Infant Psychiatry Home Visitation Program

University of British Columbia

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hyperactivity; Aggression; Impulsive Behaviors

Treatments: Other: Clinical home visitation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01483521

H08-02992

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a proposed home visitation program for families of children with externalizing behaviors who are on the wait list for psychiatric assessment at BC Children's hospital. The aim of this program is to implement and evaluate a home visitation strategy in order to support those waiting up to four months to consult a psychiatrist.

Full description

The Home visitation program was developed in response to long wait lists for the Infant Psychiatry Program. This home visitation program intervention consists of the following components: Developmental guidance, empowerment of parents while respecting the parent-child attachment, and child centered interactional guidance. The home visitors ( a PhD student and a Masters level student) visit consenting families and gave the parents an opportunity to voice their concerns regarding their child's behaviors. They were instructed to co-construct a play that had to be child led. Home visitors facilitated this task. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist and Parenting Stress Index prior to and after the intervention. These home visitations occurred approximately once a month whilst the families were on the wait list for clinical assessment and treatment. Those families that were randomized in control group did not receive any intervention.

Extended description of the protocol, including information not already contained in other fields.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: Under 6 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Children with externalizing disorders referred to Infant Psychiatry Clinic of Children's hospital and on the wait list

Exclusion criteria

• Children over 6 years old
• Children with internalizing disorder
• Families that reside outside of the Vancouver due to practicality of home visitation,
• Families requiring an interpreter

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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40 participants in 1 patient group

Waitlist families

Experimental group

Description:

Experimental arm consisted of randomized waitlist families who received home visitation where mothers were taught to play with their children in a developmentally appropriate manner and also engaged in a co-construction task. Control arm families did not get any active intervention. Parents from both arm types completed pre and post questionnaires to measure child's externalizing behaviors and parenting stress. Parents from experimental group were encouraged to keep a diary of their play record.

Treatment:

Other: Clinical home visitation