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Improving the Health of Parents and Their Adolescent and Transition-age Youth With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Improving the Health of Parents and Their Adolescent and Transition-age Youth With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05986305
Enrollment
406
Registered
2023-08-14
Start date
2023-08-08
Completion date
2026-06-30
Last updated
2026-06-22

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Intellectual Disability

Brief summary

This study will determine the comparative effectiveness of Go Act, a tailored advocacy curriculum versus Peer parent-directed peer learning for increasing parent activation for parents of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Second, it will determine the comparative effectiveness of the two study arms for improving parent and youth health outcomes while assessing whether parent activation serves as a mechanism that mediates their effects on health outcomes.

Detailed description

A well-functioning system of care should provide a broad array of services that can support families with a child with complex health care needs. Nonetheless, adolescents and transition age youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities experience rates of unmet need for health care up to 6 times higher than others resulting in poor health and quality of life for themselves and their families. The system of care approach has achieved positive impacts for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, but updates call for training to help parents develop advocacy skills on behalf of their children. Prior research on diverse populations indicates that parent advocacy skills are a promising target for increasing parent self-efficacy, which in turn is associated with better parent and youth health outcomes. Parent advocacy skills can be increased through a psycho-educational advocacy skills curriculum or through parent-directed peer-learning. However, the comparative effectiveness of these two strategies for families raising youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities is not yet known. This study has two objectives. First, it will determine the comparative effectiveness of Go Act, a tailored advocacy curriculum versus Peer parent-directed peer learning for increasing parent activation for parents of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities . Second, it will determine the comparative effectiveness of the two study arms for improving parent and youth health outcomes while assessing whether parent activation serves as a mechanism that mediates their effects on health outcomes.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALGo Act

Go Act sessions address becoming a parent who can 'Go Act,' caring for one's self as a parent, understanding and managing youth health needs, working with health providers as partners, and working with other service providers such as schools and vocational services. The intervention uses motivational interviewing, story-telling with self-disclosure, psycho-education introduced with a know-want to know-learned strategy, problem-solving, role play, and practice outside of class.

BEHAVIORALPeer

During Peer sessions facilitators lay ground rules for respectful and confidential sharing and encourage group discussion. The group provides a format to make personal connections through shared identity. Participants may discuss strategies for individualized advocacy, so that they learn from the experiences of others.

Sponsors

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lead SponsorOTHER
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
11 Years to 27 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

Parents * Raising an adolescent or young adult child (age 11-27), with diagnosed or suspected intellectual or developmental disability * Able to attend group sessions * Able to give informed consent * Resident of any state except New York or Illinois due to electronic signature law Youth * Being between the ages of 11 and 27 * Having diagnosed or suspected intellectual or developmental disability

Exclusion criteria

Parents • Having evidence of emergency mental health needs

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in parent activationup to18 months after interventionThe Parent Patient Activation Measure will be used to capture parent activation on behalf of their child (mean score=70) at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. The Parent Patient Activation Measure is a parent self-report 13-item scale with 4-level likert responses and scores ranging from 0 to 100.
Change in youth social functioning- life satisfactionup to18 months after interventionYouth social functioning will be assessed using the NIH Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System for children life satisfaction measure at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention.
Change in parent depressionup to 18 months after interventionParent depression will be measured with the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. The Patient Health Questionnaire is scored from 0 to 24.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in parenting self-efficacyup to 18 months after interventionThe Tool to Measure Parenting Self-Efficacy will be used to assess parent self-efficacy at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. The Tool to Measure Parenting Self-Efficacy short version consists of 36-items rated on an 11-point likert scale, from 0 to 10 completely disagree to completely agree. Individual items are summed to create a total score, with higher scores indicating greater feelings of parenting self-efficacy.
Change in shared decision-makingup to 18 months after interventionShared decision-making will be assessed using a three-item scale from the National Survey of Children's Health at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. Respondents report on a 4-point likert scale (never, sometimes, usually, or always) whether they feel that they 1) discuss with providers a range of treatment options; 2) are encouraged to raise concerns; 3) make treatment choices together. Mean scores range from 1 to 4 never to always.
Change in allianceup to 18 months after interventionThe adapted Parenting Alliance Inventory will be used to measure parent-teacher alliance at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. The Parenting Alliance Inventory was adapted to focus on parent-teacher alliance, and consists of 20 items scored on a 5-point likert scale, producing a mean score between 1 and 5 never to always.
Change in goal attainmentup to 18 months after interventionGoal attainment will be assessed with the psychometric equivalence tested goal attainment scale at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. The goal attainment scale measurement system is based on a 5-point response scale ranging from -2 (worse expected outcome) to 2 (best expected outcome).
Change in stressup to 18 months after interventionParent stress will be measured with the 17-item Parental Stress Scale at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. Mean scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating higher stress.
Change in observed parent activationup to18 months after interventionObserved parent activation will be assessed through audio-recorded parent-physician conversations at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. Evidence of parent activation will be examined: 1) providing context, 2) giving feedback, and 3) asking questions. Audio-recordings will be transcribed and a coding manual created.
Change in youth social functioning- meaning & purposeup to 18 months after interventionYouth social functioning will additionally be assessed using the NIH Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System for children meaning and purpose measure at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention.
Change in youth unmet need for careup to 18 months after interventionUnmet need for care will be assessed using a three-item scale from the National Survey of Children's Health items at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention. Respondents report that they needed but did not receive care (yes/no).
Change in youth psychiatric crisis care useup to 18 months after interventionPsychiatric crisis care use will be measured by number of emergency department visits at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention.
Change in number of inpatient psychiatric staysup to 18 months after interventionInpatient psychiatric stays will be measured by number of stays at 6, 12 and 18 months after intervention.

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORKathleen C Thomas, PhD

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jun 23, 2026