This study aims to determine the feasibility, acceptability and potential efficacy of an individual, video-conferencing based Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) on the mental well-being of parents of children with Special Health Care Needs(SHCN). The study also aims to explore the experience of parents after participating in the individual-based FACT sessions offered by the trained FACT interventionists.
Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents
living together with the child who is at preschool/school-age (3-9 years old)
adopt the responsibility of taking care of the child,
has daily access to their iPhone and Android smartphones.
Parents with severe mental illness or developmental disabilities which impaired their ability to comprehend the content of the programme will be excluded.
Single group
Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
BehavioralThis is an individual-based FACT counselling programme which composes of 4-6 sessions on a weekly basis (45-60mins/session). All the sessions are delivered by a trained FACT interventionist via either video-conferencing (e.g., Zoom or Windows Teams) or face-to-face format. The programme aims to increase the psychological flexibility of the parent, so that he/she is able to (i) experience the present moment and take perspective on self (i.e., Awareness); (ii) detach the distressing private experiences and associated rules and to take a non-judgemental, accepting stance toward the painful experiences (i.e., Openness) and (iii) exhibits strong connection with values and commit to values-consistent actions. The trained interventionist will use different ACT strategies in these sessions, including ACT metaphors, experiential exercises, guided mindfulness exercises, guided imagery exercises and values clarification exercises to reinforce the above principles.
Parental depressive symptoms
The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, 9-item, 4-point Likert scale) will be used to assess the frequency of the parents experiencing depressive symptoms in the past two weeks. The Chinese version of the PHQ-9 has demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86) and a 2-week test-retest correlation coefficient.
Parental anxiety symptoms
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7, 7-item, 4-point Likert scale) will be used to measure the severity of anxiety symptoms. The Chinese version of the GAD-7 demonstrated good reliability and validity with a Cronbach's coefficient of 0.91.
Parental Stress
The Parental Stress Scale (PSS, 16-item, 5-point scale) will be used to assess parenting stress. A higher score represents a higher level of parental stress. The Chinese version of the PSS has demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties and is therefore suitable for use by researchers to assess the parental stress levels of Chinese parents.
Parental Psychological Flexibility
The PsyFlex (6-item 5-point Likert Scale) will assess all the six therapeutic processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Each item refers to one of the core skills that ACT focuses on when developing psychological flexibility and well-being. The score is then interpreted such that higher scores represent higher psychological flexibility.
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Chinese University of Hong Kong
Lead sponsor
Hong Kong Association of Youth Department
Collaborator
Hong Kong Christian Service
Collaborator
Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups
Collaborator
Hong Kong School Nurse Association
Collaborator
Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association
Collaborator
Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service
Collaborator
