Strong Families Strong Forces: Supporting Active Duty Families With Very Young Children

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Deployment
• Interventions: Behavioral: Strong Parents; Behavioral: Strong Families Strong Forces

• Registration Number: NCT03045159
• Lead Sponsor: Boston University

Brief Summary

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the efficacy of the Strong Families Strong Forces Parenting Program compared to a parental self-care (Strong Parents) condition in a sample of 150 Active Duty Families with children ages birth to 5 years.

Detailed Description

The overall aim of this research is to adapt and evaluate the efficacy of a parenting program compared to a parental self-care program for Active Duty families. A sample of 150 Active Duty families with young children who have a parent scheduled to deploy in the next six months will be recruited to participate. Families will be assigned either to receive the Strong Families Strong Forces Parenting Program, designed to reduce the impact of deployment separation on parenting stress and co-parenting, or to the Strong Parents Self-Care program, designed to support parents to focus on the importance of self-care throughout the deployment cycle. Investigators will compare the two groups on parenting stress, quality of parent-child relationships, parenting/co-parenting, and family and child well-being.

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2016-03
• Study Start: 2016-03
• Study First Submitted: 2016-03-31
• Study First Submitted QC: 2017-02-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-02-03
• Study First Posted: 2017-02-07
• Last Update Posted: 2017-02-07
• Primary Completion: 2019-03
• Study Completion: 2019-03

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 300

Inclusion Criteria

• Cohabitating couple with at least one child age birth to 5 years old in which one parent is active duty and is scheduled to deploy within the next 6 months
• Anticipated deployment time must be at least six months and excludes separations due to the Service Member attending a school
• Anticipate that non-deploying parent will remain in the area during the deployment
• Both parents are willing to consent to study participation
• DEERS -eligible
• 18 years or older
• English-speaking
• The parent remaining at home to care for the children anticipates remaining within 30 miles of Fort Hood to be seen in home, otherwise will need to be seen in office
• Anticipate that both parents will remain in the area for at least three months after redeployment to complete intervention and follow-up assessment

Exclusion Criteria

• Any family member with a significant medical or psychiatric condition requiring a higher level of care than can be provided by the study/comparison protocols
• Active psychosis or mania

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Strong Parents	Strong Parents	self-care program
Strong Families	Strong Families Strong Forces	parenting program

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Parenting Stress Index (PSI)	Change from baseline to 24 months	Assesses parenting stress in three domains: parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction, and difficult child.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Coparenting Scale	Change from baseline to 24 months	Assesses parents' perception of their own coparenting behavior.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

STRONG STAR Research Consortium; 🇺🇸 Fort Hood, Texas, United States