FAB Programme for Parents of Children With NDD

NCT ID: NCT05872737

Last Updated: 2024-09-19

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

154 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-06-05

Study Completion Date

2026-09-08

Brief Summary

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The study aims to examine the effectiveness of a psychotherapy approach called Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB) in improving the psychological health of parents of young children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) and reducing the emotional and behavioral symptoms of NDD children. The study will involve 154 Cantonese-speaking parents of children aged 2-6 years diagnosed with NDD in Hong Kong. The study hopes to find that FAB can improve parent-child dyads' health outcomes by enhancing psychological flexibility, parental psychological health, and mindful parenting skills.

Detailed Description

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Background: Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are heterogeneous disorders that typically develop in early childhood and are characterised by developmental deficits that result in impaired personal, social, and/or occupational functioning. In Hong Kong, according to the latest statistical report from the Education Bureau, it is estimated that at least 71,320 preschool and school-age children have been diagnosed with NDD and are currently receiving special education and/or health care services. It is well documented that NDD children have less clear communication signals to their parents and poorer prosocial skills.

Continued failures and difficulties in understanding and responding to children's needs may prevent parents from developing positive parenting behaviours, which can negatively impact parents' psychology and ultimately snowballing their NDD child's emotional and behavioural symptoms. To our knowledge, effective interventions that specifically target the mental health of parents caring for young children with NDD to improve outcomes for both parents and children are extremely scarce. To address this study gap, this study will implement and examine the effectiveness of the Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy, a facilitator-guided manual reading psychotherapy approach that explicitly targets the psychological needs of parents, in parents of young children with NDD in On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Service (OPRS) teams.

Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of the Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB) and general parenting advice, in comparison to the control (general parenting advice only), on outcomes related to parental psychological health (parenting stress, symptoms of depression and anxiety, psychological flexibility), parenting behaviour, as well as the child's emotional and behavioural symptoms over 6 months of post-intervention period.

Hypotheses to be tested: Compared to the control group alone, FAB participation could achieve the following goals: reduce parents' parenting stress and NDD children's emotional and behavioural symptoms, reduce parental depressive and anxiety symptoms, improve psychological flexibility and nurturing behaviours of mindful parenting, and reduce the use of health care and rehabilitation services for young children with NDD over 6 months of post-intervention period.

Design: A multi-centre, two-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a repeated-measures parallel-group design

Subjects: 154 Cantonese-speaking parents of children aged 2-6 years diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders

Instruments: Validated questionnaires

Interventions: Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB)

Main outcome measures: parental psychological health outcomes and the child's emotional and behavioural symptoms

Data analysis: Generalised estimating equation analyses with covariates adjustments

Expected results: After participating in FAB, parents will become more psychologically flexible in caring for their children with NDD. Parents also acquire better psychological health and mindful parenting skills, leading to eventful improvements in parent-child dyads health outcomes.

Conditions

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Autism Spectrum Disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Neurodevelopmental Disorders Intellectual Disability Specific Learning Disorder Communication Disorders Motor Disorders

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

A multi-centre, two-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a repeated-measures parallel-group design
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

TRIPLE

Caregivers Investigators Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB)

A 12-week facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy, which includes general parenting advice and is delivered via a website

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB) is a 12-week self-help parenting program that integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) principles with web-based modules and group-based sessions. The program includes a self-help workbook/manual and ACT protocols that cover various self-help exercises such as guided imagery, grounding, mindfulness, and values clarifications. To make the programme more relatable to Hong Kong parents caring for children with NDD, storytelling vignettes and therapeutic narratives will be included. Parents will work on each module at their own pace within 2-3 weeks and meet with trained facilitators in a video-conferencing format after completing each module to review their progress and learn positive parenting techniques.

Control Group

Routine family support services and four video-conferencing sessions over the course of 12 weeks

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

General Parenting Education and Advice

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Both the FAB group and the Control Group will receive routine family support services from collaborating NGOs, including education on managing the emotional and behavioral symptoms of children with NDD. To control for the interaction/social effect present in the FAB group, the Control Group will also receive four video-conferencing sessions guided by a trained research assistant over 12 weeks. These sessions will facilitate parents to discuss their parenting challenges, identify parenting traps, and provide general parenting advice as recommended by the Child Assessment Services, Department of Health under the HKSAR government.

Interventions

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Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB)

The Facilitator-guided Acceptance and Commitment Bibliotherapy (FAB) is a 12-week self-help parenting program that integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) principles with web-based modules and group-based sessions. The program includes a self-help workbook/manual and ACT protocols that cover various self-help exercises such as guided imagery, grounding, mindfulness, and values clarifications. To make the programme more relatable to Hong Kong parents caring for children with NDD, storytelling vignettes and therapeutic narratives will be included. Parents will work on each module at their own pace within 2-3 weeks and meet with trained facilitators in a video-conferencing format after completing each module to review their progress and learn positive parenting techniques.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

General Parenting Education and Advice

Both the FAB group and the Control Group will receive routine family support services from collaborating NGOs, including education on managing the emotional and behavioral symptoms of children with NDD. To control for the interaction/social effect present in the FAB group, the Control Group will also receive four video-conferencing sessions guided by a trained research assistant over 12 weeks. These sessions will facilitate parents to discuss their parenting challenges, identify parenting traps, and provide general parenting advice as recommended by the Child Assessment Services, Department of Health under the HKSAR government.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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FAB

Eligibility Criteria

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Exclusion Criteria

* has been diagnosed with severe mental illness(es),
* cognitive/language/communication/visual/hearing impairment(s) or disorders that may present difficulties in comprehending the content of the intervention; and/or
* are currently receiving another psychosocial, psychoeducational, or parenting intervention(s).
Minimum Eligible Age

21 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council Limited

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Chinese University of Hong Kong

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Yuen Yu CHONG

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council Limited

Hong Kong, , Hong Kong

Site Status RECRUITING

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Shatin, , Hong Kong

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Hong Kong

Central Contacts

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Yuen Yu CHONG, PhD

Role: CONTACT

(852) 3943 0665

Facility Contacts

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Pui Tik YAU

Role: primary

Pui Tik YAU

Role: primary

Other Identifiers

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NTEC-2022-0091

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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