An Intervention Study: Shaping a Healthier Child

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Parent-Child Relationship
• Interventions: Other: Brief Parental Training Intervention

• Registration Number: NCT02366000
• Lead Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2010-09
• Primary Completion: 2012-09
• Status Verified: 2015-02
• Study Completion: 2015-02
• Study First Submitted: 2015-02-06
• Study First Submitted QC: 2015-02-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2015-02-11
• Study First Posted: 2015-02-19
• Last Update Posted: 2015-02-19

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 88

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

• none

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Brief Parental Training Intervention	Brief Parental Training Intervention	Participants will have to attend two 3-hour Brief Parental Training Intervention Programme, with three weeks apart. There will also be two telephone follow-up sessions to reinforce learnt strategies and skills for home practice between workshops.
Wait-list Group	Brief Parental Training Intervention	Participants will receive the same Brief Parental Training Intervention Programme as the intervention group. However, they will wait until the questionnaires have been completed by the intervention group for the second time (i.e. immediately after intervention) before they receive their programme.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Readiness of parents to communicate with their children about preventing health risk behaviour	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 Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Parents' attitudes towards positive parenting	At 1 year	Measured by Parent Questionnaire (PQ)- the section on parenting patterns (Rohner, 1986; Chen, Rubin \& Li, 1997)
Quality of parent-child communication	At 1 year	Measured by Parent Questionnaire (PQ)- the section on parent-adolescent communication (Caprara, Pastorelli, Regalia, Scabini \& Bandura, 2005) as well as the Chidren Questionnaire (CQ)- the section on parent-adolescent communication (Caprara et al, 2005)
Quality of parent-child relationships	At 1 year	Measured by Parent Questionnaire (PQ)- the section on parent-child relationships (Schumm, Paff-Bergen et al., 1986) as well as the section on Children Questionnaire (CQ)- the section on parent-child relationships Schumm et al., 1986)
Children's health risk behaviour	At 1 year	Measured by Children Questionnaire (CQ)- the sections on health risk behaviour - smoking (Mak et al, 2005; Abdullah et al, 2006); alcohol use (Ewing, 1984); and illicit drug use (Kolbe, Kann \& Collins, 1999; Lee \& Tsang, 2004)