Recruiting

Healing Hearts & New Beginnings

Sponsor:

University of Connecticut

Code:

NCT07871916

Conditions

Mental Health

Parenting / Maternal Behavior

Parenting Anxiety

Parenting Behavior

Stress

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Healing Hearts

electronic New Beginnings Program

Curated internet resources

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study examines online programs for parents navigating divorce or separation. Researchers will study whether a self-guided mindfulness app called Healing Hearts, followed by a self-guided online parenting program called the electronic New Beginnings Program, is feasible and acceptable to parents and shows promising effects on parent and child wellbeing. Ninety-six parents who live in the United States, have a child aged 6 to 18 with a former partner, and report mild to moderate psychological distress will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: Healing Hearts followed by the parenting program, the parenting program alone, or a set of online educational resources. Participants complete online assessments before assignment, about seven weeks later, and about seven weeks after the second assessment. The study measures parent wellbeing, parenting, parent reports of child behavior, program use, and participant experiences. All participation takes place remotely.

Conditions

Mental Health

Parenting / Maternal Behavior

Parenting Anxiety

Parenting Behavior

Stress

Study ID

NCT07871916

Start date

Oct 5, 2026

Status verified date

Oct, 2026

Completion date

Jul 30, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul 30, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18 years or older.
  • Able to speak, read, and write in English; living in the United States.
  • Has a mobile device, internet access on that device, and uses email.
  • Identifies as a parent and has at least one child aged 6 to 18 years with an ex-partner. Parenting time with the target child exceeds 3 hours/week.
  • Is going through a legal process to separate or divorce; or was married and divorced or legally separated within the past 3 years; or was never married to the ex-partner and has a qualifying separation marker within the past 3 years.
  • For never-married parents, the listed markers are child custody, visitation, or formal parenting-plan proceedings or agreements; child-support proceedings or agreements; dissolution of a domestic partnership or civil union; or either partner moving out and maintaining separate households.
  • Reports a Kessler 6 psychological distress score from 1 through 12, inclusive.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Low-speed internet.
  • Current regular mind-body practices, such as meditation or yoga.
  • The parent or target child is in psychotherapy or other clinical research.
  • Kessler 6 score of 0 or 13 or higher.
  • History of major psychiatric disorders.
  • Current alcohol use problems.

Study Design

Enrollment

96 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Healing Hearts and electronic New Beginnings Program

Participants receive the Healing Hearts program (HH) followed by the electronic New Beginnings Program (eNBP). The two interventions are received sequentially. HH is first offered after baseline randomization as a self-guided mindfulness app that contains four Parts, which contain five days of activities each (i.e., a total of 20 Days of activities). It has a recommended four-week completion period. Completing each Day's activities take about 20-30 minutes. Most activities are under 5 minutes, with other longer activities.

Participants will receive the second assessment (T2) at week 7. Upon completion, they will then receive the electronic New Beginnings Program (eNBP). The eNBP is a self-guided online parenting course requiring participants to spend about 30 minutes per module for a total of six modules. It is designed to be completed in 6 weeks (one module per week). Participants will receive the third assessment (T3) at week 14.

active comparator: electronic New Beginnings program

Participants receive eNBP after baseline randomization. This is the only intervention they receive in this condition.

The eNBP is a self-guided online parenting course requiring participants to spend about 30 minutes per module for a total of six modules. It is designed to be completed in 6 weeks (one module per week).

Participants will receive the second assessment (T2) at week 7 and the third assessment (T3) at week 14.

active comparator: Internet Resources

Participants receive a curated list of online educational resources relevant to parenting and family wellbeing throughout the study period. They do not receive Healing Hearts or eNBP during the active comparison period. Assessments follow the same schedule as the other arms. Optional access after study assessments is outside the randomized intervention period.

Interventions

Healing Hearts

Four-Part self-guided web program with daily guided practices, lessons, journal and reflection activities.

electronic New Beginnings Program

Online parenting skills program containing six modules. Each module takes 30 minutes to complete and contains home practice outside of the program. Prior studies have evaluated the efficacy of this program.

Curated internet resources

Educational information comparator.

Primary outcome measure

  • Recruitment rate [ Time Frame: At completion of active recruitment, approximately 12 months after recruitment begins. ]
  • Retention rate [ Time Frame: Second assessment (T2), approximately 7 weeks after the baseline assessment. ]
  • Depressive symptoms [ Time Frame: From baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T2) and from baseline to 14 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T3). ]
  • Anxiety symptoms [ Time Frame: From baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T2) and from baseline to 14 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T3). ]
  • Stress symptoms [ Time Frame: From baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T2) and from baseline to 14 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T3) ]
  • Child Mental Health [ Time Frame: From baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T2) and from baseline to 14 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T3). ]
  • Mindful parenting [ Time Frame: From baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T2) and from baseline to 14 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T3). ]
  • Parenting Acceptance and Rejection [ Time Frame: From baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T2) and from baseline to 14 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T3). ]
  • Acceptability of Healing Hearts intervention [ Time Frame: T2 (approximately 7 weeks after baseline) or T3 (approximately 14 weeks after baseline) ]
  • Appropriateness of Healing Hearts Intervention [ Time Frame: T2 (approximately 7 weeks after baseline) or T3 (approximately 14 weeks after baseline) ]
  • Usability of Healing Hearts Intervention [ Time Frame: T2 (approximately 7 weeks after baseline) or T3 (approximately 14 weeks after baseline) ]
  • Parenting stress [ Time Frame: From baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T2) and from baseline to 14 weeks post-baseline (T1 to T3) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Na Zhang, PhD

2035617045nazhang@uconn.edu

Locations

University of Connecticut

Recruiting

Stamford, Connecticut, United States, 06901

Contacts

Zhang

2035617045nazhang@uconn.edu

More Information

Sponsor

University of Connecticut

Last update posted

Oct 13, 2026

Last verified

Oct, 2026

Keywords

  • divorce
  • parental separation
  • divorced parent
  • separated parent
  • mindfulness
  • mindful parenting
  • parenting stress
  • parental distress
  • parenting skill
  • coparenting
  • family court
  • child visitation
  • web-based intervention
  • online parenting program
  • parent education
  • pilot randomized controlled trial
  • child emotional problems
  • child behavioral problems
  • remote study
  • family law
  • divorcing
  • interparental conflict

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-14. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Connecticut on 2026-10-13. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.