Stronger Families Through Art Therapy: A Mixed Methods Programme Evaluation Study

NCT06732297 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: IRB-2024-821
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 96
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The current research aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the Strong Families Through Art Therapy (SFAT) programme, which was developed to improve the parent-child relationship in vulnerable families. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. 1.Is the programme effective in enhancing quality of life and family resilience among parents?
2. 2.Is the programme effective in enhancing quality of life among children?
3. 3.Is the programme feasible and acceptable for large scale implementation in Singapore?
4. 4.Take the 10-week SFAT programme
5. 5.Complete assessment survey for 3 times
6. 6.Attend a focus group discussion (optional)

Conditions

Vulnerable Families

Keywords

Vulnerable families; art therapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Self-rated quality of life for caregiver participants

  The primary outcome will be assessed by the World Health Organization Quality of life Brief Scale (WHOQOL-BREF) \[WHO, 1997\]. The WHOQOL-BREF comprises 26-items rated on a 5-point Likert scale and clustered into the four subscales of physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environmental health. The WHOQOL-BREF possesses strong internal validity, reliability, and cross-cultural applicability.

  From enrollment to the end of assessment at 20 weeks

• Self-rated quality of life for child participants

  The primary outcome will be assessed by the KIDSCREEN-30 tool \[Ravens-Sieberer, U., et al., 2013\]. The KIDSCREEN-30 comprises of 30 items rated on a 4-point visual Likert scale and clustered into the 8 domains of physical wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, moods and emotions, autonomy and parent relation, financial resources, social support and peers, school environment and social acceptance. KIDSCREEN30 possesses strong internal validity, reliability, and cross-cultural applicability.

  From enrollment to the end of assessment at 20 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Self-rated family resilience for caregiver participants

  From enrollment to the end of assessment at 20 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Immediate Treatment Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Family participants in the immediate treatment group will undergo the intervention after baseline assessment and randomization. The intervention consists of 1.5-hour art-therapy sessions which happen every week for 10 weeks. The topics of intervention sessions include building rapport, emotional expression \& regulation, self-care, communication \& collaboration, and reflection \& community.

Behavioral: dyadic art therapy intervention for parent-child relationship in vulnerable families

Waitlist Control Group

OTHER

Family participants in the waitlist control group will undergo the intervention after participants in the immediate treatment group complete the intervention. Participants in the two group undergo the same intervention.

Behavioral: dyadic art therapy intervention for parent-child relationship in vulnerable families

Interventions

dyadic art therapy intervention for parent-child relationship in vulnerable families BEHAVIORAL

The Stronger Families Through Art Therapy (SFAT) is a dyadic art therapy intervention developed to improve the parent-child relationship in vulnerable families. Service users of the SFAT programme will receive a progressive support from workshops, dyad art therapy, and an innovative art-based self-care tool developed with a multidisciplinary team to meet the needs of enhancing family communication and strengthening emotional bonding.

Immediate Treatment Group; Waitlist Control Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 7 Years - 99 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• the caregiver (including parents, grandparents, family members or foster parents who perform the main caretaking responsibilities of the children taking part in SFAT) of a young child who can communicate in English and provide informed consent
• the child is aged 7-14 years and can communicate in English
• the family have one or more of the following identified challenges: (1) caregiver stress such as finances, household management, work and childcare arrangements, (2) caregiver struggles to find time for self-care and quality time with children, (3) caregiver has minimal understanding of the psychological and emotional needs of their children, (4) children face difficulties with emotional regulation and anger management
• caregivers and children are from low-income families who receive financial assistance under the CHAS Blue card, ComCare financial assistance, and/or the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme
• \- community staff who provides assistance to the implementation of the SFAT programme

You may not qualify if:

• individuals who are suffering from depression or other major mental health conditions that would render their participation highly disruptive to others in a group setting, and/or cannot provide informed consent. Families will also be excluded if they are currently unstable (i.e. circumstances related to abuse/neglect), and/or have high risk of suicidal and self-harm behaviours. In the cases that individuals referred to the programme are not eligible, the partner organisations will assess their needs and refer them to programmes based on these needs.
• participant is unable to provide informed consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Majurity Trust: collaborator
• Nanyang Technological University: lead
• The Red Pencil Singapore: collaborator
• National Council Of Social Service, Singapore: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

The Red Pencil Singapore

Singapore, 150082, Singapore

RECRUITING

Central Study Contacts

Andy Hau Yan Ho, PhD, EdD

CONTACT

+65 6316 8943; andyhyho@ntu.edu.sg

Stephanie Hilary Xinyi Ma, PhD

CONTACT

stephaniehilary.ma@ntu.edu.sg

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 10, 2024
• First Posted: December 13, 2024
• Study Start: February 22, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Last Updated: February 24, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

SG (1)