Parental Guidance for Failure to Launch. (SPACE-FTL)

Yale University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Failure to Launch; Hikikomori; Anxiety Disorders

Treatments: Behavioral: SPACE parental-guidance

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04704583

No NIH funding (Other Identifier)

2000029082

Details and patient eligibility

About

In the proposed study the outcome of administering parental guidance, based on the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) program, to parents of highly dependent adult children will be explored. The proposed study's primary purpose is to assess the outcome of parental guidance. In addition, the study will also examine participants' acceptance and adherence to this parental guidance method.

Full description

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of adult Americans who live with their parents. In the 18 to 34 age group, living with one's parents is currently the most common living arrangement. Some adult children have been using their parents' homes as only a temporary solution due to economic hardship. However, other adults remain at home, highly reliant on their parents, and not in higher education or employment. The latter group (who are at times referred to as 'failure to launch') are considered to suffer from a combination of a personal and familial problem and pose a significant challenge for therapists (Lebowitz, 2016). To date, little evidence exists to guide case conceptualization or intervention strategies. In this protocol, the term "FTL" for the sake of brevity in place of "highly dependent adult children who are not functioning independently" will be used.

For the clinician, work with individuals with FTL cases can seem more like treatment with child patients than adult patients. Parents often initiate clinical contact, and in many cases, the dependent adult is not open or willing to engage in treatment directly.

Dr. Lebowitz and colleagues' work with the parents of youth who suffer from clinical anxiety has suggested a theoretical conceptualization and a means of intervention in cases of FTL. Youth with anxiety display a similar pattern of reliance on parents for help in avoiding the situations they find distressing, a process known as family accommodation. Working with parents on decreasing family accommodation has been found to be efficacious in reducing anxiety and increasing independent coping in youth. This manualized approach, known as SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), has been repeatedly tested in clinical trials, including in randomized controlled trial research.

In the proposed study, the investigators will examine outcomes of a parental guidance program, based on SPACE, for parents of FTL adults (henceforth, SPACE-FTL). The current proposal builds on a published feasibility study that found reducing family accommodation was successful in FTL, and in a considerable proportion of cases the adult children started working or studying or moved to independent lodgings.

In the study, the investigators aim to investigate the SPACE-FTL outcomes including improvement in adult child symptoms and reductions in related impairment (e.g., cost-of-illness), when compared to no treatment (i.e., wait-list control). The primary hypothesis is that SPACE-FTL will decrease FTL severity and impairment, compared with the wait-list control condition. Additional outcomes will relate to the feasibility, acceptability, and parents' satisfaction of SPACE-FTL. The investigators hypothesize that parents will rate SPACE-FTL as highly acceptable and that adherence will be above 70%.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Individuals with FTL will be characterized as:

1. Living at parents' home.
2. Not employed gainfully for more than 10 hours per week 3. Not actively engaged in educational programs.
3. These conditions have been met for at least six months.

Participating Parents will:

1. Consent to the study and all study procedures.
2. Be proficient or fluent in English.
3. Be living with the supported individual.

Participants will be excluded based on the following conditions:

1. The individual with FTL is suffering (or likely is suffering) from a major mental disorder, per parent report. This includes any lifetime history of a psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, Autism spectrum disorder, or intellectual delay.
2. the individual with FTL is suffering (or likely is suffering) from Substance Use Disorder (including behavioral addictions).
3. the individual with FTL has suffered a major injury or disease and thus cannot work or study.
4. The individual with FTL shows signs of acute suicidality, requiring higher level of care

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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40 participants in 2 patient groups

Treatment group (active)

Experimental group

Description:

Individuals in this group will start treatment after the initial assessment, without a delay.

Treatment:

Behavioral: SPACE parental-guidance

Wait-list control group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Individuals in this group will start treatment after the initial assessment, with a delay of thirteen weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: SPACE parental-guidance