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Parent-focused Primary Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse: An Effectiveness-implementation Hybrid Trial

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New York University (NYU)

Status

Enrolling

Conditions

Child Sexual Abuse

Treatments

Behavioral: Parents as Teachers (PAT) + Smart Parents
Behavioral: Parents as Teachers (PAT) as usual

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT05976867
R01HD108209

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of a parent-focused child sexual abuse prevention program (Smart Parents) delivered to parents enrolled in a parent education program (Parents as Teachers; PAT). The main questions the trial aims to answer are:

  1. Does PAT + Smart Parents improve parents' CSA-related awareness and protective behaviors compared to PAT as usual?
  2. Are potential gains maintained 12- and 24-months post intervention?
  3. What parent-, provider-, and organizational-level factors hold promise for future dissemination and implementation efforts?

Full description

To expand the empirical evidence for the effectiveness of Smart Parents and to explore the implementation factors that might promote or hinder adoption, fidelity, and scalability, the proposed study uses a type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation design. Designed to efficiently bridge the research to practice gap, the type 2 hybrid design tests the effectiveness of an intervention while concurrently exploring the viability of an explicit implementation strategy in a real world setting. To determine effectiveness (Aims 1 & 2), the investigators will conduct a pragmatic, quasi-experimental, stepped wedge cluster randomized trial (SW-CRT; N = 400) of CSA-related awareness (i.e., knowledge and attitudes about CSA and CSA prevention) and intention to use CSA protective behaviors for parents receiving Smart Parents when added to PAT (PAT+Smart Parents) compared to parents receiving PAT treatment as usual (PAT-TAU; Aim 1). The investigators will follow-up participating parents in both conditions at 12- and 24-months to determine retention of awareness (i.e., knowledge and attitudes) and actual use of protective behaviors (Aim 2).

A variation of a crossover experimental design, the SW-CRT is a pragmatic experimental design wherein randomized clusters sequentially transition from control to intervention until all clusters are exposed to the intervention. Once introduced to a cluster, the intervention is never removed. Facilitated by PAT National, 25 PAT sites will be recruited at the start of the study period. Sites will then be randomized into 1 of 5 clustered sequences (or steps) each containing 5 sites (or clusters). At the time on randomization, providers at all sites will begin recruiting eligible parents for participation in research and parents will begin the data collection protocols. At the point of the wedge, sites will be trained to deliver Smart Parents and will transition from control (PAT+TAU) to intervention (PAT+Smart Parents) conditions, the timing of which will be determined by the randomized step assignment.

Enrollment

400 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

15+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • One parent per household that is currently enrolled in PAT qualified to receive bi-weekly visits;
  • English or Spanish speaking;
  • Has at least one child at home over 12-mo;
  • Only newly enrolled parents (i.e., parents who have not received more than 3 of the PAT foundational sessions).

Exclusion criteria

  • Not currently enrolled in PAT;
  • Not English or Spanish speaking;
  • Does not have a child over 12-mo old;
  • Previously enrolled in PAT (i.e., parents who have received more than 3 of the PAT foundational sessions)

Trial design

Primary purpose

Prevention

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

Single Blind

400 participants in 2 patient groups

PAT + Smart Parents
Experimental group
Description:
Participants in this arm will receive the additional Smart Parents module, added to Parents as Teachers (PAT) in which they are already enrolled. This is the experimental condition.
Treatment:
Behavioral: Parents as Teachers (PAT) + Smart Parents
PAT as usual
Active Comparator group
Description:
Participants in this arm will continue to receive Parents as Teachers (PAT) as usual. This is the treatment as usual condition (comparison).
Treatment:
Behavioral: Parents as Teachers (PAT) as usual

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Central trial contact

Kate Guastaferro, PhD, MPH

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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