Text-messaging Intervention to Support Parents After Their Child's Psychiatric Emergency

NCT06456762 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 231812R34MH132711-01A1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 90
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This grant aims to develop and test a text-messaging intervention for parents of children and teens evaluated in the emergency department for a psychiatric emergency and discharged home with outpatient referrals. The intervention for parents will teach parents skills to navigate the mental health services system and build their self-efficacy in managing their child's mental health. This research has the potential to improve services for families seeking emergency psychiatric support, with the goal of facilitating treatment engagement and reducing emergency services utilization using scalable, cost-effective, accessible tools.

Conditions

Parents; Self Efficacy; Mental Health Literacy; Psychiatric Emergency

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Child and Adolescent Services Assessment: Outpatient Mental Health Service Utilization

  The Child and Adolescent Services Assessment will be used as a parent self-report measure that evaluates the total number of outpatient mental health appointments the participant's child attends during the follow-up period. The outcome will be a total count of the number of outpatient mental health appointments attended.

  24 weeks

• Child and Adolescent Services Assessment: Emergency Department Services Use

  The Child and Adolescent Services Assessment will be used as a parent self-report measure to evaluate the number of psychiatric emergency department visits the participant's child has during the follow-up period. The outcome variable will be a dichotomous variable based on whether the child was readmitted to the emergency department during the follow-up period (yes/no).

  24 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire - Jr.

  24 weeks

• Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview - Revised

  24 weeks.

Study Arms (3)

iPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education About Care after the ED

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Parents in the iPEACE condition will receive an 8-week text-messaging intervention to build skills in mental health literacy and self-efficacy. Texts will be delivered several days per week over an 8-week period. The intervention is fully automated.

Behavioral: iPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education about Care after the ED

Text Reminders Only

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Parents in the text-reminders only condition will receive weekly reminders to make an outpatient therapy appointment for their child. Texts will be fully automated, and will be delivered once a week for 8-weeks.

Behavioral: Text Messaging Reminders Only

Treatment as Usual

NO INTERVENTION

Parents in the TAU condition will receive typical treatment in the emergency department, including outpatient referrals and safety planning if needed prior to discharge.

Interventions

iPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education about Care after the ED BEHAVIORAL

Automated texting intervention for parents to increase engagement in their child's outpatient mental health treatment over an 8-week period.

iPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education About Care after the ED

Text Messaging Reminders Only BEHAVIORAL

Weekly automated text reminders to instruct parents to make an appointment with their child's outpatient mental health provider over an 8-week period.

Text Reminders Only

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Parents or legal guardians of a child ages 11-17;
• Parents or legal guardians must live with their child ≥50% of the time;
• Child must be admitted to the pediatric emergency department for a mental health crisis;
• Child must be discharged home from the emergency department with referrals to outpatient care.

You may not qualify if:

• Do not have daily access to a mobile phone that can receive SMS text messages;
• Do not speak and read fluently in English.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Vanderbilt University Medical Center: lead
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Nashville, Tennessee, 37212, United States

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Margaret Benningfield, MD

  Vanderbilt University Medical Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Margaret Benningfield, MD

CONTACT

6156128324; margaret.m.benningfield@vumc.org

Neil Chaturvedi

CONTACT

6159339731; neil.chaturvedi@vumc.org

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 7, 2024
• First Posted: June 13, 2024
• Study Start: August 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Last Updated: November 10, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF
• Time Frame: We will submit individual participant data to the NIMH NDA every 6-months for the duration of the study. Uploads of all scientific and meta-data will be harmonized, validated, and submitted at 6-month intervals over the course of the award, following standard January 15 and July 15th deadlines.

Locations

US (1)