Online Social Learning Program for Parents With Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Raising Resilient Children

NCT ID: NCT05730491

Last Updated: 2026-01-21

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

460 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-10-16

Study Completion Date

2027-04-30

Brief Summary

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The goal of this clinical trial is to test efficacy of the REACH program in parents with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and their young children. The main question it aims to answer is:

-How can parents with IBS help their young kids develop healthy habits?

Participants will be asked to complete online surveys and to use a website. Researchers will compare results from parents who use one of two websites chosen by chance, like flipping a coin. One website focuses on child health and safety behaviors. The other website focuses on strategies to promote child wellness behaviors.

Detailed Description

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To date, preventive interventions have not been applied to reduce intergenerational transmission of pain conditions. There are several reasons that abdominal pain presents an ideal model for this important work. Abdominal pain is the second most common recurrent pain complaint of childhood. It is associated with disruption of normal activity, including school attendance and poor quality of life, and is emotionally distressing for both children and parents. Research demonstrates that illness behaviors are linked to development of abdominal pain disorders in children.

The investigators hypothesize that a social learning intervention modified toward a preventive focus for parents with IBS who have young children, ages 4-7 years, will reduce risk factors (anxiety, catastrophizing, parenting stress) and increase protective factors (positive affect, social support), resulting in lower parental solicitous behaviors, fewer child abdominal pain symptoms, reduced child health care utilization, and better child physical, psychological, social, and school functioning. The objective of the current application is to test the efficacy of an early preventive intervention targeting parents with IBS whose young children are thus at higher risk for developing abdominal pain. To enhance potential for scalability and dissemination, and meet parental preferences, the intervention is delivered via the internet.

Conditions

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome Abdominal Pain

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Participants will be randomized to either an attention educational control website or social learning cognitive behavioral therapy (SLCBT) prevention intervention. A control arm is necessary in order to evaluate the efficacy of the SLCBT intervention.
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

TRIPLE

Participants Investigators Outcome Assessors
Participants are not informed of their condition assignment and both receive online programs focused on healthy child behaviors. Investigators are blinded \& masked to study condition, and all outcomes are assessed via self-reported REDCap surveys. Care providers are not involved in the study (N/A).

Study Groups

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Social Learning and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (SLCBT)

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Social Learning and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (SLCBT)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants assigned to this group will complete an online program with 3 core skills, which will include strategies to promote wellness behaviors, use adaptive cognitive coping strategies, model wellness behaviors for their children, and determine when it is appropriate to take further action re: potential illness in their child. The website is interactive and self-guided. All participants will have access to the same resources and content, although based on responses to quizzes and skills practice questions, the automated feedback may differ slightly. The website includes treatment modules that share content via text, images, videos and recordings, a skills library that includes audio recordings of relaxation exercises, infographics to support skills practice, and behavioral assignments to record skills practice and receive automated feedback. Participants will review their knowledge at the end of each treatment module with brief quizzes.

Attention Education Control

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Attention Education Control

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants assigned to the control group will receive access to a web program and complete 3 modules focused on child health and safety behaviors, such as sports and water safety. These participants will review written/visual content on the above topics, take quizzes to test knowledge gained, and will be provided with brief assignments to increase child safety behaviors. All participants assigned to the control group will have access to the same educational content.

Interventions

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Social Learning and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (SLCBT)

Participants assigned to this group will complete an online program with 3 core skills, which will include strategies to promote wellness behaviors, use adaptive cognitive coping strategies, model wellness behaviors for their children, and determine when it is appropriate to take further action re: potential illness in their child. The website is interactive and self-guided. All participants will have access to the same resources and content, although based on responses to quizzes and skills practice questions, the automated feedback may differ slightly. The website includes treatment modules that share content via text, images, videos and recordings, a skills library that includes audio recordings of relaxation exercises, infographics to support skills practice, and behavioral assignments to record skills practice and receive automated feedback. Participants will review their knowledge at the end of each treatment module with brief quizzes.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Attention Education Control

Participants assigned to the control group will receive access to a web program and complete 3 modules focused on child health and safety behaviors, such as sports and water safety. These participants will review written/visual content on the above topics, take quizzes to test knowledge gained, and will be provided with brief assignments to increase child safety behaviors. All participants assigned to the control group will have access to the same educational content.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Parent/caregiver at least 18 years old
* Parent diagnosed with IBS or idiopathic abdominal pain in the last five years OR
* Parent meets ROME criteria for IBS (abdominal pain at least weekly; pain related to defecation, change in stool frequency, and change in stool form at least 30% of the time)
* Is the parent primarily responsible for caring for the child on a day-to-day basis
* Child is 4 to 7 years old at the time of screening. If multiple children are present in the family, the parent will be asked to select one child for study participation.
* Child must currently live at least half of the time with the parent involved in intervention.
* Parent and child must reside in the U.S.

Exclusion Criteria

* Not able to read/speak/understand English.
* Child has a developmental disability that requires full-time special education
* Child has chronic abdominal pain (pain most/every day for more than 3 months)
* Child has a current doctor's diagnosis of a painful\* gastrointestinal disorder like functional constipation, lactose/fructose/gluten intolerance, celiac disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disorder, etc. (\*does not include nonpainful disorders like GERD)
* Child has another severe chronic disease such as juvenile arthritis, cancer, or other severe condition(s) requiring chronic medical treatment.
* Does not have regular access to the Internet on a desktop, tablet, phone, or laptop computer
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University of Washington

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Seattle Children's Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Tonya Palermo

Professor, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Seattle Children's Hospital

Seattle, Washington, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Tonya M Palermo, PhD

Role: CONTACT

206-884-4208

Rona L Levy, PhD, MPH

Role: CONTACT

Facility Contacts

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Tonya M Palermo, PhD

Role: primary

206-884-4208

References

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Levy RL, Murphy TB, van Tilburg MAL, Kuklinski MR, Bailey JA, Aalfs H, Badillo I, Diakhate H, Palermo TM. Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of an internet-based prevention intervention for young children at-risk for functional abdominal pain. Trials. 2024 Aug 19;25(1):549. doi: 10.1186/s13063-024-08371-8.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 39160566 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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1R01HD107794-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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