Nurtured Heart Parenting Intervention for Child Behavioural Problems

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Parent-Child Relations
Child Behavior Problem

Interventions: Behavioral: Transforming the Intense Child Workbook (Glasser, 2016)

Registration Number: NCT06195579

Lead Sponsor: University of Lincoln

Brief Summary: Behavioural problems are prevalent in children, yet the consequences can be significant for the child, family and wider society. Effective intervention is paramount in reducing the impact of childhood behavioural problems. The Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA; Glasser \& Easley, 2016) is an atheoretical parenting intervention which aims to reduce childhood behavioural problems. Although used in clinical practice, there is little empirical research on the effectiveness of the NHA. The aims of the study were to examine whether the NHA reduced parent-reported child behavioural problems, reduced negative parenting practices, and increased parental reflective functioning.

The study used a multiple baseline single case design. Parents of children with behavioural problems were recruited from CAMHS waiting lists. The NHA was delivered in a guided self-help format, using the Transforming the Intense Child workbook (Glasser, 2016) and weekly phone calls. Data collection involved psychometric measures of parent-reported child behavioural problems, parenting practices and parental reflecting functioning. Measures were repeated throughout baseline and intervention phases. A follow-up four weeks after the intervention included final measure administration and a change interview. The data were graphed and visually analysed. Supplementary analysis included reliable and clinically significant change, Tau-U and percentage exceeding the median. Framework analysis was used to analyse the change interview.

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 6

Inclusion Criteria

Participants will be parents/carers of children who have been referred to National Health Service (NHS) children's services for behavioural problems. Participants will be recruited from waiting lists of NHS children's services at the two research sites in the East Midlands.

Inclusion criteria:

The referred child is aged between three and eleven years old.
The referred child is on a waiting list for an NHS children's service at the two research sites.
The referred child's behavioural problems are one of the primary reasons for referral to the NHS service.
The parent/carer identifies the referred child's behaviour as problematic.

Exclusion Criteria

The referred child has a diagnosis of developmental delay or learning disability.
The family is current receiving active multi-agency involvement (e.g. social care, police or youth offending in addition to NHS services).
The parent/carer is aged under 18.
The parent/carer is unable to read or speak English fluently.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention arm	Transforming the Intense Child Workbook (Glasser, 2016)	Participants receiving the intervention whilst on a waiting list for treatment as usual

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Idiographic Measure of Parent-perceived Problems	Measured at the beginning of the baseline and follow up (one month post intervention)	Results state the number of children for whom parents reported an improvement on the ideographic goals set by parents. Measured using the PSYCHLOPS (Ainsworth et al., 2009)
Parent-reported Child Behavioural Problems	Measure across the baseline phase (3 weeks), intervention phase (6 weeks) and follow up (one month post intervention)	Results state the number of children for whom parents reported an improvement in behaviour using the Brief Problem Monitor (Achenbach et al., 2011).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Parental Wellbeing	Measured at the beginning of the baseline and follow up (one month post intervention)	Number of parents whose wellbeing improved when measured using the SWEMWBS (Tennanet et al., 2007).
Negative Parenting Practices	Measure across the baseline phase (3 weeks), intervention phase (6 weeks) and follow up (one month post intervention)	Parents whose negative parenting practices reduced, measured using the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (Parent and Forehand, 2017)
Parental Reflective Functioning	Measure across the baseline phase (3 weeks), intervention phase (6 weeks) and follow up (one month post intervention)	Parents whose parental reflective function improved due to the intervention, measured using the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (Luyten et al., 2017)