Parenting With Anxiety: Helping Anxious Parents Raise Confident Children
- Conditions
- Parent AnxietyChild WellbeingChild AnxietyParental Wellbeing
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Raising Confident Children Course
- Registration Number
- NCT04755933
- Lead Sponsor
- University of Sussex
- Brief Summary
This is a randomised controlled trial of an intervention to reduce symptoms of anxiety in the children of anxious parents. Parents will participate in an online intervention which helps them develop a calm, consistent, behaviour management style. The parents will be randomised to the intervention or a control group with no intervention. The intervention itself will undergo a component analysis to determine whether some modules are more effective than others.
- Detailed Description
The study is an online course (derived from an existing evidence-based face-to-face workshop designed and evaluated by the C.I) which aims to reduce symptoms of anxiety in the children of anxious parents. It is a learning tool to help parents to understand the basic processes involved in children's anxiety, to develop a calm, consistent, behaviour management style and to learn skills for responding to difficult emotion in their children.
The whole study takes place online, allowing the participants to sign up, run through some brief eligibility questions, read the study information and provide consent.
Once enrolled in the study, there is a series of baseline questionnaires. The participant also has the option to nominate someone who also knows their child well (e.g. a co-parent, a family member or close friend) to participate in the study with them and to complete a small number of questionnaires. This will help to give us a broader, more objective picture of the child, but is an optional part of the study. 48 hours later (to allow time for the participants to contact the co-respondent if they choose) the index participant will be randomised to one of two groups: either the intervention (the online course), or the control group where they do not receive the intervention.
Those in the intervention will be randomised to receive 8 out of 9 modules of the course, with a suggested time frame of one or two modules a week, each module taking about 30 minutes, with some home-practice tasks in-between.
Both the intervention group and the control group participants will be contacted again after 6 months to complete a set of follow-up questionnaires (similar to those completed at baseline). Depending on when each participant joins the trial, they may be contacted a third time towards the end of the life of the study, to complete another set of questionnaires,9-21 months after their first.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- UNKNOWN
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 3508
- Be a parent (any gender, adoptive/biological/step/foster/grandparent) aged 16+, of a child aged 2 to 11 years (inclusive). The index parent must have at least 50 days' contact with the index child per year and confirm that they see enough of the child to report on the child's current anxiety level.
- Index parent must be a UK resident.
- Self-report subjectively substantial levels of current or lifetime anxiety.
- Able to commit to completion of measures at (up to) three time points even if allocated to the control arm.
- N/A
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Intervention Raising Confident Children Course An online learning tool, designed to helps parents develop a calm, consistent behaviour management style, whilst learning skills to discourage children's avoidance.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in child anxiety Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months. Measured using the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P and Preschool SCAS if the child is aged 6 or under).
SCAS-P: Minimum 0 Maximum 114. A higher total score is indicative of higher level of child anxiety. T scores used to indicate clinical levels of anxiety however this is a screen not a diagnostic instrument.
SCAS Preschool: Minimum 0 Maximum 112. A higher total indicates a higher level of pre-school child anxiety. A score of 1SD above the mean for a subscale or the total score indicates clinical investigated would be warranted.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in parent anxiety and parental wellbeing Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months. Measured using Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Minimum score 7. Maximum score 35. Raw scores converted into metric scores. Higher scores indicate higher positive mental wellbeing.
Change in child wellbeing and health Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months. Measured using EQ-5D-Y Proxy. Minimum 11111 Maximum 33333. A higher score indicates a worse health status.
Change in anxiogenic parenting behaviours Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months Measured using a parenting experience scale (constructed specifically for this study, divided into 8 modules).
Core: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive. Module A: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive (Q2: R scored). Module B: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive (all are R scored). Module C: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive. Module D: Q1, Q3, Q4: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive (Q4: R scored). Module D Q2: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive. Module E: Min 1 Max 4. Higher score = Negative (Q3: R scored). Module F: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive (Q1 and Q4: R scored). Module G Q1: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Positive (Q1: R scored). Module GQ2: Min 3 Max 5: Higher score Negative (Note: Both ends of the scale are maladaptive). Module G Q3: Min 1 Max 5. Higher score = Negative.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
University of Sussex
🇬🇧Brighton, United Kingdom