Recognizing Emotional Neglect and Help-Seeking Intention Among Adolescents in Brussels

NCT07365891 | Recruiting DMC

• 1 other identifier: 25276_Hulpzoekgedrag
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 500
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to find out how well adolescents in Dutch-speaking secondary schools in Brussels can recognize emotional neglect, and how this relates to their intention to seek help. The main research questions are:

1. 1.How well do adolescents recognize situations of emotional neglect, and do boys and girls differ in their recognition?
2. 2.Does recognition of emotional neglect predict adolescents' intention to seek help?

Conditions

Healthy Adolescents in School-based Population; Emotional Neglect; Help-Seeking Behavior

Keywords

Help-seeking; Decision-making; Emotional neglect; Adolescents; Secondary education; Recognition; Help-seeking behavior; Child neglect; Child maltreatment and neglect

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Recognition of emotional neglect

  Recognition is measured by asking participants to indicate whether emotional neglect is present in the vignette, using a 4-point Likert scale (1 = definitely not, 2 = probably not, 3 = probably yes, 4 = definitely yes). Higher scores indicate greater recognition of emotional neglect. Scores will be analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with age as a covariate. Factors include participant gender (boy or girl), vignette gender (boy or girl), and type of situation (ambiguous or clear). Exploratory analyses may examine recognition of other types of maltreatment (physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse).

  Immediately after reading the vignette

• Help-seeking intention

  Help-seeking intention is measured by asking participants to indicate whether they would seek help in the situation described in the vignette, using a 4-point Likert scale (1 = definitely not, 2 = probably not, 3 = probably yes, 4 = definitely yes). Higher scores indicate greater intention to seek help. Scores will be analyzed using linear regression, with recognition as the independent variable and help-seeking intention as the dependent variable. Additional analyses will test whether perceived severity and anticipated risk of future harm moderate the relationship between recognition and help-seeking intention.

  Immediately after reading the vignette

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Severity

  Immediately after reading the vignette

• Risk of future harm

  Immediately after reading the vignette

Study Arms (4)

boy x clear situation

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants are exposed to a vignette describing a boy in a clear emotional neglect situation.

Behavioral: Emotional neglect vignettes

boy x ambiguous situation

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants are exposed to a vignette describing a boy in a ambiguous emotional neglect situation.

Behavioral: Emotional neglect vignettes

girl x ambiguous situation

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants are exposed to a vignette describing a girl in a ambiguous emotional neglect situation.

Behavioral: Emotional neglect vignettes

girl x clear situation

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants are exposed to a vignette describing a girl in a clear emotional neglect situation.

Behavioral: Emotional neglect vignettes

Interventions

Emotional neglect vignettes BEHAVIORAL

Participants are randomly assigned to one of four written vignettes of adolescents experiencing emotional neglect. Each vignette differs by gender (boy or girl) and by situation clarity (ambiguous or clear).

boy x ambiguous situation; boy x clear situation; girl x ambiguous situation; girl x clear situation

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 11 Years - 25 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Age: adolescents aged 11-25 years;
• Education: enrolled in regular full-time secondary education;
• School location: Brussels-Capital Region;
• School language: Dutch;
• Consent: informed consent provided by the adolescent and their parent(s)/guardian.

You may not qualify if:

• Age: younger than 11 years or older than 25 years;
• Education: not enrolled in regular full-time secondary education;
• School location: outside the Brussels-Capital Region;
• School language: non - Dutch-speaking;
• Consent: informed consent not provided by the adolescent or their parent(s)/guardian.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Vrije Universiteit Brussel: lead

Study Sites (1)

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Brussels, Brussels Capital, 1050, Belgium

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Help-Seeking Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Social Behavior; Behavior

Central Study Contacts

Fiona Roulent

CONTACT

+32 2 629 36 52; Fiona.Madona.Roulent@vub.be

Johan Vanderfaeillie

CONTACT

Johan.Vanderfaeillie@vub.be

Study Design

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

Model Details: Interventional study employing vignettes to examine adolescents' recognition of emotional neglect and help-seeking behavior

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 16, 2026
• First Posted: January 26, 2026
• Study Start: February 23, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Last Updated: April 28, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

BE (1)