Each year, large numbers of children prenatally exposed to alcohol are placed for adoption. However, little information is available for such adoptive parents. The goal of this project is to develop an Electronic Performance Support system (EPSS) that will enhance adoptive parents' ability to address the problems associated with the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Six technical questions will be addressed in Phase I: (a) What is the most current clinically reliable and useful information available on the long-term outcome of alcohol-exposed children and the impact thereof? (b) What are the most important components of comprehensive health care and early developmental assessment and intervention for alcohol-exposed children? (c) What influences prospective parents' decisions to adopt alcohol- exposed children? (d) What are the most important questions and barriers prospective families have about adopting alcohol-exposed children? (e) What elements contribute to the problems associated with FAS and alcohol- related birth defects (ARBD)? (f) What are the elements of an EPSS that enhance accessibility to information? Through answering these six questions, a detailed protocol for the production, testing, and evaluation of an EPSS that enhances adoptive parents' ability to deal with the problems associated with FAS will be developed.
Thesaurus Terms:child foster care /adoption, computer assisted instruction, computer system design /evaluation, fetal alcohol syndrome, parent offspring interaction education evaluation /planning, health education behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, human subjectNational Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD)
