Lausanne Trialogue Paradigm - Brief: A Family Model for Child Mental Health in a Community Setting (LTP-B)

York University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Family Relations; Mental Health Issue; Behavioral Problem; Parent-Child Relations; Internet-Based Intervention

Treatments: Behavioral: Lausanne Trialogue Play Brief

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05356247

2022-050

Details and patient eligibility

About

The current study is a feasibility pilot of the Lausanne Trialogue Play paradigm Intervention - Brief (LTP-Brief), a family systems therapy implemented in a community mental health setting. We will study the ultrabrief, virtual therapy to assess the feasibility of a future pilot RCT. Feasibility metrics include resource, scientific, and management considerations, as well as an examination of pre-post change in future child and family outcomes of interest.

Full description

COVID-19 represents an acute crisis to children's mental health, with potential for long-term consequences. There is evidence for elevated mental health symptomatology in children since the start of the pandemic, with the emergence of stress-related disorders and the exacerbation of pre-existing disorders. Indeed, the pandemic has had detrimental effects on family life due to widespread job loss and financial insecurity, and increases to parental psychological distress, mental illness, and substance use. Social consequences of COVID-19 are expected to have cascading negative effects on child mental health symptoms. Thus, a COVID-19 family recovery program is critically needed, both during and after the pandemic, to manage the current mental health crisis in children and create cascading and sustainable effects for lifelong physical and mental health. The main goal of the the current study is to investigate feasibility of a future pilot and/or main RCT of a brief, virtual mental health treatment program for children and families designed to optimize reach of services. Specifically, the Lausanne Trialogue Play paradigm assessment is a semi-structured assessment of whole family interactions, with emphasis on the co-parenting relationship, which has been used extensively in research settings for assessment and consultative purposes. The current study will assess the feasibility of using the LTP in an assessment-as-treatment model. This brief treatment program, called the LTP-Brief intervention (LTP-B) will consist of a family play assessment (including an LTP assessment) with video feedback to caregivers as a method for promoting change in family interaction patterns. By targeting change across the family system, rather than focusing on specific child mental health symptoms directly, the model addresses upheaval of family life during COVID-19 and has potential to create sustainable improvements in family well-being within a short period of time.

Enrollment: 25 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: Under 15 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• The sample will comprise of families referred to the outpatient mental health services at Sick Kids Center for Community Mental Health (SKCCMH), a non-profit children's mental health treatment centre in Toronto, ON, Canada.
• Participants will include children ages 0 months to 15.11 years old, and their caregivers, though the majority will fall in the range of 3- to 14-years-old.
• The first 25 families to be referred to the LTP-B service and who agree to participate in research will be included.

Exclusion criteria

• No exclusion criteria beyond what is standard for the clinical service at SKCCMH.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

25 participants in 1 patient group

LTP-B Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Families will take part in an online semi-structured assessment and video feedback paradigm of family interactions, with an emphasis on co-parenting and parent-child relations.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Lausanne Trialogue Play Brief