Conflict, Mental Health
Conditions
Brief summary
This study is designed to test the effectiveness of a psychoeducation-based program to address communication and conflict resolution in families, thereby supporting mental health in children and their caregivers.
Detailed description
The goal of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a program to improve mental health in families by reducing stress and supporting effective communication and conflict resolution. Families will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: in the self-study condition, families will receive information to review on their own, paired with regular (weekly) contact from a family coach; in the second condition, families will receive information to review on their own, regular contact from a coach, and will participate in video sessions with a family coach who will provide feedback on their interactions and coaching on their use of a communication technique. Data collection, management and analysis will be conducted by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, but the intervention will occur through community organizations in three cities in Indiana, allowing for tests of the effectiveness of the program when it is implemented in community settings. Families will participate in a pre-test assessment, a four-week intervention, a post-test assessment, and a one-year follow up assessment. Also evaluated will be organizational factors and factors that impact ultimate implementation and scalability of the program in community settings.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALParent-child intervention
Families (two adult caregivers, child between 4 and 17) receive four interactive, asynchronous psychoeducation modules to review on their own paired with weekly contact with a communication coach and two live sessions with a communication coach to discuss psychoeducation, receive feedback on their interactions, and practice a communication technique.
BEHAVIORALSelf-study Intervention
Families (two adult caregivers) receive information in a newsletter format to review on their own, paired with weekly contact from a communication coach to answer questions and direct their attention toward specific topics in the newsletter.
Sponsors
University of Notre Dame
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Masking description
Participants are blind to condition assignments during their involvement in the program.
Intervention model description
Participants are randomly assigned to one of two conditions.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
4 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Two parents or primary caregivers * Child between 4 and 17 years old * English literate * Able/willing to participate through the 12-month follow up assessment.
Exclusion criteria
* Families who cannot communicate in English * Single parent families
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) | 1 year | Youth Adjustment |
| Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) | 1 year | Youth Adjustment |
| Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) | 1 year | Youth Adjustment |
| Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) | 1 year | Youth Adjustment |
| O'Leary Porter Scale (OPS) | 1 year | Interadult Conflict |
| Family Interactions Coding Scale | 1 year | Observational measures of interadult and family conflict |
| Security in the Marital System Questionnaire (SIMS-PR) | 1 year | Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness |
| Security in the Subsystem (SIS) | 1 year | Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness |
| Security in the Family System (SIFS) | 1 year | Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness |
| Organizational Characteristics Measure (purpose created measure of organizational characteristics) | 4 years | Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness |
| Leadership Perspective Measure (purpose created measure of organizational leaderships' perspective on program, implementation and sustainability) | 4 years | Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness |
| Facilitator Perspective Measure (purpose created measure of community facilitators' perspective on program implementation and training) | 4 years | Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactKatie N Bergman, PhD
Backup ContactE. Mark Cummings, PhD
Outcome results
None listed