Reducing Parental Stress Via Instant Messaging During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Parenting; Parents; Stress
• Interventions: Behavioral: Mindfulness training

• Registration Number: NCT05413577
• Lead Sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong

Brief Summary

This research investigated the effects of mindfulness practice on mental wellbeing and parenting behaviour, with the instruction recordings delivered via existing instant messaging applications, including Whatsapp and Signal. The two-week mindfulness program targeted parents with children in Nursery, Kindergarten to Primary School. Due to the suspension of schools, work from home policies, parents spend increased amount of time with their children. News reports have indicated that with the mounting care taking responsibilities and downturn of economy amidst the epidemic, parents have been experiencing higher stress that may negatively impact their wellbeing and parent-child relationship. This study delivered an app-based intervention that aims at enhancing mindful parenting at the time of corona, where social distancing is emphasized.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-09-01
• Primary Completion: 2022-02-28
• Study Completion: 2022-02-28
• Study First Submitted: 2022-06-04
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-06-07
• Study First Posted: 2022-06-10
• Status Verified: 2022-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-11-18
• Last Update Posted: 2022-11-23

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 491

Inclusion Criteria

Parents with at least one child who is in Primary School or below.

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Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Experimental Group	Mindfulness training	The experimental group was invited to listen to a 15-minute mindfulness instructional recording delivered daily through an instant messaging application and to practice accordingly for 14 consecutive days at their own choice of time and place.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Parental Stress Scale	Change from Baseline Parental Stress Scale at immediately after the intervention and two weeks after intervention	The Parental Stress Scale was used to measure self-perceived stress specific to the parenting role. Parental Stress Scale was originally developed by Berry and Jones (1995) to measure parental feelings and experiences in terms of rewards, satisfaction, controllability, and stress. The minimum score was 0 and the maximum score was 64. A score of 0 represents lowest level of parental stress possible, whereas a score of 64 represents highest level of parental stress. Higher scores indicate worse outcome.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Well-being WHO 5-item index	Change from Baseline Well-being WHO 5-item index at immediately after the intervention and two weeks after intervention	Global mental well-being was measured using the Well-being WHO 5-item index (Topp et al., 2015).The minimum score was 0 and the maximum score was 25. A score of 0 represents worst possible, whereas a score of 25 represents best possible quality of life. Higher scores indicate better outcome.
Mindfulness in Parenting Scale	Change from Baseline Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting scale at immediately after the intervention and two weeks after intervention	The 31-item Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting scale was adopted to measure parents' self-reported engagement in mindful parenting (Duncan, 2007). The minimum score was 0 and the maximum score was 155. A score of 0 represents lowest level of parental mindfulness, whereas a score of 155 represents highest level of parental mindfulness possible. Higher scores indicate better outcome.
Parent Behavior Inventory	Change from Baseline Parent Behavior Inventory at immediately after the intervention and two weeks after intervention	The Parent Behavior Inventory was used to assess the change in parenting behavior before and after the intervention. The Parent Behavior Inventory has two independent scales, supportive/engaged and hostile/coercive parenting (Lovejoy et al., 1999), The minimum score was 0 and the maximum score for each scale was 50. A score of 0 represents lowest frequency of parenting behaviors on supportive/engaged and hostile/coercive parenting, whereas a score of 50 represents highest frequency of supportive/engaged and hostile/coercive parenting possible. Higher scores of supportive/engaged scale indicate better outcome. Lower scores of hostile/coercive scale indicate better outcome.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Chinese University of Hong Kong; 🇭🇰 Shatin, Hong Kong