Parent-Child Memory Study: Improving Future Thinking Among Mothers
ConditionBehavior, Health
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexFemale
Age5+
SponsorHenry Ford Health System
About this trial
Parents of children from impoverished communities are disproportionately more likely to engage in harsh physical discipline, which can lead to serious clinical outcomes, including suicidal ideation and attempts. One mechanism linking low resource environments and maladaptive parenting strategies is maternal delay discounting, or the tendency to value smaller, immediate rewards (such as stopping children's misbehavior via physical means) relative to larger, but delayed rewards (like improving the parent-child relationship). This study will examine the efficacy of implementing a low-cost, brief intervention targeting the reduction of maternal delay discounting to inform broader public health efforts aimed at improving adolescent mental health outcomes in traditionally underserved communities.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
A mother and or grandmother from the Flint area with a child/grandchild between the ages of 5-10 who can provide legal consent for that child
Self-report that they have consistent contact with the child/grandchild
Willing to participate in the study
Able to participate in written assessments and an intervention conducted in English
Disqualifiers
Self-disclosed active suicidality/homicidality
Self-disclosed current bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or psychosis
Self-reported current and ongoing involvement with child protective services
Children must be between the ages of 5-10 and have a mother/grandmother willing to provide consent for their participation
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Episodic Future Thinking (EFT)
BehavioralThe adapted episodic future thinking (EFT) intervention will focus on generation of vivid, substance-free, rewarding events that could happen in the future with their children.
Episodic Recent Thinking (ERT)
BehavioralIn the episodic recent thinking (ERT) condition, the participant will instead describe in vivid details events that have occurred in the recent past.
Treatment groups
144 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Episodic Future Thinking (EFT)Experimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Episodic Recent Thinking (ERT)Active comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Change in Monetary Choice Questionnaire
The Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) is a 27-item binary-choice task, which asks participants to select between two hypothetical monetary amounts: a smaller reward available immediately (e.g. $49 today) or a larger reward available after a delay (e.g. $60 in 89 days). The measure is scored to derive a discounting rate k, with larger values reflecting more problematic rates of discounting. Because k distributions are typically skewed, post-hoc natural logarithmic transformations will be performed, which have been shown to approximate normal distributions. The MCQ has been shown to have strong psychometric properties among adults and correlates with real rewards, as well as real-world risk behaviors.
Time frame
Baseline, Intervention, Week 2, Month 3, Month 6, Month 92
Change in Consideration of Future Consequences Scale Score
The Consideration of Future Consequences Scale1 (CFCS-14) is a 14-item self-report questionnaire that assesses active consideration of longer-term implications of an individual's actions. Lower scores on the CFCS-14 are associated with a greater focus on immediate needs and have been found to be associated with less engagement in health behaviors1819 and greater substance use. The measure has been used extensively among adult samples and demonstrates strong reliability and validity. Research suggests modest but significant correlations with the MCQ. Change in CFCS-14 score is measured by comparing scores at the post-intervention assessment timepoints with baseline scores.
Time frame
Baseline, Intervention, Week 2, Month 3, Month 6, Month 9Secondary outcomes
1
Change in Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Score
Parents will report on their parenting styles and behavior using the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). The APQ consists of five subscales that yield two broadband "positive" and "negative" parenting factors. The measure is widely used and validated among parenting populations. 42 items are ranked on a scale of 1-5 and scores are computed for each subscale (with possible scores ranging from 3-15 for corporal punishment to 10-50 for longer subscales including parental monitoring and involvement). Higher scores reflect greater levels of each subscore domain.
Time frame
Baseline, Intervention, Week 2, Month 3, Month 6, Month 92
Change in Emotion Regulation Checklist
Parents will report on children's emotion regulation using the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ECR). The ECR includes 24 items that yield two subscales: (1) lability/negativity and (2) emotion regulation. The measure is widely used and validated for parent-report of older children and young adolescents.
Time frame
Baseline, Intervention, Week 2, Month 3, Month 6, Month 9Sponsors and contacts
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Henry Ford Health System
Lead sponsor
University of Kansas
Collaborator
University of Maryland, College Park
Collaborator
Michigan State University
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov