Online Parent Education for Child Anxiety

NCT07153250 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2025P001801
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 90
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The investigators are doing this research to test whether parents of children ages 2-7 can better manage their child's anxiety by completing a brief, online, self-guided parent education program. One way to provide anxiety management skills to more children, and to potentially prevent worsening outcomes, is to offer online and self-guided educational programs that parents can complete without a clinician. This randomized trial will evaluate the effects of two brief, online, self-guided parent education programs designed to improve parents' understanding of anxiety and teach parents way to help their children cope with anxiety. Parents will be randomly assigned to one of the three programs. The main aim of the study is to examine whether the parent programs, compared to an educational control reduce parental accommodation of anxiety across a 1-, 4-, and 8-month follow-up period. As a secondary aim, the investigators will explore whether the parent programs reduce children's anxiety symptoms over the 8-month follow-up period. Results will inform the development of a scalable, low-cost model for promoting access to evidence-based treatment to young children.

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders

Keywords

Anxiety; Parenting; Online Intervention; Child Mental Health

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Pediatric Accommodation Scale, Parent-Report

  The Pediatric Accommodation Scale is a parent-report of accommodation of their offspring's anxiety. Parents are asked to rate, on a 5-point scale from 0 (never) to 5 (always), the extent to which they accommodate their child's anxiety or avoidance behaviors. Total scores range from 0 to 25, with higher scores reflecting greater parental accommodation. Parents will report on their accommodation behaviors at baseline , 1-, 4-, and 8-months.

  Change over 8-month follow-up (Baseline to 1-month, 4-month, and 8-month follow-up)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Child Anxiety Symptoms, Parent-Report Total T-Score

  Change over 8-month follow-up (Baseline to 1-month, 4-month, and 8-month follow-up)

Study Arms (3)

Project Empower

EXPERIMENTAL

This program is a web-based, self-administered program for parents that takes about 20 minutes to complete. The program includes 5 elements based on the components of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Behavioral: Project EMPOWER

Being Brave

EXPERIMENTAL

This program is an online, self-guided program which consists of three brief video-recorded lessons (approximately 20 minutes each) with accompanying knowledge checks and workbook on implementing parent-directed cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Behavioral: Being Brave Parent Education

Sharing Feelings

SHAM COMPARATOR

This program is an online, self-guided 20-minute program, that teaches parents about the importance of sharing feelings and about helpful versus unhelpful expression of emotion.

Behavioral: Sharing Feelings

Interventions

Project EMPOWER BEHAVIORAL

Project EMPOWER is a web-based, self-administered program for parents that takes about 20 minutes to complete.

Project Empower

Being Brave Parent Education BEHAVIORAL

Being Brave Parent Education is an online, self-guided program which consists of three brief video-recorded lessons (approximately 20 minutes each) with accompanying knowledge checks and workbook on implementing parent-directed cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Being Brave

Sharing Feelings BEHAVIORAL

A self-guided 20-minute educational control, that teaches parents about the importance of sharing feelings and about helpful versus unhelpful expression of emotion.

Sharing Feelings

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Parents will be eligible to participate if:
• Their child is between the age of 2 and 7 years-old
• Their child scores in the elevated range on an age-approrpiate anxiety screening measure
• Parents are English-speaking
• Parents are over the age of 18 years old

You may not qualify if:

• Parents will be excluded if:
• (1) Their child shows symptoms of suicidal or homicidal ideation, psychosis, or primary severe mood or behavior disorder (i.e., if treatment for another disorder other than anxiety is indicate prior to treatment for anxiety)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Massachusetts General Hospital: lead

Study Sites (1)

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mental Disorders

Central Study Contacts

Madelaine R Abel, PhD

CONTACT

617-643-9435; MGHResilienceStudy@partners.org

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor of Psychology

Model Details: Eligible participants will be randomized (1:1:1 allocation ratio) to receive a three-session program with videos and a workbook or one of two single-session programs with activities. One of the three programs is considered a control condition, but all are education. All parents will repeat baseline evaluation measures 1- and 4-months post baseline. Those in the active groups will also repeat measures at 8-months. Those initially randomized to the control program can be re-randomized after 4 months to either of the active program and will complete subsequent 1- and 4-month follow-up measures post re-randomization.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 24, 2025
• First Posted: September 3, 2025
• Study Start: September 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Last Updated: September 29, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)