None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Caregivers’ own attachment experiences are integral in predicting their child’s formation of secure attachment relationships, which are fundamental to healthy psychological development. As such, parents’ disrupted early attachment experiences may lead to parallel disruption in their child’s attachment experiences, increasing vulnerability to emotional and behavioural problems during development and later in life. Thus, the current study aims to reduce emotional and behavoural problems in children by targeting underlying processes relating to caregivers’ own attachment experiences and resulting behaviours. As such, a randomised, parallel-groups, controlled trial will be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a newly-developed, six-week attachment-based family intervention compared to treatment as usual. Participants will include the families of children aged 6-12 experiencing either emotional or behavioural difficulties. Other outcome variables that will be explored include parents’ reflective functioning, parental mental health and helplessness, and overall family functioning.
Interventions
Attachment-Based Family Therapy (AFT) designed to target emotional and behavioural difficulties in middle-aged children. This intervention is based on attachment, psychodynamic, and family systems theory. It aims to shift problematic attachment processes thereby enhancing attachment relationships within the family, and in turn reduce child symptomatology. The intervention will be individualised through an initial interview assessment tool where problematic attachment processes occurring within f
Attachment-Based Family Therapy (AFT) designed to target emotional and behavioural difficulties in middle-aged children. This intervention is based on attachment, psychodynamic, and family systems theory. It aims to shift problematic attachment processes thereby enhancing attachment relationships within the family, and in turn reduce child symptomatology. The intervention will be individualised through an initial interview assessment tool where problematic attachment processes occurring within family members can be identified. This treatment model expands on an existing attachment-focused family-based intervention designed for adolescent substance use and depression (Poole et al., 2016). In the trial AFT will be delivered by provisional psychologists (undertaking postgraduate qualifications) with a minimum of two days training provided by the research team. The treatment requires the whole family to attend for six 90-minute face-to-face sessions over six consecutive weeks. The current trial will be the first piloting of AFT at the Murdoch University Psychology Clinic in Perth, Western Australia. All sessions will be recorded within the trial to allow for randomised fidelity to treatment checks conducted by members of the research team using a standardised assessment tool.
Sponsors
Irene Serfaty
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
0 to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
- The families of children aged between 6 – 12 years of age - The child’s scores on the Child Behavior Checklist, rated by their primary caregiver must be above the clinical cut-off point on at least one of the internalising or externalising problem subscales, to indicate clinically significant problematic behaviour(s). - A ‘family’ must be composed of at least one primary caregiver and the child of interest. There are no exclusions with regard to blended families or other family structures beyond the nuclear family. - Must be able to communicate adequately in English
Exclusion criteria
- Children with the following diagnoses: autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, psychosis or psychotic disorders, or any severe mental illness currently requiring inpatient treatment. - Caregivers or siblings with reports of any of the above psychiatric disorders, in addition to mania, hypomania, or drug dependence other than alcohol, nicotine or cannabis use. - Any of the family members must not be receiving any other therapeutic interventions at the time of recruitment.
Outcome results
None listed