***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: The current study was design ed to explore the use of behavioral ( i.e. , accuracy and reaction times ) and electrophysiological measures ( i.e. , event-related potentials ) to assess the impact of a family-based preventive intervention for preschool-aged , maltreated children in foster care . These measures were recorded during a computerized flanker task design ed to assess cognitive control and response monitoring . The sample was recruited from a larger r and omized efficacy trial of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Preschoolers ( MTFC-P ) and included foster children assigned to the intervention condition ( n = 10 ) , foster children assigned to a services-as-usual comparison condition ( n = 13 ) , and low-income , nonmaltreated community children ( n = 11 ) . The children ’s behavioral and electrophysiological performance on the task was generally consistent with previous research with adults and older children . There were no group differences on the behavioral measures of cognitive control or response monitoring . Notably , however , group differences were observed on the electrophysiological measures of response monitoring . Specifically , the foster children who received services as usual were significantly less responsive to performance feedback about errors than the foster children who received the intervention and the nonmaltreated children . Applications of this methodology and implication s of the results for future prevention research are discussed The relative effectiveness of group care ( GC ) and multidimensional treatment foster care ( MTFC ) was compared in terms of their impact on criminal offending , incarceration rates , and program completion outcomes for 79 male adolescents who had histories of chronic and serious juvenile delinquency . Results show that boys who participated in MTFC had significantly fewer criminal referrals and returned to live with relatives more often . Multiple regression analyses showed that assignment to a treatment condition ( i.e. , GC or MTFC ) predicted official and self-reported criminality in follow-up beyond other well-known predictors of chronic juvenile offending ( i.e. , age at 1st offense , number of previous offenses , age at referral ) The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 2-component intervention for biological and foster parent ( pairs )  to improve parenting practice s , co-parenting , and child externalizing problems .  Participants were biological and foster parents ( N=128 ) of primarily neglected children ( ages 3 to 10 years ) placed in regular foster homes . Biological and foster parents were r and omly assigned in pairs to the intervention ( n=80 ) or a usual care ( n=48 ) condition . Intervention families received a 12-week parenting course ( Incredible Years ) and a newly developed co-parenting component . Key findings included significant gains in positive parenting and collaborative co-parenting for both biological and foster parents at the end of the intervention . At follow-up , intervention parents sustained greater improvement in positive parenting , showed gains in clear expectations , and reported a trend for fewer child externalizing problems . Findings supported the feasibility of offering joint parenting training to meet the needs of participating families and demonstrated that the co-parenting construct applied to families in the foster care system was amenable to intervention Young children who enter foster care experience disruptions in care and maltreatment at a point when maintaining attachment relationships is a key , biologically based task . In previous research , we have found that young children experience challenges as they form attachments with new caregivers . They tend to push their new caregivers away , even though such children are especially in need of nurturing care . Further , many caregivers do not respond in nurturing ways when their children are distressed , which we have found is problematic for young children in foster care . We developed an intervention that is design ed to help caregivers provide nurturance even when children do not elicit it , and even when it does not come naturally to them . This paper presents preliminary findings of the effectiveness of this intervention on children ’s attachment behaviors .  Forty-six children were r and omly assigned to either the experimental intervention or to an educational intervention . For three consecutive days , attachment behaviors were reported across three distress-eliciting situations . Children whose parents had received the experimental intervention showed significantly less avoidance than children whose parents had received the educational intervention . These preliminary results suggest that the intervention is successful in helping children develop trusting relationships with new caregivers Studies with nonhuman primates and rodents , as well as with human children , have suggested that early separations from caregivers are often associated with changes in the functioning of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal ( HPA ) axis . On the basis of these findings , we design ed a relational intervention that was intended to normalize HPA functioning among children in foster care . This paper presents findings from a r and omized clinical trial that assessed the effectiveness of a relational intervention ( Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up [ ABC ] ) with regard to HPA functioning . The ABC intervention was intended to enhance children 's ability to regulate physiology and behavior . The control intervention ( Developmental Education for Families ) was intended to enhance children 's cognitive skills . A comparison group of children who had never been in foster care was also included . Children 's cortisol production was assessed upon arrival at the lab , and 15 and 30 min following the Strange Situation . R and om effects analyses of variance were performed to assess differences in initial values and change between children in the two intervention groups . Children in the ABC intervention and comparison group children showed lower initial values of cortisol than children in the treatment control group , considering arrival at lab as initial values ( p < .05 ) . Groups did not differ significantly in change over time . These results suggest that the ABC intervention is effective in helping children  regulate biology in ways more characteristic of children who have not experienced early adversity Placement disruptions undermine efforts of child welfare agencies to promote safety , permanency , and child well-being . Child behavior problems significantly contribute to placement changes . The aims of this investigation were to examine the impact of a foster parent training and support intervention ( KEEP ) on placement changes and to determine whether the intervention mitigates placement disruption risks associated with children 's placement histories . The sample included 700 families with children between ages 5 and 12 years , from a variety of ethnic background s. Families were r and omly assigned to the intervention or control condition . The number of prior placements was predictive of negative exits from current foster placements . The intervention increased chances of a positive exit ( e.g. , parent/child reunification ) and mitigated the risk-enhancing effect of a history of multiple placements . Incorporating intervention approaches based on a parent management training model into child welfare services may improve placement outcomes for children in foster care The lack of prepared and available foster parents for children with prenatal substance effects is of increasing concern to the child welfare field . The research study reported here evaluated a multimodal inservice training program design ed to enhance the competency of foster parents caring for infants with prenatal substance effects , and to promote an intent to foster such infants . Findings suggest that future foster parent training efforts in this area should focus on knowledge and skill attainment AIMS To evaluate the impact of training foster carers  on  children 's emotional and behavioural functioning .  METHODS In a r and omised controlled trial in 17 Scottish local council areas , with immediate and nine month follow up , 182 children and their foster families were r and omly allocated to either st and ard services alone or st and ard services plus extra training for foster carers on communication and attachment . Main outcome measures were child psychopathology , attachment disorder , self esteem , and cost of foster care . RESULTS Over 60 % of children had measurable psychopathology at baseline . The training was perceived as beneficial by participants . Scores for parent reported psychopathology and attachment disorders decreased by around 5 % , self esteem increased by 2 % , and costs by 22 % in the intervention group . Results were non-significant . CONCLUSIONS Despite being well received by foster carers , the training was not sufficient to make a useful impact on the high level of psychopathology . This group may warrant more intensive interventions Abstract This study examined change in attachment-related behaviors among foster preschoolers participating in a r and omized trial of the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care Program for Preschoolers ( MTFC-P ) .  Measures of secure , resistant , and avoidant behaviors were collected using a caregiver-report diary at 3-month intervals during the 12 months following a new foster placement . Children r and omly assigned to the  MTFC-P intervention condition ( n = 57 ) showed significant increases in secure behavior and significant decreases in avoidant behavior relative to children assigned to a regular foster care condition ( n = 60 ) . Both groups showed significant decreases in resistant behavior over time . Analyses also revealed a significant interaction between treatment condition and age at first foster placement on change in secure behavior . Results are discussed in terms of the importance of early intervention and prevention services for foster preschoolers Parent  training for foster parents  is m and ated by federal law and supported by state statues in nearly all states ; however , little is known about the efficacy of that training , and recent review s underscore that the most widely used curricula in the child welfare system ( CWS ) have virtually no empirical support ( Grimm , Youth Law News , April – June:3–29 , 2003 ) . On the other h and , numerous theoretically based , developmentally sensitive parent training interventions have been found to be effective in experimental clinical and prevention intervention trials ( e.g. , Kazdin and Wassell , Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 39:414–420 , 2000 ; McMahon and Foreh and , Helping the noncompliant child , Guilford Press , New York , USA , 2003 ; Patterson and Forgatch , Parents and adolescents : I. Living together , Castalia Publishing , Eugene , OR , USA , 1987 ; Webster-Stratton et al. , Journal of Clinical Child Pyschology Psychiatry , 42:943–952 , 2001 ) . One of these , Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care ( MTFC ; Chamberlain , Treating chronic juvenile offenders : Advances made through the Oregon Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care model , American Psychological Association , Washington , DC , USA , 2003 ) , has been used with foster parents of youth referred from juvenile justice . The effectiveness of a universal intervention , KEEP ( Keeping Foster Parents Trained and Supported ) based on MTFC ( but less intensive ) was tested in a universal r and omized trial with 700 foster and kinship parents in the San Diego County CWS . The goal of the intervention was to reduce child problem behaviors through strengthening foster parents ’ skills . The trial was design ed to examine effects on both child behavior and parenting practice s , allowing for specific assessment of the extent to which improvements in child behavior were mediated by the parenting practice s targeted in the intervention . Child behavior problems were reduced significantly more in the intervention condition than in the control condition , and specific parenting practice s were found to mediate these reductions , especially for high-risk children in foster families reporting more than six behavior problems per day at baseline Most foster parents in the United States are required to participate in training , yet no empirical support exists for the training 's effectiveness . During the past two decades , high- quality clinical trials have documented that parent management training ( PMT ) programs produce positive outcomes for children and families in clinical and school setting s ; yet , these advances have not transferred to foster/kinship parents . Here , we describe a r and omized control trial testing the effectiveness of a PMT-based treatment with 700 foster/kinship parents in San Diego County . The collaborative processes to engage stakeholders , the strategies for involving parents , and the results of two levels of developer involvement in training and supervision on child behavioral outcomes are also described OBJECTIVE : To test the feasibility of creating a valid and reliable checklist with the following features : appropriate for assessing both r and omised and non-r and omised studies ; provision of both an overall score for study quality and a profile of scores not only for the quality of reporting , internal validity ( bias and confounding ) and power , but also for external validity . DESIGN : A pilot version was first developed , based on epidemiological principles , review s , and existing checklists for r and omised studies . Face and content validity were assessed by three experienced review ers and reliability was determined using two raters assessing 10 r and omised and 10 non-r and omised studies . Using different raters , the checklist was revised and tested for internal consistency ( Kuder-Richardson 20 ) , test-retest and inter-rater reliability ( Spearman correlation coefficient and sign rank test ; kappa statistics ) , criterion validity , and respondent burden . MAIN RESULTS : The performance of the checklist improved considerably after revision of a pilot version . The Quality Index had high internal consistency ( KR-20 : 0.89 ) as did the subscales apart from external validity ( KR-20 : 0.54 ) . Test-retest ( r 0.88 ) and inter-rater ( r 0.75 ) reliability of the Quality Index were good . Reliability of the subscales varied from good ( bias ) to poor ( external validity ) . The Quality Index correlated highly with an existing , established instrument for assessing r and omised studies ( r 0.90 ) . There was little difference between its performance with non-r and omised and with r and omised studies . Raters took about 20 minutes to assess each paper ( range 10 to 45 minutes ) . CONCLUSIONS : This study has shown that it is feasible to develop a checklist that can be used to assess the method ological quality not only of r and omised controlled trials but also non-r and omised studies . It has also shown that it is possible to produce a checklist that provides a profile of the paper , alerting review ers to its particular method ological strengths and weaknesses . Further work is required to improve the checklist and the training of raters in the assessment of external validity OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness of an intervention design ed to improve outcomes for infants and 
    Output:
    
It was found that there was good support for  wraparound services  and  relational interventions  , but little support for widely used carer training programmes .