More Appreciation and Less Criticism Project

NCT04445818 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: HKUSPH-MALC
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 803
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The project "More Appreciation and Less Criticism Project" (MALC) is a collaboration between the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) and the School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong (HKUSPH), funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The objectives are to develop and test theory-driven group programmes to increase parents' intention and actual behaviours to express more appreciation or less criticism when interacting with their children, thereby enhancing family harmony and happiness.

Conditions

Parenting; Family Research; Family

Keywords

Parenting; Appreciation; Criticism; Fruit and Vegetable Consumption; Family

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Changes from baseline self-reported appreciation behaviours at follow-ups

  Being assessed by averaging two items, measuring the frequency with which parents expressed appreciation (express appreciation towards children's efforts; express appreciation towards children's strengths) in the past 7 days. Responses range from 0 to 6 (0: '0 time,' 1: 'one to two times per week,' 2: 'three to four times per week,' 3: 'five to six times per week,' 4: 'once a day,' 5: 'two to three times a day,' and 6: 'four times or more per day'). The Cronbach's alpha is 0.90.

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), 2-week post-workshop (T3) and 6-week post-workshop (T4).

• Changes from baseline self-reported criticism behaviours at follow-ups

  Being assessed by averaging two items, measuring the frequency with which parents expressed criticism (criticise children; express dissatisfaction towards children's behavior) in the past 7 days. Responses range from 0 to 6 (0: '0 time,' 1: 'one to two times per week,' 2: 'three to four times per week,' 3: 'five to six times per week,' 4: 'once a day,' 5: 'two to three times a day,' and 6: 'four times or more per day'). The Cronbach's alpha is 0.93.

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), 2-week post-workshop (T3) and 6-week post-workshop (T4).

• Changes from baseline self-reported fruit and vegetable intake behaviours at follow-ups

  Being assessed by summing two items, one each for the number of servings of fruits and vegetables consumed in the past week.

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), 2-week post-workshop (T3) and 6-week post-workshop (T4).

Secondary Outcomes (16)

• Changes from baseline outcome expectancies of more appreciation at post-workshop

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), and T2 (immediately after the workshop).

• Changes from baseline outcome expectancies of less criticism at post-workshop

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), and T2 (immediately after the workshop).

• Changes from baseline outcome expectancies of fruit and vegetable intake at post-workshop

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), and T2 (immediately after the workshop).

• Changes from baseline intention to express more appreciation at post-workshop and 2-week

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), T2 (immediately after the workshop), and 2-week post-workshop (T3).

• Changes from baseline intention to criticize less at post-workshop and 2-week

  Baseline (before the workshop, T1), T2 (immediately after the workshop), and 2-week post-workshop (T3).

Study Arms (3)

More Appreciation

EXPERIMENTAL

A 6-minute engaging video will be shown, illustrating examples where a mother initially withholds her appreciation for her son's effort in school and later express it. The video will also capture the effect on the child and the family. Attributional discussion questions will follow to elicit positive outcomes of expressing appreciation and the negative outcomes of withholding appreciation (e.g., What may be the long-term effects of showing appreciation on your child, family, or on yourself?). Key points will be summarised and reinforced to enhance behavioural intention (Schwarzer \& Luszczynska, 2008). Then the participants will be asked to plan by indicating when (e.g., Saturday afternoon), what (e.g., child helping a younger sibling prepare for a dictation test), and how (e.g., "I can see that you gave up your leisure time to help your sister with the spelling. Thank you!") they would express appreciation to their children.

Behavioral: More appreciation

Less Criticism

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will watch a 6-minute video showing examples of a father criticising his son, which will be replaced by positive communication later, and the different reactions evoked in the child and the family. Then, participants will have an attributional discussion on the negative effects of criticism (e.g., negative effect on self-worth and motivation) and positive outcomes of using constructive feedback (e.g., promptly identifying undesirable behaviours without relating to personal traits or abilities). In small groups, they will work out alternatives (i.e., constructive feedback; termed "positive reminder" in the intervention) to criticism, and each plan and write down when (e.g., after school), what (e.g., low test marks), and how (e.g., "How do you prepare for the tests?)

Behavioral: Less criticism

Fruit and Vegetable

EXPERIMENTAL

This workshop will emphasise the importance of consuming at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetable daily for a healthy diet, and aim to boost participants' self-efficacy in achieving this. Participants will be presented with examples of one portion of fruit or vegetable, and then create their own recipes. They will also consider how to overcome obstacles of consuming more portions. Each participant will set goals and write down plans on when, where, what, and how they would increase their fruit and vegetable intake of their children and family as a whole.

Behavioral: More Fruit and Vegetable

Interventions

More appreciation BEHAVIORAL

More Appreciation

Less criticism BEHAVIORAL

Less Criticism

More Fruit and Vegetable BEHAVIORAL

Fruit and Vegetable

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Parents who are Cantonese-speaking, able to complete study questionnaire, and who have children attending p.4 to p.6 will be included.

You may not qualify if:

• Parents with active psychiatric problems, suicidal ideations, personality disorders, emotional problems, and mental retardartion will be excluded from the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong: lead
• Tung Wah Group of Hospitals: collaborator

Related Publications (1)

• Fung SSW, Lam TH, Sun Y, Man PKW, Ip JCM, Wan ANT, Stewart S, Ho SY. A cluster randomized controlled trial of more appreciation and less criticism in Hong Kong parents. J Fam Psychol. 2020 Sep;34(6):731-739. doi: 10.1037/fam0000628. Epub 2020 Jan 16.

  PMID: 31944801 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Vegetables

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Food; Diet, Food, and Nutrition; Physiological Phenomena; Food and Beverages

Study Officials

• Samantha Fung, PhD

  The University of Hong Kong

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: The person recruiting participants and the participants enrolled are not blinded to the allocation status. Double blinding in cluster RCTs for psychosocial or behavioural interventions is often difficult to implement.
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: This study is a cluster randomised controlled trial with three arms: more appreciation arm (MA), less criticism arm (LC), and more fruit and vegetable arm (FV).

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 16, 2020
• First Posted: June 24, 2020
• Study Start: April 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: May 31, 2013
• Study Completion: May 31, 2013
• Last Updated: June 24, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share