Investigating a Brief Virtual Seminar Series for Parents of Children Ages 2-12

NCT06865183 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2023-1035c
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 123
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine whether a brief positive parenting seminar series delivered virtually helps teach parents additional tools and strategies to support healthy child development, encourage good behavior, and manage misbehavior, while improving parenting practices and child outcomes for parents of children ages 2-12. The main questions it aims to answer are whether parents are satisfied with the intervention and find the strategies helpful and acceptable, whether the intervention leads to changes in parenting behaviors (e.g., positive parenting) and child outcomes (e.g., emotional and behavioral problems), and how removing the active discussion from the seminars impacts parents' ability to improve their parenting skills and their child's outcomes. Researchers will compare three groups: parents receiving the seminars with a group discussion, parents receiving the seminars without a group discussion, and parents on a waitlist. This will help determine if group discussions lead to greater improvements in parenting practices and child outcomes. Participants attended three online parenting seminars via telehealth (if assigned to a seminar group). They completed surveys before, during, and after the seminars to share their experiences and provide feedback. Participants in the waitlist group completed surveys at the beginning and end of the study, and will participate in the seminars after the study period.

Conditions

Positive Parenting Skills

Keywords

Selected Child Triple P; Parenting Intervention; Telehealth; Positive Parenting

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (9)

• Parent Satisfaction

  Parents assigned to an intervention condition completed a modified 8-item version of the Parent Satisfaction Survey after each seminar. Response options ranged from 1 (Poor, No definitely not, or Not at all) to 7 (Excellent, Yes, definitely, or Very much).

  Weekly, through intervention completion, average of 3 weeks.

• Acceptability

  Parents assigned to an intervention condition completed a modified 9-item version of the Treatment Acceptability Rating Form. Response options ranged from 1 (Not at all) to 7 (Very much).

  Weekly, through intervention completion, average of 3 weeks.

• Positive Parenting

  All parents completed the 16-item positive parenting composite measure of the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale, which was comprised of proactive parenting (6-items), positive reinforcement (4-items), warmth (3-items), and supportiveness (3-items) sub-scales. Response options ranged from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always) reflecting the frequency with which parents engaged in different parenting behaviors.

  Baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Negative Parenting

  All parents completed the 18-item negative parenting composite measure of the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale, which was comprised of hostility (7-items), physical control (4-items), and lax control (7-items) sub-scales. Response options ranged from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always) reflecting the frequency with which parents engaged in different parenting behaviors.

  Baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Parental Psychological Control

  All parents completed the 8-item Parent Psychological Control Measure, that is based off the Psychological Control Scale - Youth Self-Report. Response options ranged from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always) reflecting the frequency with which parents engaged in different parenting behaviors.

  Baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Parental Knowledge of Effective Parenting Strategies

  All parents completed the 16-item Brief Version of the Knowledge of Parenting Strategies Scale. Parents selected one response that would reflect the most effective action for a parent to take in a situation described in the question.

  Baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Parental Hope

  All parents completed the 5-item Hope for Parenting Scale. Response options ranged from 1 (Definitely False) to 8 (Definitely True) indicating how much they agree or disagree with each item.

  Baseline, weekly, through intervention completion (average of 3 weeks), 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Parental Self-Efficacy

  All parents completed the 5-item Brief Parental Self-Efficacy Scale. Response options ranged from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree), indicating how much they agreed with each statement.

  Baseline, weekly, through intervention completion (average of 3 weeks), 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Global Satisfaction

  Parents assigned to an intervention condition also completed the 8-item Client Satisfaction Questionnaire. Response options ranged from 1 (None of my needs have been met, Quite dissatisfied) to 4 (Almost all of my needs have been met, Very satisfied).

  2-months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Child Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties

  Baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Child Emotion Dysregulation

  Baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

• Child Emotion Regulation

  Baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up assessments.

Study Arms (3)

Intervention-as-usual

EXPERIMENTAL

90-minute positive parenting seminars with active discussion component

Behavioral: Positive Parenting Seminar Series

Intervention without an active discussion component

EXPERIMENTAL

60-minute positive parenting seminars without an active discussion component

Behavioral: Positive Parenting Seminar Series

Waitlist Control

NO INTERVENTION

Assessment-only waitlist control condition

Interventions

Positive Parenting Seminar Series BEHAVIORAL

Selected Child Triple P Positive Parenting Seminar Series Delivered Through Telehealth

Also known as: Selected Child Triple P

Intervention without an active discussion component; Intervention-as-usual

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Parent must reside in the State of Texas
• Parent had to have at least one child ages 2-12 years
• Child had to live with parent at least one night every 2 weeks

You may not qualify if:

• Parent did not have sufficient English proficiency to understand seminar content and complete study-related surveys
• Parent did not have access to the internet and/or could not attend seminars using the Zoom platform
• Child was currently participating in mental health services
• Child began taking psychiatric medication within 1 month of the study
• Parent was currently participating in mental health services

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Texas Tech University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Texas Tech University

Lubbock, Texas, 79409, United States

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Sumargi A, Sofronoff K, Morawska A. A Randomized-Controlled Trial of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program Seminar Series with Indonesian Parents. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2015 Oct;46(5):749-61. doi: 10.1007/s10578-014-0517-8.

  PMID: 25335876 BACKGROUND

• Sanders, M., Prior, J., & Ralph, A. (2009). An evaluation of a brief universal seminar series on positive parenting: A feasibility study. Journal of Children's Services, 4(1), 4-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/17466660200900002

  BACKGROUND

• Foskolos, K., Gardner, F., & Montgomery, P. (2023). Brief parenting seminars for preventing child behavioral and emotional difficulties: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 32(10), 3063-3075. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02653-6

  BACKGROUND

• Ricker BT, Cooley JL, Dennis VE, Streicher BE, Mitchell TB, Cummings C, Singer J. Evaluating A Brief Telehealth Positive Parenting Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Prev Sci. 2026 Mar 21. doi: 10.1007/s11121-026-01894-3. Online ahead of print.

  PMID: 41863587 DERIVED

Study Officials

• John L. Cooley, Ph.D.

  University of Florida

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Model Details: Three study conditions compared: intervention-as-usual, intervention without an active discussion component, and waitlist control

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 6, 2025
• First Posted: March 7, 2025
• Study Start: February 23, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 14, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 14, 2026
• Last Updated: March 27, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Locations

US (1)