Emotional Neglect, Healthy Adolescents in School-based Population, Help-Seeking Behavior
Conditions
Keywords
Help-seeking, Decision-making, Emotional neglect, Adolescents, Secondary education, Recognition, Help-seeking behavior, Child neglect, Child maltreatment and neglect
Brief summary
The goal of this study is to find out how well adolescents in Dutch-speaking secondary schools in Brussels can recognize emotional neglect, and how this relates to their intention to seek help. The main research questions are: 1. How well do adolescents recognize situations of emotional neglect, and do boys and girls differ in their recognition? 2. Does recognition of emotional neglect predict adolescents' intention to seek help? This study is conducted through an online survey. Participants will read one of four short written stories about an adolescent experiencing emotional neglect. The stories vary by gender (boy or girl) and by the clarity of the neglect (clear or ambiguous). After reading, participants answer questions about the story, including their thoughts and how they might respond in a similar situation. They also answer questions about their own experiences and attitudes toward help-seeking.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALEmotional neglect vignettes
Participants are randomly assigned to one of four written vignettes of adolescents experiencing emotional neglect. Each vignette differs by gender (boy or girl) and by situation clarity (ambiguous or clear).
Sponsors
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
Interventional study employing vignettes to examine adolescents' recognition of emotional neglect and help-seeking behavior
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
11 Years to 25 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Age: adolescents aged 11-25 years; * Education: enrolled in regular full-time secondary education; * School location: Brussels-Capital Region; * School language: Dutch; * Consent: informed consent provided by the adolescent and their parent(s)/guardian.
Exclusion criteria
* Age: younger than 11 years or older than 25 years; * Education: not enrolled in regular full-time secondary education; * School location: outside the Brussels-Capital Region; * School language: non - Dutch-speaking; * Consent: informed consent not provided by the adolescent or their parent(s)/guardian.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Recognition of emotional neglect | Immediately after reading the vignette | Recognition is measured by asking participants to indicate whether emotional neglect is present in the vignette, using a 4-point Likert scale (1 = definitely not, 2 = probably not, 3 = probably yes, 4 = definitely yes). Higher scores indicate greater recognition of emotional neglect. Scores will be analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with age as a covariate. Factors include participant gender (boy or girl), vignette gender (boy or girl), and type of situation (ambiguous or clear). Exploratory analyses may examine recognition of other types of maltreatment (physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse). |
| Help-seeking intention | Immediately after reading the vignette | Help-seeking intention is measured by asking participants to indicate whether they would seek help in the situation described in the vignette, using a 4-point Likert scale (1 = definitely not, 2 = probably not, 3 = probably yes, 4 = definitely yes). Higher scores indicate greater intention to seek help. Scores will be analyzed using linear regression, with recognition as the independent variable and help-seeking intention as the dependent variable. Additional analyses will test whether perceived severity and anticipated risk of future harm moderate the relationship between recognition and help-seeking intention. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Severity | Immediately after reading the vignette | Severity is measured by asking participants to indicate how severe they perceived the situation described in the vignette, using a 4-point Likert scale (1 = not at all severe, 2 = not severe, 3 = severe, 4 = very severe). Higher scores indicate greater perceived severity. |
| Risk of future harm | Immediately after reading the vignette | Risk of future harm is measured by asking participants to estimate the probability that the adolescent in the vignette will experience future physical or emotional problems. Each type of problem is rated on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = no chance, 2 = very small chance, 3 = small chance, 4 = moderate chance, 5 = large chance, 6 = very large chance). Higher scores indicate greater anticipated risk of future harm. |
Countries
Belgium
Outcome results
None listed