The Happy Families Project: Testing the Effectiveness of a Conflict Resolution Program for Families

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Mental Health; Conflict
• Interventions: Behavioral: Parent-child intervention; Behavioral: Self-study Intervention

• Registration Number: NCT04980794
• Lead Sponsor: University of Notre Dame

Brief Summary

This study is designed to test the effectiveness of a psychoeducation-based program to address communication and conflict resolution in families, thereby supporting mental health in children and their caregivers.

Detailed Description

The goal of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a program to improve mental health in families by reducing stress and supporting effective communication and conflict resolution.

Families will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: in the self-study condition, families will receive information to review on their own, paired with regular (weekly) contact from a family coach; in the second condition, families will receive information to review on their own, regular contact from a coach, and will participate in video sessions with a family coach who will provide feedback on their interactions and coaching on their use of a communication technique. Data collection, management and analysis will be conducted by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, but the intervention will occur through community organizations in three cities in Indiana, allowing for tests of the effectiveness of the program when it is implemented in community settings. Families will participate in a pre-test assessment, a four-week intervention, a post-test assessment, and a one-year follow up assessment. Also evaluated will be organizational factors and factors that impact ultimate implementation and scalability of the program in community settings.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-03-01
• Study First Submitted: 2021-07-13
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-07-19
• Study First Posted: 2021-07-28
• Status Verified: 2024-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-11-13
• Last Update Posted: 2024-11-15
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-30
• Study Completion: 2025-12-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1800

Inclusion Criteria

• Two parents or primary caregivers
• Child between 4 and 17 years old
• English literate
• Able/willing to participate through the 12-month follow up assessment.

Exclusion Criteria

• Families who cannot communicate in English
• Single parent families

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Parent-Child Intervention	Parent-child intervention	This is a four-dose intervention that includes psychoeducational modules and communication coaching administered through community organizations over the course of four weeks. Both participating adults and the participating child receive materials to review each week, paired with weekly contact from a family coach.
Self-study intervention	Self-study Intervention	This is a four-dose intervention that include written self-study materials to review, paired with weekly contact with a family coach. Both participating adults receive self-study materials; the participating child does not receive separate materials.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS)	1 year	Youth Adjustment
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD)	1 year	Youth Adjustment
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)	1 year	Youth Adjustment
Security in the Marital System Questionnaire (SIMS-PR)	1 year	Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness
Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)	1 year	Youth Adjustment
O'Leary Porter Scale (OPS)	1 year	Interadult Conflict
Family Interactions Coding Scale	1 year	Observational measures of interadult and family conflict
Security in the Subsystem (SIS)	1 year	Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness
Leadership Perspective Measure (purpose created measure of organizational leaderships' perspective on program, implementation and sustainability)	4 years	Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness
Organizational Characteristics Measure (purpose created measure of organizational characteristics)	4 years	Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness
Facilitator Perspective Measure (purpose created measure of community facilitators' perspective on program implementation and training)	4 years	Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness
Security in the Family System (SIFS)	1 year	Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness

Trial Locations

Locations (3)

Fort Wayne Center for Children and Families; 🇺🇸 Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States

University of Notre Dame; 🇺🇸 Notre Dame, Indiana, United States

Indianapolis Virtual Site; 🇺🇸 Indianapolis, Indiana, United States