Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Code:

NCT06456762

Conditions

Parents

Self Efficacy

Mental Health Literacy

Psychiatric Emergency

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

iPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education about Care after the ED

Text Messaging Reminders Only

Study Details

Brief summary:

This grant aims to develop and test a text-messaging intervention for parents of children and teens evaluated in the emergency department for a psychiatric emergency and discharged home with outpatient referrals. The intervention for parents will teach parents skills to navigate the mental health services system and build their self-efficacy in managing their child's mental health. This research has the potential to improve services for families seeking emergency psychiatric support, with the goal of facilitating treatment engagement and reducing emergency services utilization using scalable, cost-effective, accessible tools.

Conditions

Parents

Self Efficacy

Mental Health Literacy

Psychiatric Emergency

Study ID

NCT06456762

Start date

Aug 1, 2024

Status verified date

Nov, 2025

Completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Parents or legal guardians of a child ages 11-17;
  • Parents or legal guardians must live with their child ≥50% of the time;
  • Child must be admitted to the pediatric emergency department for a mental health crisis;
  • Child must be discharged home from the emergency department with referrals to outpatient care.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Do not have daily access to a mobile phone that can receive SMS text messages;
  • Do not speak and read fluently in English.

Study Design

Enrollment

90 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: iPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education About Care after the ED

Parents in the iPEACE condition will receive an 8-week text-messaging intervention to build skills in mental health literacy and self-efficacy. Texts will be delivered several days per week over an 8-week period. The intervention is fully automated.

active comparator: Text Reminders Only

Parents in the text-reminders only condition will receive weekly reminders to make an outpatient therapy appointment for their child. Texts will be fully automated, and will be delivered once a week for 8-weeks.

no intervention: Treatment as Usual

Parents in the TAU condition will receive typical treatment in the emergency department, including outpatient referrals and safety planning if needed prior to discharge.

Interventions

iPEACE: Intervention for Parent Education about Care after the ED

Automated texting intervention for parents to increase engagement in their child's outpatient mental health treatment over an 8-week period.

Text Messaging Reminders Only

Weekly automated text reminders to instruct parents to make an appointment with their child's outpatient mental health provider over an 8-week period.

Primary outcome measure

  • Child and Adolescent Services Assessment: Outpatient Mental Health Service Utilization [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]
  • Child and Adolescent Services Assessment: Emergency Department Services Use [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Margaret Benningfield, MD

6156128324margaret.m.benningfield@vumc.org

Neil Chaturvedi

6159339731neil.chaturvedi@vumc.org

Locations

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Recruiting

Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37212

Contacts

Margaret Benningfield, MD

615-612-8324margaret.m.benningfield@vumc.org

Neil Charturvedi

6159339731neil.chaturvedi@vumc.org

Principal Investigator:

Margaret Benningfield, MD

More Information

Sponsor

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Last update posted

Nov 10, 2025

Last verified

Nov, 2025

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Vanderbilt University Medical Center on 2025-11-10.