Psychological stress in families of adolescents with hikikomori
Conditions
Interventions
Intervention: Online telehealth medical consultation
Control: Face-to-face health medical consultation in the form of in-person meetings
Sponsors
Yokohama City University
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: The following family members of adolescents with hikikomori are eligible for the program. The family members of socially withdrawn persons must be at least 18 years old and have no previous experience of medical consultation. Family members of adolescents with hikikomori between the ages of 15 and 39 who have been judged as needing medical consultation by the Yokohama Youth Consultation Center and its related support organizations. Subjects will be recruited from announcements within and outside of the social withdrawal support organizations in each area of residence of adolescents with hikikomori at the Yokohama Municipal Youth Counseling Center. The center is a facility where the principal investigator and co-investigator regularly work as contracted physicians, so they will receive regular reports on the availability of those who wish to be consulted. Those who wish to consult will receive access to an online interview with the principal investigator, which will be held at a designated time and explained to them. The status of the withdrawn parties, regardless of severity, will be considered as meeting the definition of "hikikomori" or "pre-hikikomori" as defined by international diagnostic criteria and will be included if the following conditions are met (1) The age of the withdrawn person is between 15 and 39 years old at the time consent is obtained. (2) The family members who have received a full explanation of the study before the start of the interview, and who have given their free and voluntary written consent based on a full understanding of the study. 3) Family members who are able to use communication devices for this study. In the case of a married couple or a parent-child relationship, one of the family members is considered the "subject of this study" and the other is considered the "participant.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Persons who meet any of the following conditions will be excluded from the study because of the potential for ethical problems and significant differences in the backgrounds of the groups. The following possibilities will be identified during the recruitment and interview process 1) Family members who are seriously abusive (physical, psychological, sexual abuse, and neglect) toward the withdrawn person. 2) Families who have no daily experience using the Internet 3) Families who have difficulty in understanding due to old age, dementia, etc. 4) The hikikomori person is already receiving treatment at a different medical institution, and his/her physician in charge raises concerns about participation in the study. 5) Cases in which the withdrawn person is significantly emotionally disturbed by the family member's counseling behavior. 6) Families receiving some psychological intervention of another psychological support
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Amount of change in psychological stress in families with withdrawn adolescents | — |
Countries
Japan
Contacts
Public ContactAkira Suda
Yokohama City University Department of psychiatry
Outcome results
None listed