Recruiting

Parenting Programs

Sponsor:

Mireille Joussemet

Code:

NCT05796466

Conditions

Mental Health Issue

Parenting

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

How-to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk

Nobody's Perfect

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this randomized control trial (RCT) is to assess the superiority of the How-to Parenting Program in improving autonomy support and preschoolers' mental health (i.e., decreases externalizing problems) among vulnerable families. The main question it aims to answer is: Can teaching concrete parenting skills that target empirically-based parenting dimensions (via the How-to Parenting Program) have an added value for improving parental autonomy support and child mental health, compared to a parenting program that does not focus on teaching parenting skills (Nobody's Perfect program \[NP\])? Early childhood centers providing services to parents of 3-4 years olds will be randomly assigned to one of two 6-week programs. Parents will fill out questionnaires before (T1) and after (T2) programs delivery as well as at 6-month (T3) and 1-year follow-ups (T4). They and their child will also engage in filmed parent-child interactions at T1 and T3 during predetermined activities, to obtain observational measures of parenting and child socioemotional competences. Researchers will compare the How-to and NP conditions to see if there was an accentuated increase in parental autonomy support and child mental health in the How-to condition. As secondary analyses, researchers will compare the How-to and NP conditions on parenting quality, child socioemotional competences, and parental cognitions as well as explore the conditions in which NP could be equal (or superior) to the How-to Parenting Program.

Conditions

Mental Health Issue

Parenting

Study ID

NCT05796466

Start date

Apr 1, 2023

Status verified date

May, 2024

Completion date

Jun 15, 2030

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jun 15, 2029

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

- Parents need to have at least one child aged between between 36 and 59 months at pre-intervention.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Parents will be excluded if they have previously attended a How-to Parenting Program
  • Parents who are unable to communicate in French will be excluded.

Recruitment procedure:

- To target more more vulnerable families, parents will primarily be recruited in ECCs located in low- or middle-income neighbourhoods of the greater Montreal (Canada) according to the Montreal's 2018 Poverty Map of Families with Children.

Study Design

Enrollment

320 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: How-to Parenting Program

The How-to Parenting Program is a highly structured and skill-based program. It is manualized, teaches 30 concrete, specific, easy-to-grasp (e.g., taught using comic strips), and readily applicable skills. It also optimizes learning with exercises (e.g., perspective taking; role-playing) and practice, and addresses parents' readiness and motivation to change. The program is delivered over six consecutive 2-hour weekly sessions (12 hours in total).

active comparator: Nobody's Perfect Program

Based on andragogy principles, parents following the Nobody's Perfect curriculum will learn how to solve problems with their child and engage in theme-related activities meant to increase awareness of parents' own needs, child behaviors, development, health, and safety. There is no pre-determined order for themes and time devoted to each one varies according to parents' needs. The program is delivered over six consecutive 2-hour weekly sessions (12 hours in total).

Interventions

How-to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk

The How-to Parenting Program focuses on how expectations, rules, and values are better communicated (vs. what rules ought to be). It includes skills related to the three components of authoritative parenting, namely affiliation, structure, and autonomy support. 1) Affiliation: Parents learn how to listen and respond to their children in a way that helps them feel accepted unconditionally. 2) Structure: Parents learn how to communicate expectations, give feedback, follow through, and use joint problem-solving in a factual, non-judgmental way. 3) Autonomy support: Parents learn how to validate emotions, encourage initiatives, and free children from roles. Finally, the How-to program can be endorsed by parents of various cultural backgrounds, as suggested by the large number (> 30) of languages in which the material is translated. This advantage is crucial in ethnically diverse regions such as Canada.

Nobody's Perfect

Nobody's Perfect is delivered in family resource centers across Canada to support parents of infants and preschoolers. Its focus is on developing parents' capacity to problem solve, providing child development information, and helping parents recognize their strengths and find their own positive ways to interact with their children. It thus does not teach specific parenting skills and does not suggest specific rules to put into practice in the home-environment.

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in children's externalizing problems [ Time Frame: Baseline, 2-month follow-up, 8-month follow-up, and 14-moth follow-up. ]
  • Change in parental autonomy support [ Time Frame: Baseline, 2-month follow-up, 8-month follow-up, and 14-moth follow-up. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Mireille Joussemet, Ph.D.

514 343-5745m.joussemet@umontreal.ca

Mageau Geneviève, Ph.D.

514 343-2460g.mageau@umontreal.ca

Locations

Université de Montréal

Recruiting

Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Contacts

Mireille Joussemet, Ph.D.

514 343-5745m.joussemet@umontreal.ca

Principal Investigator:

Joussemet Mireille, Ph.D.

More Information

Sponsor

Mireille Joussemet

Last update posted

Jun 3, 2024

Last verified

May, 2024

Keywords

  • Parenting program

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Mireille Joussemet on 2024-06-03.