A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Brief Intervention by Parents to Prevent Their Children From Experimenting With Health Risk Behavior: a Pilot Study
Overview
- Phase
- N/A
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Parent-Child Relationship
- Sponsor
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Enrollment
- 88
- Primary Endpoint
- Readiness of parents to communicate with their children about preventing health risk behaviour
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 11 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
The aim of this study is to identify parent-children communication in relation to health risk behaviors (smoking, drinking and illegal drug taking) in adolescents, and to enhance better parental skills in preventing these behaviors in children.
Detailed Description
Previous research found that parent-children communication is the best predictor of health risk behaviors among adolescents. However, longitudinal studies of parent-adolescent communication on the subject of health risk behavior such as alcohol, tobacco and other drug use (ATOD) remain relatively scarce, and none of this kind of work has been done among Chinese sample. Such information is urgently needed given the increasing trend of drug use among adolescents in Hong Kong, and the severe burden of morbidity and mortality related to ATOD. The study aims to examine parent-children communication in relation to health risk behaviors and to explore the potential efficacy of a brief intervention which is designed to assist parents of primary school children to communicate with their children about issues in the prevention of health risk behaviors. The efficacy of the intervention will be compared with a waiting-list control group using a randomized controlled trial. There will then be two telephone follow-ups to reinforce learnt strategies and skills for home practice in between the two workshops. There will also be assessments post-intervention and at 1 year follow-up. Evaluation focus groups will also be conducted after the intervention program.
Investigators
Dr. Yim Wah Mak
Assistant Professor
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Parent of a child in primary five or six
- •Cantonese-speaking
- •Consent to their participation in the program and the inclusion of their children in the assessments
Exclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Readiness of parents to communicate with their children about preventing health risk behaviour
Time Frame: At 1 year
Measured by Parent Questionnaire (PQ) - the sections on their (a) intention to take action, (b) self-efficacy in taking action, (c) plan of the action, (d) action to change (modified from Sniehotta, Scholz et al. 2002).
Secondary Outcomes
- Parents' attitudes towards positive parenting(At 1 year)
- Quality of parent-child communication(At 1 year)
- Quality of parent-child relationships(At 1 year)
- Children's health risk behaviour(At 1 year)