ACT-Based Training for Parental Burnout and Child Well-being: A Pilot RCT

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Parental Burnout; Child Abuse

Treatments: Other: control group; Behavioral: ACT Intervention Group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07047378

NTEC-2025-184

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the proposed randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in reducing parental burnout and improving children's emotional and behavioral adjustment in families in Hong Kong over 3 months after the intervention. The findings will provide valuable and scientific insights to inform better parenting interventions and child protection policies.

Full description

Parental burnout is becoming more widely recognized as a serious social issue. It is particularly prevalent among high-stress families like those impacted by child maltreatment or domestic violence. According to prior research, psychological flexibility-a core component of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-is crucial for promoting healthy parent-child relationships and adaptive parenting practices. However, there is still a dearth of empirical evidence supporting ACT-based interventions for reducing parental burnout and improving child adjustment.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how ACT interventions differ in their impact on parents and children in Hong Kong. The specific aims are to evaluate the effectiveness of an ACT-based training program in lowering parental burnout and investigate its influence on children's emotional and behavioral adjustment.

Parents will participate in an ACT-based parenting training program designed to increase psychological flexibility in the ACT intervention group. Aiming at improving psychological flexibility and reducing parental burnout, the training program incorporates mindfulness, values-based parenting, and cognitive defusion strategies. It provides parents with the resources they require to manage stress, regulate emotions, and promote parent-child relationships, which benefits both themselves and their children.

To foster emotional regulation and resilience, children aged 6-11 will also participate in a group-based, child-focused ACT Program designed for their developmental needs. This program incorporates experiential learning exercises, mindfulness activities, and storytelling using picture books to facilitate participation and engagement. These child-focused components seek to reinforce the skills parents have learned while directly supporting child adjustment.

This study aims to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and potential efficacy of a group-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention targeting. The intervention is designed to improve parental psychological flexibility and parenting behaviour, enhance parent- child relationships, and child-related outcomes within a separate sample of parents and children over the 3- month post-intervention. The study will be conducted in collaboration with Harmony Home Limited, leveraging the expertise of paraprofessionals trained in ACT.

Enrollment: 120 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

For the Parent ACT Group:

1. Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents between the ages of 19 and 65 years.
2. Primary caregivers of a child aged 3 to 11 years.
3. Have been identified by school social workers as being at risk of domestic violence or experiencing emotional distress.

For the Child ACT Group:

1. Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents between the ages of 3 and 11 years.
2. Have been identified by school social workers as being at risk of domestic violence or experiencing emotional distress.

For both groups (Shared inclusion criteria):

1. Participants must have sufficient Cantonese language proficiency to understand and communicate during the intervention.
2. Both parents and children must provide informed consent to participate in the study and all related assessments.

Exclusion criteria

For the Parent ACT Group:

1. Parents diagnosed with severe mental illnesses.
2. Parents with a developmental disability that interferes with their ability to comprehend the program's content.
3. Parents with cognitive, language, communication, visual, or hearing impairments or disorders that could impede their understanding of the intervention content; or
4. Parents currently participate in other psychosocial, psychoeducational, or parenting interventions.
5. Parents with active substance abuse issues that may interfere with their ability to participate in or benefit from the program.
6. Parents whose children have been diagnosed with psychological or medical conditions.

For the Child ACT Group:

1. Children who have been diagnosed with psychological or medical conditions.

For both groups (Shared Exclusion criteria):

1. Families who are unable or unwilling to commit to attending the six-week sessions or completing follow-up assessments.
2. Families who lack access to transportation or other necessary resources to attend the intervention sessions
3. Parents and children who cannot understand or communicate in the language used in the intervention and assessments (i.e., Cantonese and Chinese).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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120 participants in 2 patient groups

ACT Intervention Group

Experimental group

Description:

Both ACT Intervention and the Control Group will receive standard services originally provided by Harmony House. For parents allocated to this experimental group, 6 sessions of the ACT-based parenting program, one weekly session, 90 minutes per session. For children allocated to this experimental group, 6 sessions of the child-focused ACT programme, one weekly session, 90 minutes per session.

Treatment:

Behavioral: ACT Intervention Group

Control Group

Other group

Description:

Participants allocated to the Control Group will not receive the ACT intervention during the initial 3-month study period but will be offered the intervention afterward as part of a waitlist control design.

Treatment:

Other: control group