Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based Intervention for Parents of a Child With Medical Complexity

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; Child With Medical Complexity; Psychological Flexibility; Randomised Controlled Trial; Depression, Anxiety; Parental Stress

• Registration Number: NCT07033832
• Lead Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Brief Summary

A pilot randomized controlled trial of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based intervention will be conducted to decrease psychological symptoms, while increase psychological flexibility for parents of a child with medical complexity during their difficulties.

Detailed Description

Being a parent of the child with medical complexity poses enormous stress because CMC have a chronic complex health condition, which may result in premature death of the CMC. Psychological symptoms commonly experienced by the parents of a CMC. Having a CMC is an ongoing stressor including diagnosis, daily nursing care and symptom management, uncertainty of prognosis that can adequately fear the possibility of relapse. Therefore, seeking an intervention consisting of "Psychological flexibility" is crucial for these parents to manage their stress and difficult emotions more effectively. The ACT intervention help individuals concentrate more on their problems with positive attitude and take initiatives and workable actions to fix the problems associated from the caregiving activities. As a result, they will experience less stress when encountering difficulties and challenges and adapt more effectively. These individuals probably have the potential of natural recoveries from adverse events once the stressor is terminated.

Knowledge gap: A review of the literature reveals a paucity of studies on ACT for Chinese parents of the CMC to decrease their psychological symptoms while enhancing their psychological flexibility in local communities. To fill the knowledge gap, this proposal therefore endeavors to develop an ACT and test its preliminary effects and feasibility.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2025-06-06
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-06-14
• Study First Posted: 2025-06-24
• Status Verified: 2025-07
• Study Start: 2025-07-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-02
• Last Update Posted: 2025-07-08
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-31
• Study Completion: 2026-06-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 30

Inclusion Criteria

• parent of a child with medical complexity aged 1-18
• able to communicate in Chinese and read Chinese
• willing to participate in face-to-face activities

Exclusion Criteria

• a reported mental health disorder
• engaging in other psychosocial educational programs related to stress reduction
• inability to communicate in Cantonese

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Chinese version)	baseline, week 4	The DASS is a self-report instrument consisting of 21 items. It is rated on a 4-point scale from 1 (does not apply to me at all) to 4 (applies to me all the time). A higher score on the scale indicates more psychological symptoms.
Psychological flexibility (Chinese version)	baseline, week 4	The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II was used to assess the psychological flexibility of parents. It consists of 7 items and is reported by the parent. Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never true) to 7 (always true).

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; 🇨🇳 Hong Kong, China

School of Nursing The Hong Kong polytechnic university; 🇭🇰 Kowloon, Hong Kong