EMpower Parents: Effectiveness of EMDR Treatment for Parental PTSD Related to Their Child's Medical Condition.

NCT ID: NCT06776744

Last Updated: 2025-01-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 60 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-01-31
• Study Completion Date: 2026-04-30

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if short EMDR treatment offered in two modalities (face to face and remote) is effective in reducing PTSD symptoms and comorbid symptoms for parents of children with diverse chronic and acute medical conditions.

The main question is:

• Is short EMDR treatment effective in reducing PTSD symptoms in parents of children with chronic or acute medical conditions?

Researchers will compare in person and remote EMDR treatment to a waiting list group to see if the treatment is effective.

Participants in the intervention conditions will participate in four in person or remote EMDR sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours, spread across two half-days. Participants in the waiting list condition will receive this treatment after a period of 3 months.

Detailed Description

Objective: The primary objective is to assess the effectiveness of a brief (two half-day) in person (EMDRip) and remote (EMDRr) EMDR therapy compared to control group in reducing posttraumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with a chronic or acute medical condition.

The secondary objectives are to assess the effectiveness of brief EMDRip and EMDRr for parents of children with a severe chronic or acute medical condition 1) in reducing psychological comorbidity in parents (psychopathology in general: Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization, and parenting stress), 2) in reducing posttraumatic stress symptoms of their child with a chronic or acute medical condition, and 3) in improving relationship quality between the parent and spouse and between the parent and the child with a severe chronic or acute medical condition. 4) To evaluate the feasibility of EMDRip versus EMDRr.5) To describe the traumatic experiences and future worries (targets) the parents of children with a severe chronic or acute medical condition struggle with.

Study design: This study will be a randomized controlled trial with three study arms: in person EMDR (EMDRip), remote EMDR (EMDRr), waiting list (Control).

Intervention: The EMDR intervention in this study consists of four in person or remote EMDR sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours, spread across two half-days, approximately one week will elapse between the two treatment days. EMDR treatment will be offered by licensed therapists at Amsterdam UMC.

Conditions

All Acute Pediatric Conditions; All Chronic Pediatric Conditions

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

EMDR in person

For both intervention conditions (EMDRip and EMDRr), short EMDR treatment, 4 x 1.5 hour divided over 2 half-days, will be offered following the standard eight-phase protocol (14). Parents in the EMDRip condition will receive EMDR treatment at the Emma Children's Hospital.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) treatment. EMDR is one of the first-choice evidence based treatments for PTSD. During an EMDR session, the traumatic memory is brought to the surface including associated images, thoughts, feelings and body sensations, while simultaneously focusing on an external distracting stimulus (e.g., lateral eye movements).

EMDR remote

For both intervention conditions (EMDRip and EMDRr), short EMDR treatment, 4 x 1.5 hour divided over 2 half-days, will be offered following the standard eight-phase protocol (14). Parents in the EMDRr condition will receive EMDR treatment remote via the online web-based tool EMDR platform.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) treatment. EMDR is one of the first-choice evidence based treatments for PTSD. During an EMDR session, the traumatic memory is brought to the surface including associated images, thoughts, feelings and body sensations, while simultaneously focusing on an external distracting stimulus (e.g., lateral eye movements).

Waiting list

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) treatment. EMDR is one of the first-choice evidence based treatments for PTSD. During an EMDR session, the traumatic memory is brought to the surface including associated images, thoughts, feelings and body sensations, while simultaneously focusing on an external distracting stimulus (e.g., lateral eye movements).

Intervention Type: OTHER

Other Intervention Names

Psychological intervention

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• One of the three conditions below on the PTSD Check List for DSM-5 (PCL-5): A 'moderately or higher' (2-4) score for at least one symptom in each cluster (B, C, D or E), or Three of the four PTSD criteria (one B symptom, one C symptom, two D symptoms and two E symptoms), or A (sub) clinical total score (>24).
• Being motivated for brief EMDR treatment.
• Parenting a child under treatment of a healthcare provider at the Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam UMC.
• Having sufficient knowledge of the Dutch language to complete the questionnaires.

Exclusion Criteria

• Major interfering acute medical or psychiatric condition, such as psychosis, substance dependence or high risk for suicide.
• Insufficient fluency of the Dutch language.
• Receiving psychological trauma treatment by another therapist at the same time.

• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Academisch Medisch Centrum - Universiteit van Amsterdam (AMC-UvA)

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Lotte Haverman

Head of Pediatric Psychology Research Section

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Lotte Haverman, Dr.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Amsterdam UMC

Central Contacts

Esmée Vesseur, MSc.

Role: CONTACT

empowerparents@amsterdamumc.nl

+316205665674

Linde Scholten, Dr.

Role: CONTACT

linde.scholten@amsterdamumc.nl

+316205665674

References

Vesseur EM, de Roos C, Scholten L, Haverman L. EMpower Parents: Effectiveness of EMDR treatment for parental PTSD related to a child's medical condition in a randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychol. 2025 Jul 17;13(1):799. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03043-x.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 40676651 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

NL85854.018.24

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id