An At-distance and Online Intervention to Promote Parental Involvement and Self-regulation

NCT07400978 | Active Not Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: CEICSH 037/20222021.07428.BD
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 150
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Parents play a significant role in their children's development and learning. Parental involvement (PI) is characterized by behavioral profiles that are manifested in activities at home (e.g., helping with homework) and school (e.g., participating in meetings with teachers). Involved parents tend to create more opportunities for their children to develop different competencies. These competencies are relevant to children's academic success, namely, the knowledge and use of self-regulation (SR) strategies. SR strategies enable children to take control and responsibility for their behaviors, thoughts, and emotions, thereby achieving a goal (e.g., an academic goal), which in turn leads to higher academic performance and well-being. Extensive research has identified PI and SR as strong predictors of children's academic success, underscoring the need to promote them actively. Thus, the main goal of this investigation - the Lupis program - is to develop and evaluate the efficacy of an at-distance and online intervention program for parents of 1st and 2nd grade elementary school students. The Lupis will be a narrative-based intervention, utilizing wise intervention techniques in its design. The Lupis program will aim to promote PI and, consequently, SR competencies in children. In general, it is expected to develop an effective intervention program to promote PI and SR competencies in children. Additionally, Lupis is expected to help parents and children prevent and address the challenges of transitioning from preschool to elementary school with essential competencies for children's learning and academic success.

Conditions

Parental Involvement; Self-regulation in Children

Keywords

Parental Involvement; Self-regulation; Parental Intervention; At-distance intervention program; Online intervention program

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (9)

• Parents - Sociodemographic questionnaire

  These measures will include questions about the individuals (e.g., gender, age, level of education) and their families (e.g., number of children).

  Baseline (pre-intervention)

• Parental Role Construction for Involvement in the Child's Education

  This measure assesses parents' beliefs about their Involvement in the Child's Education and comprises 16 items split into two parts: (i) Part 1 (Role Activity Beliefs, ten items about parents' beliefs about what should be done in relation to their children's education, e.g., "I believe it is my responsibility to help my child with homework"). Parents will respond on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Disagree very strongly") to 6 ("Agree very strongly"); and (ii) Part 2 (Attitudes towards School, six items about parents' feelings of their school experiences when as students (e.g., "My school experience was…"). Parents will respond on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Bad") to 6 ("Good"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original was .80 and .85, respectively.

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

• Parental Self-Efficacy for Helping the Child Succeed in School

  This measure assesses parents' perceptions of their self-efficacy for helping the child succeed in school through seven items (e.g., "I feel successful about my efforts to help my child learn"). Parents will answer on a six-point Likert-like scale, ranging from 1 ("Disagree very strongly") to 6 ("Agree very strongly"). The Cronbach's alpha of the original study was .78.

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

• Parents' Perceptions of Specific Invitations for Involvement from the Child

  This measure (six items) assesses parents' perceptions of their involvement in response to their children's invitations (e.g., "My child asked me to attend a special event at school"). Parents will indicate the frequency of these invitations on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Never") to 6 ("Daily"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original study was .78.

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

• Parents' Perceptions of Specific Invitations for Involvement from the Teacher

  This measure (six items) assesses parents' perceptions of their involvement in response to their children's teacher invitations (e.g., "My child's teacher asked me to attend a special event at school"). Parents will indicate the frequency of these invitations on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Never") to 6 ("Daily"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original study was .81.

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

• Parents' Perceived Life Context

  This measure (15 items) assesses parents' perceptions of constraints (e.g., Time and Energy and Knowledge and Skills) to their involvement in the child's education. Parents will respond to the six statements about Time and Energy (e.g., "I have enough time and energy to communicate effectively with my child about the school day") and the nine statements about Knowledge and Skills (e.g., "I know enough about the subjects of my child's homework to help him or her) on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Disagree very strongly") to 6 ("Agree very strongly"). The Cronbach's alpha of the original study was .84 and .83, respectively.

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

• Parental Involvement Mechanisms Measurement

  This scale (51 items) assesses parents' involvement strategies and "mechanisms". Parents will respond on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Not at all true") to 6 ("Completely true") to: (i) 13 items on Encouragement (e.g., "We encourage this child to believe that he/she can learn new things"); (ii) ten items on Modeling (e.g., "We show this child that we like to learn new things"); (iii) 13 items on Reinforcement (e.g., "We show this child we like it when he or she wants to learn new things"), and (iv) 15 items on Instruction (e.g., "We teach this child to go at his or her own pace while doing schoolwork"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original study's four dimensions was .91, .88, .90, and .93, respectively.

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

• Module assessment - engagement on platforms

  Parents' interactions on online platforms will be gathered as observational measures of parents' engagement in the program. The observational measures will include participants' answers to the content of the Edpuzzle® videos, comments to Facebook® posts, and the number of sessions attended on Zoom®.

  During the 5-week intervention period, from baseline (pre-intervention) through immediately after the intervention (week 6)

• Shape School

  To assess SR strategies in children, the investigators will administer a neuropsychological test of executive functions. Shape School follows a storybook format that features cartoons with different geometric shapes (squares and circles) in various colors (red, blue, and yellow). The test consists of four experimental conditions (control, inhibition, switch, and both). The number of correctly identified stimuli and the response time are recorded for each condition, and the efficiency value is calculated by dividing the number of correct stimuli by the reaction time in each condition (Efficiency = #Correct/Total Time). The internal consistency values for Escola de Formas present an adequate result for conditions B (α = .89), C (α = .71), and D (α = .71). Except for two items, the children's answers were correct for condition A (α = 1).

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Teachers - sociodemographic measures

  baseline (pre-intervention)

• Inventory of Learning Self-regulation Processes

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

• School-based engagement

  baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)

Study Arms (3)

Experimental Group - At-distance and online intervention across a private Facebook® group.

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will participate in eight modules on self-regulation strategies delivered in an at-distance and online format, which aim to promote parental involvement and, consequently, self-regulation in children. Participants will be parents of students in the first and second years of elementary school.

Behavioral: Lupis program: parental intervention to promote self-regulation in children

Active Control Group - At-distance and online intervention across a private Facebook® group

EXPERIMENTAL

This group will participate in eight modules on study methods delivered in an at-distance and online format, which aim to promote parental involvement and, consequently, self-regulation in children. Participants will be parents of students in the first and second years of elementary school.

Behavioral: Parental intervention on study methods

Passive Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

This group of parents will not benefit from intervention and will respond to assessment moments.

Interventions

Lupis program: parental intervention to promote self-regulation in children BEHAVIORAL

Narrative-based intervention-the self-regulation strategies covered in each module (e.g., goal setting and asking for help). Each module will include: i) a video discussing self-regulation strategies incorporated into "The Three Little Pigs" tale; ii) three activities related to the video content; iii) a weekly synchronous group videoconference session with a trained educational psychologist acting as a mediator.

Experimental Group - At-distance and online intervention across a private Facebook® group.

Parental intervention on study methods BEHAVIORAL

Each module will include: i) a video discussing study methods; ii) three activities related to the video content; iii) a weekly synchronous group videoconference session with a trained educational psychologist acting as a mediator.

Active Control Group - At-distance and online intervention across a private Facebook® group

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Parents of children in the 1st and 2nd grades of elementary school with informed consent form;
• Parents with access to a smartphone/computer equipped with a camera and speakers;
• Parents with Internet access;
• Children with verbal consent, and parental consent;
• Teachers with informed consent.

You may not qualify if:

• Parents, children, and teachers who lack informed consent;
• Parents without access to the internet or an electronic device to access online content.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal: collaborator
• University of Minho: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Minho - Campus de Gualtar

Braga, Braga District, 4710-057, Portugal

Location

Related Links

• Research group website.
• Facebook page of the research project.
• Instagram page of the research project.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Self-Control

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Social Behavior; Behavior

Study Officials

• Sandra Mesquita, MSc

  Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Armanda Pereira, PhD

  Centre for Trandisciplinary Development Studies, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.

  STUDY CHAIR

• Pedro Rosário, PhD

  Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: We will be conducting a single-blind study, as the nature of the interventions will not allow the implementers to be blinded. The schools and individual participants will, however, be blinded to the group to which they will belong.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: A three-armed cluster randomized controlled trial will be conducted. It will include: (i) Experimental Group (EG), in this condition for eight weekly modules, parents will be delivered modules about SR strategies (e.g., goal-setting) through a narrative-based intervention program; (ii) Active Control Group (ACG) parents in this condition will benefit during eight weekly modules from general educational content focused on study skills (e.g., making a study timetable); (iii) Passive Control Group (PCG) where parents will not benefit from an intervention.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 21, 2026
• First Posted: February 10, 2026
• Study Start: October 7, 2024
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2025
• Study Completion: March 31, 2026
• Last Updated: February 10, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

PT (1)