Nonviolent Communication for Parents

NCT06943105 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: HE-RGC2024/NHS02
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 172
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of face-to-face Nonviolent Communication (NVC) intervention in improving parents' mental well-being and NVC skills, reducing parenting stress, depression and anxiety symptoms, and child emotional and behavioural problems. A total of 172 parents with primary-school-age children will be recruited and randomly assigned to an intervention group or a waitlist control group. The intervention group will receive six weekly 1.5-hour face-to-face NVC training sessions delivered by trained social workers. Five to ten social workers will be trained by professional NVC trainers through a train-the-trainer workshop, including three sessions. Each social worker will be assessed before (TTT1), after (TTT2) the workshops and 10 months (TTT3). Assessments for participants will be conducted at baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2), and at three-month follow-up (T3). After completing the assessments, the waitlist control group will receive the same sessions. Qualitative interviews will be conducted to explore participants' experiences and perceptions of NVC.

Conditions

Anxiety; Depression Symptom; Well-being

Keywords

Nonviolent Communication; parents; Depressive Symptoms; Anxiety

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Well-being

  The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWS) is a 7-item scale for assessing mental health in non-clinical populations. Using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = none of the time, 5 = all the time), the total score is calculated by summing all seven items. The Chinese version showed good validity and reliability in the investigators' previous study. The congeneric reliability was 0.85 and the test-retest reliability was 0.70.

  T1: Baseline; T2: Immediate post-intervention; T3: 3 months post-T2

• NVC skills

  The measure of NVC skills was developed based on a 16-item scale that represents the four principles of NVC skills. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 = never to 5 = always. The average score is calculated, with higher scores indicating better NVC skills. Cronbach's alpha was 0.82 in the investigators' pilot study.

  T1: Baseline; T2: Immediate post-intervention; T3: 3 months post-T2

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Parenting stress

  T1: Baseline; T2: Immediate post-intervention; T3: 3 months post-T2

• Depressive symptoms

  T1: Baseline; T2: Immediate post-intervention; T3: 3 months post-T2

• Anxiety

  T1: Baseline; T2: Immediate post-intervention; T3: 3 months post-T2

• Child emotional and behavioural problems

  T1: Baseline; T2: Immediate post-intervention; T3: 3 months post-T2

Other Outcomes (1)

• Train-the-trainer outcome

  T1: Baseline, before the workshop; T2: Immediate after the workshop; T3: 10 months after baseline.

Study Arms (2)

Receiving NVC Interventions

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in the intervention group will receive six weekly 1.5-hour face-to-face NVC training sessions delivered by trained social workers.

Behavioral: Nonviolent Communication Intervention

Wailist Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

The waitlist control group will not receive any training before all the assessments have been done by both groups. The wailist control group will receive NVC training sessions after all assessments. During the whole study period, these participants can access usual medical services, whether related or unrelated to mental health needs.

Interventions

Nonviolent Communication Intervention BEHAVIORAL

The intervention will be conducted by social workers who will be trained by professional NVC trainers through a train-the-trainer workshop, including six sessions. The interventions include an introduction to four fundamental principles of NVC, distinguishing observations from evaluations, identifying and expressing feelings, taking responsibility for feelings and needs, and using positive action language to make requests. Each session will feature a review of the previous session, a warm-up game and an exercise to consolidate the learning of the concepts. The intervention sessions will also include group discussions and debriefing sessions on parents' experiences of practising NVC.

Receiving NVC Interventions

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 24 Years - 59 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• \) parents aged 24-59 years with children of primary school age;
• \) with mild to severe depressive symptoms (score \>5 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9) (Kroenke et al., 2001) and/or mild to severe anxiety symptoms (score \>5 on the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-7) (Spitzer et al., 2006); and
• \) Hong Kong residents who can understand Cantonese.

You may not qualify if:

• \) under psychiatric treatment, psychotherapy groups and are classified as unstable cases based on the judgment of the recruiting social workers;
• \) participating in other related parenting programmes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hong Kong Metropolitan University: lead

Study Sites (1)

The Jockey Club Institute of Healthcare of Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders; Depression

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Grace Yuying Sun

  Hong Kong Metropolitan University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Grace Yuying Sun, PhD

CONTACT

852 39702916; gsun@hkmu.edu.hk

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

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 17, 2025
• First Posted: April 24, 2025
• Study Start: May 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Last Updated: September 17, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

HK (1)