were conducted at the same time as the children’s intervention program. Program facilitators met weekly with a principal investigator who reviewed videotapes of the parent and teacher sessions while discussing the issues related to the children’s behavior. In the comparison program, Read Aloud, teachers read books to the participating children each week after school and asked the children to draw pictures and talk about the story and its characters. Every 2 weeks during the intervention program, parents in both groups were interviewed by telephone using the well-validated and reliable Parent Daily Report (PDR) to assess child behavior problems.
A preliminary analysis was conducted to determine differences at baseline between participants in both groups. An analysis of covariance was performed to examine the outcomes in the study.
