Nonviolent Communication for Parents

NCT ID: NCT06943105

Last Updated: 2025-09-17

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 172 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-05-01
• Study Completion Date: 2026-06-30

Brief Summary

This randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of face-to-face Nonviolent Communication (NVC) intervention in improving parents' mental well-being and NVC skills, reducing parenting stress, depression and anxiety symptoms, and child emotional and behavioural problems.

A total of 172 parents with primary-school-age children will be recruited and randomly assigned to an intervention group or a waitlist control group. The intervention group will receive six weekly 1.5-hour face-to-face NVC training sessions delivered by trained social workers.

Five to ten social workers will be trained by professional NVC trainers through a train-the-trainer workshop, including three sessions. Each social worker will be assessed before (TTT1), after (TTT2) the workshops and 10 months (TTT3).

Assessments for participants will be conducted at baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2), and at three-month follow-up (T3). After completing the assessments, the waitlist control group will receive the same sessions. Qualitative interviews will be conducted to explore participants' experiences and perceptions of NVC.

Conditions

Anxiety; Depression Symptom; Well-being

Study Design

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

Study Groups

Receiving NVC Interventions

Participants in the intervention group will receive six weekly 1.5-hour face-to-face NVC training sessions delivered by trained social workers.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Nonviolent Communication Intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The intervention will be conducted by social workers who will be trained by professional NVC trainers through a train-the-trainer workshop, including six sessions. The interventions include an introduction to four fundamental principles of NVC, distinguishing observations from evaluations, identifying and expressing feelings, taking responsibility for feelings and needs, and using positive action language to make requests. Each session will feature a review of the previous session, a warm-up game and an exercise to consolidate the learning of the concepts. The intervention sessions will also include group discussions and debriefing sessions on parents' experiences of practising NVC.

Wailist Control Group

The waitlist control group will not receive any training before all the assessments have been done by both groups. The wailist control group will receive NVC training sessions after all assessments. During the whole study period, these participants can access usual medical services, whether related or unrelated to mental health needs.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Nonviolent Communication Intervention

The intervention will be conducted by social workers who will be trained by professional NVC trainers through a train-the-trainer workshop, including six sessions. The interventions include an introduction to four fundamental principles of NVC, distinguishing observations from evaluations, identifying and expressing feelings, taking responsibility for feelings and needs, and using positive action language to make requests. Each session will feature a review of the previous session, a warm-up game and an exercise to consolidate the learning of the concepts. The intervention sessions will also include group discussions and debriefing sessions on parents' experiences of practising NVC.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 1) parents aged 24-59 years with children of primary school age;
• 2) with mild to severe depressive symptoms (score >5 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9) (Kroenke et al., 2001) and/or mild to severe anxiety symptoms (score >5 on the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-7) (Spitzer et al., 2006); and
• 3) Hong Kong residents who can understand Cantonese.

Exclusion Criteria

• 1) under psychiatric treatment, psychotherapy groups and are classified as unstable cases based on the judgment of the recruiting social workers;
• 2) participating in other related parenting programmes.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 24 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 59 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Hong Kong Metropolitan University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Dr Grace SUN Yuying

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Grace Yuying Sun

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Locations

The Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare of Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Hong Kong, , Hong Kong

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Hong Kong

Central Contacts

Grace Yuying Sun, PhD

Role: CONTACT

gsun@hkmu.edu.hk

852 39702916

Facility Contacts

Grace Yuying Sun, PhD

Role: primary

gsun@hkmu.edu.hk

852 39702916

Other Identifiers

HE-RGC2024/NHS02

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id