Online Parent Education for Child Anxiety
ConditionAnxiety Disorders
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorMassachusetts General Hospital
About this trial
The investigators are doing this research to test whether parents of children ages 2-7 can better manage their child's anxiety by completing a brief, online, self-guided parent education program. One way to provide anxiety management skills to more children, and to potentially prevent worsening outcomes, is to offer online and self-guided educational programs that parents can complete without a clinician. This randomized trial will evaluate the effects of two brief, online, self-guided parent education programs designed to improve parents' understanding of anxiety and teach parents way to help their children cope with anxiety. Parents will be randomly assigned to one of the three programs. The main aim of the study is to examine whether the parent programs, compared to an educational control reduce parental accommodation of anxiety across a 1-, 4-, and 8-month follow-up period. As a secondary aim, the investigators will explore whether the parent programs reduce children's anxiety symptoms over the 8-month follow-up period. Results will inform the development of a scalable, low-cost model for promoting access to evidence-based treatment to young children.
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Their child is between the age of 2 and 7 years-old
Their child scores in the elevated range on an age-approrpiate anxiety screening measure
Parents are English-speaking
Parents are over the age of 18 years old
Disqualifiers
None
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Project EMPOWER
BehavioralProject EMPOWER is a web-based, self-administered program for parents that takes about 20 minutes to complete.
Being Brave Parent Education
BehavioralBeing Brave Parent Education is an online, self-guided program which consists of three brief video-recorded lessons (approximately 20 minutes each) with accompanying knowledge checks and workbook on implementing parent-directed cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Sharing Feelings
BehavioralA self-guided 20-minute educational control, that teaches parents about the importance of sharing feelings and about helpful versus unhelpful expression of emotion.
Treatment groups
90 Participants
are divided into 3 treatment groupsGroup A: Project EmpowerExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Being BraveExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group C: Sharing FeelingsSham comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Change in Pediatric Accommodation Scale, Parent-Report
The Pediatric Accommodation Scale is a parent-report of accommodation of their offspring's anxiety. Parents are asked to rate, on a 5-point scale from 0 (never) to 5 (always), the extent to which they accommodate their child's anxiety or avoidance behaviors. Total scores range from 0 to 25, with higher scores reflecting greater parental accommodation. Parents will report on their accommodation behaviors at baseline , 1-, 4-, and 8-months.
Time frame
Change over 8-month follow-up (Baseline to 1-month, 4-month, and 8-month follow-up)Secondary outcomes
1
Change in Child Anxiety Symptoms, Parent-Report Total T-Score
To assess child anxiety symptoms, parents will complete either the Spence Child Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P) for children ages 6-7, the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (SPAS) for children ages 3-5, or the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment Scale (ITSEA) for children aged 2. Each measure produces a Total Anxiety T-Score, which will be used as the secondary outcome.
Time frame
Change over 8-month follow-up (Baseline to 1-month, 4-month, and 8-month follow-up)Sponsors and contacts
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Source ClinicalTrials.gov