Parenting With Anxiety: Helping Anxious Parents Raise Confident Children

NCT04755933 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: ER/SC430/1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 3,508
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a randomised controlled trial of an intervention to reduce symptoms of anxiety in the children of anxious parents. Parents will participate in an online intervention which helps them develop a calm, consistent, behaviour management style. The parents will be randomised to the intervention or a control group with no intervention. The intervention itself will undergo a component analysis to determine whether some modules are more effective than others.

Conditions

Child Anxiety; Parent Anxiety; Parental Wellbeing; Child Wellbeing

Keywords

Parenting

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in child anxiety

  Measured using the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P and Preschool SCAS if the child is aged 6 or under). SCAS-P: Minimum 0 Maximum 114. A higher total score is indicative of higher level of child anxiety. T scores used to indicate clinical levels of anxiety however this is a screen not a diagnostic instrument. SCAS Preschool: Minimum 0 Maximum 112. A higher total indicates a higher level of pre-school child anxiety. A score of 1SD above the mean for a subscale or the total score indicates clinical investigated would be warranted.

  Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months.

Secondary Outcomes (6)

• Change in parent anxiety and parental wellbeing

  Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months.

• Change in parent anxiety and parental wellbeing

  Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months.

• Change in child wellbeing and health

  Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months.

• Change in child wellbeing and health

  Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months.

• Change in anxiogenic parenting behaviours

  Baseline, 6 months, and up to 21 months

Study Arms (2)

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

An online learning tool, designed to helps parents develop a calm, consistent behaviour management style, whilst learning skills to discourage children's avoidance.

Behavioral: Raising Confident Children Course

Control

NO INTERVENTION

The participants in the control arm will not receive access to the online course, but will complete the same sets of questionnaires at each of the timepoints.

Interventions

Raising Confident Children Course BEHAVIORAL

An online learning tool consisting of 8 different modular components, designed to reduce the transmission of anxiety from parents to children. The modular components include: a core starter about anxiety, the role of avoidance, using play to develop childrens confidence, using Emotion Coaching with children, managing difficult behaviour, the role of sleep, exercise and diet, reducing overprotection, modelling confident behaviour and managing difficult behaviour.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 16 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Be a parent (any gender, adoptive/biological/step/foster/grandparent) aged 16+, of a child aged 2 to 11 years (inclusive). The index parent must have at least 50 days' contact with the index child per year and confirm that they see enough of the child to report on the child's current anxiety level.
• Index parent must be a UK resident.
• Self-report subjectively substantial levels of current or lifetime anxiety.
• Able to commit to completion of measures at (up to) three time points even if allocated to the control arm.

You may not qualify if:

• N/A

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Sussex: lead
• Kavli Trust: collaborator
• Brighton & Sussex Medical School: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Sussex

Brighton, BN1 9RH, United Kingdom

RECRUITING

Related Publications (2)

• Dunn A, Alvarez J, Arbon A, Bremner S, Elsby-Pearson C, Emsley R, Jones C, Lawrence P, Lester KJ, Morson N, Simner J, Thomson A, Cartwright-Hatton S. Effectiveness of an unguided modular online intervention for highly anxious parents in preventing anxiety in their children: a parallel group randomised controlled trial. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2024 Sep 4;45:101038. doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.101038. eCollection 2024 Oct.

  PMID: 39291249 DERIVED

• Dunn A, Alvarez J, Arbon A, Bremner S, Elsby-Pearson C, Emsley R, Jones C, Lawrence P, Lester KJ, Majdandzic M, Morson N, Perry N, Simner J, Thomson A, Cartwright-Hatton S. Effectiveness of a Web-Based Intervention to Prevent Anxiety in the Children of Parents With Anxiety: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2022 Nov 10;11(11):e40707. doi: 10.2196/40707.

  PMID: 36355406 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Sam Cartright-Hatton

  University of Sussex

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Amy Arbon

CONTACT

01273 641444; a.arbon@nhs.net

Abby Dunn

CONTACT

abby.dunn@sussex.ac.uk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 2, 2021
• First Posted: February 16, 2021
• Study Start: February 15, 2021
• Primary Completion: April 1, 2023
• Study Completion: April 1, 2023
• Last Updated: May 19, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)