Living in Families With Emotions
Conditions
Brief summary
The overall purpose of this study is to identify adolescents who are at-risk for psychosis, as evidenced by endorsement of mild-to-moderate, sub-syndromal symptoms, and provide them with a potentially preventive intervention aimed at enhancing resilience.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALLiving in Families With Emotions
This is an 8-week group-based psychosocial intervention teaching adolescents how to recognize their feelings, manage them, and talk about emotions through group discussions, live exercises, and games. The adolescents' caregivers are also provided with the same information, through two live sessions.
Sponsors
Massachusetts General Hospital
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
10 Years to 15 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1. Male and female adolescents from the Boston area who are in middle school at the time of enrollment; 2. Enrolled in a school where study screening is taking place; 3. Have a parent or legal guardian who is able and willing to provide written informed consent; 4. Competent and willing to provide written informed assent; 5. English language proficiency of parent/guardian and participant; 6. Response of yes, definitely or maybe to auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, or paranoia on the Adult Psychotic-like Symptom Checker (APSS); 7. Able to safely participate in the protocol and appropriate for outpatient level of care, in the opinion of the investigator.
Exclusion criteria
1. Current DSM-V diagnosis with serious active symptoms (such as active psychotic symptoms, current suicidality, serious active alcohol or substance use, marked deterioration in functioning over the prior month) that necessitates close monitoring or individual therapy and/or inpatient or partial hospitalization; 2. Current enrollment in psychological or behavioral health treatment; 3. Current use of psychotropic medications (other than stimulants) prescribed by a physician; 4. Severe developmental delays (including, but not limited to, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability, and Down Syndrome).
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention Feasibility and Acceptability | Before the intervention and 8 weeks later | This measure includes participant (both adolescent and parent/caregiver) attendance, with more attendance of the intervention indicating better feasibility and acceptability. |
| Adolescent Psychotic-Like Symptom Screener (APSS) | Before the intervention, 8 weeks later, 6 months later, and 12 months later | The APSS is a 7-item measure assessing the presence of: visual and auditory hallucinations, paranoia, grandiosity, delusions of control, mind reading, and delusions of reference. Items are scored on a 3-point Likert scale (0=No, never, 0.5=Maybe, or 1=Yes, definitely) and are then summed for a total score. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) | Before the intervention, 8 weeks later, 6 months later, and 12 months later | The SCARED is a 41 item measure to capture anxiety. It is rated on a 3 point Likert scale (not true or hardly ever true, somewhat true or sometimes true, or very true or often true). |
| The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale for children (CES-DC) | Before the intervention, 8 weeks later, 6 months later, and 12 months later | The CES-DC is a 20-item self-report measure rated on a 4-point Likert scale that captures symptoms of depression within the past week, with higher ratings representing more severe depression. |
| The Penn Emotion Recognition Test (ER-40) | Before the intervention, 8 weeks later, 6 months later, and 12 months later | This is a 15-minute computer-based task which involves identifying which emotion (neutral, sad, happy, angry, or scared) is being expressed in 40 (half male and half female presenting) online images of faces to measure facial emotion recognition. |
| The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) | Before the intervention, 8 weeks later, 6 months later, and 12 months later | Parents/caregivers rated the CBCL, a 113-item multiple choice self-report measure to capture psychiatric symptoms of the adolescent through parent/caregiver ratings. |
| Concise Health Risk Tracking Self-Report (CHRT-SR) | Before the intervention, 8 weeks later, 6 months later, and 12 months later | The CHRT-SR measures suicidal thoughts and behaviors using 14-items, with higher ratings indicating more suicidal thoughts and behaviors. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed