Dunn Abigail, Alvarez James, Arbon Amy, Bremner Stephen, Elsby-Pearson Chloe, Emsley Richard, Jones Christopher, Lawrence Peter, Lester Kathryn J, Majdandžić Mirjana, Morson Natalie, Perry Nicky, Simner Julia, Thomson Abigail, Cartwright-Hatton Sam
Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, The Brighton and Sussex Clinical Trials Unit, Brighton, United Kingdom.
JMIR Res Protoc. 2022 Nov 10;11(11):e40707. doi: 10.2196/40707.
Anxiety is the most common childhood mental health condition and is associated with impaired child outcomes, including increased risk of mental health difficulties in adulthood. Anxiety runs in families: when a parent has anxiety, their child has a 50% higher chance of developing it themselves. Environmental factors are predominant in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety and, of these, parenting processes play a major role. Interventions that target parents to support them to limit the impact of any anxiogenic parenting behaviors are associated with reduced anxiety in their children. A brief UK-based group intervention delivered to parents within the UK National Health Service led to a 16% reduction in children meeting the criteria for an anxiety disorder. However, this intervention is not widely accessible. To widen access, a 9-module web-based version of this intervention has been developed. This course comprises psychoeducation and home practice delivered through text, video, animations, and practice tasks.
This study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of delivering this web-based intervention and assess its effectiveness in reducing child anxiety symptoms.
This is the protocol for a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a community sample of 1754 parents with self-identified high levels of anxiety with a child aged 2-11 years. Parents in the intervention arm will receive access to the web-based course, which they undertake at a self-determined rate. The control arm receives no intervention. Follow-up data collection is at months 6 and months 9-21. Intention-to-treat analysis will be conducted on outcomes including child anxiety, child mental health symptoms, and well-being; parental anxiety and well-being; and parenting behaviors.
Funding was received in April 2020, and recruitment started in February 2021 and is projected to end in October 2022. A total of 1350 participants have been recruited as of May 2022.
The results of this RCT will provide evidence on the utility of a web-based course in preventing intergenerational transmission of anxiety and increase the understanding of familial anxiety.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04755933; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04755933.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/40707.
焦虑是最常见的儿童心理健康问题，与儿童不良后果相关，包括成年后患心理健康问题的风险增加。焦虑具有家族遗传性：当父母患有焦虑症时，其子女患焦虑症的几率会高出50%。环境因素在焦虑的代际传递中占主导地位，其中养育方式起着主要作用。针对父母进行干预，帮助他们减少任何产生焦虑的养育行为的影响，与降低子女的焦虑水平相关。在英国国民医疗服务体系内为父母提供的一项简短的团体干预措施，使符合焦虑症标准的儿童减少了16%。然而，这种干预措施并非广泛可得。为了扩大可及性，已开发了该干预措施的一个9模块网络版。本课程包括通过文本、视频、动画和实践任务进行的心理教育和家庭实践。
本研究旨在评估提供这种基于网络的干预措施的可行性，并评估其在减轻儿童焦虑症状方面的有效性。
这是一项针对1754名自称焦虑程度较高且子女年龄在2至11岁的父母的社区样本进行的随机对照试验（RCT）方案。干预组的父母将获得网络课程的访问权限，他们可以按照自己确定的速度学习。对照组不接受干预。在第6个月以及第9至21个月进行随访数据收集。将对包括儿童焦虑、儿童心理健康症状和幸福感；父母焦虑和幸福感；以及养育行为等结果进行意向性分析。
2020年4月获得资金，2021年2月开始招募，预计2022年10月结束。截至2022年5月，共招募了1350名参与者。
这项随机对照试验的结果将为基于网络的课程在预防焦虑症代际传递方面的效用提供证据，并增进对家族性焦虑的理解。
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04755933；https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04755933。
国际注册报告识别码（IRRID）：DERR1-10.2196/40707。
