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COS-P for Parents of Children Referred to Child Psychiatric Services

Not Applicable
Conditions
Child Behavior Problem
Interventions
Other: Circle of Security-Parenting
Other: Treatment as Usual
Registration Number
NCT03578016
Lead Sponsor
Region Syddanmark
Brief Summary

Background:The quality of attachment is greatly influenced by parental sensitivity. Attachment based interventions are designed to promote parental sensitivity, to change parental mental representations and to improve understanding of the developmental needs of the child. Very few studies have investigated the effect of attachment-based interventions on psychiatric symptoms in children. Targeting parental sensitivity and the parent-child interaction might have an important impact on psychiatric symptoms in a clinical sample of children referred to child psychiatric services.

Objectives: The primary objective is to investigate whether Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) has an effect on parental sensitivity in parents of children referred to child psychiatric services. The secondary objectives are to investigate the effect on children's behavioral and emotional symptoms and the parental stress and reflective functioning after 10 weeks of intervention and at the 24 week follow-up. The study is also exploring the effect of parental attachment style, parental stress and parental psychopathology on the effect of the intervention.

Methods: The trial will include 128 families of children (age 3-8 years) who are referred to child psychiatric services in a randomized and controlled design. Included families will be randomized to COS-P+ Treatment as Usual (TAU) or TAU only.

Perspectives: Considering the important impact of the quality of the parent-child relationship on the child's well-being, it is essential to target it in interventions and to investigate the relation with psychiatric symptoms. Generally there is a lack of interventions targeting parental sensitivity in psychiatric child populations. Working with the parents on the child-parent relation, might have an important impact on their children's current psychiatric symptoms and could additionally prevent future psychopathology.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
UNKNOWN
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
128
Inclusion Criteria
  • Children who score equal or above the 93d percentile on CBCL-total score
  • Score above 93d percentile on the CBCL- ODD or aggression scale
  • Informed consent from both custody.
Exclusion Criteria

For children:

  • autism spectrum disorders
  • serious psychopathology requiring immediate clinical attention
  • head injury or verified neurological disease
  • intelligence quotient (IQ) <80
  • medical condition, requiring treatment
  • no informed consent from custody

For parents:

  • a diagnosis of schizophrenia
  • bipolar disorder
  • known substance abuse
  • severe intellectual impairment
  • suicide attempt in the past

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Circle of Security-ParentingTreatment as Usual10 weekly, manualized group sessions at the clinic
Treatment as Usual (TAU)Treatment as UsualTAU consists of clinical assessment and treatment.
Circle of Security-ParentingCircle of Security-Parenting10 weekly, manualized group sessions at the clinic
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Maternal sensitivityafter 10 weeks of intervention

Maternal sensitivity is measured by observing a mother-child interaction and is rated using "Coding Interactive Behavior" (CIB)

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Maternal Intrusiveness24 week follow-up

Measured by observing a mother-child interaction and is rated using "Coding Interactive Behavior" (CIB)

Maternal Sensitivity24 week follow-up

Measured by observing a mother-child interaction and is rated using "Coding Interactive Behavior" (CIB)

Dyadic reciprocity24 week follow-up

Measured by observing a mother-child interaction and is rated using "Coding Interactive Behavior" (CIB)

Negative states24 week follow-up

Measured by observing a mother-child interaction and is rated using "Coding Interactive Behavior" (CIB)

Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL)-Total score-parent rated24 week follow-up

Parent questionnaire on child symptoms. Score range: 0-236. Higher indicates more problems.

CBCL-ODD score-parent rated. Score range: 0-26. Higher indicates more problems.24 week follow-up

Parent questionnaire on child symptoms

Coping with childrens negative emotions scale24 week follow-up

Parent questionnaire on their strategies coping with children's negative emotions. Score range 72-504.

Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire24 week follow-up

Parent self-report measure that assesses parental reflective functioning or mentalizing. Score range 1-126.

Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory (ECBI)24 week follow-up

Parent questionnaire on child behavior. Score range 36-252. Higher indicating more problems.

Berkeley Puppet interview24 week follow-up

Child interview

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

🇩🇰

Aabenraa, Denmark

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