Parenting Young Children in Pediatrics

University of Oregon

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pediatrics; Parenting; Substance Use Disorders; Parent-Child Relations; Parenting Self-efficacy; Depression; Anxiety; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: Family Check-Up Online

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06273228

STUDY00000788

P50DA048756 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

In this study, investigators will partner with pediatric primary care providers to recruit parent participants, then evaluate feasibility and acceptability by systematically assessing parents' engagement with the FCU Online app. Engagement data from the app includes time spent in app overall and in each module, activities completed, and which modules were accessed. Investigators will also administer a consumer satisfaction survey, which will ask parents to report on their perceptions of the app (e.g., helpfulness, useability, and effects on parenting). To assess engagement in telehealth coaching sessions, investigators will use the following variables: number of telehealth sessions completed, length of session, content of sessions, and coaches' ratings of participant engagement in the session and barriers to using the app. Coaches will also rate participant engagement on a 3-point scale from "low" to "high." Lastly, investigators will conduct qualitative interviews with a sub-sample of participants to solicit additional feedback on the acceptability of the FCU Online, focusing particularly on the perception of acceptability within an integrated primary care context and stigma associated with endorsing substance use in this setting.

Full description

Research suggests that one in eight children in the U.S. currently lives with a parent with a substance use disorder. Parents who misuse substances are at increased risk of using harsh and other negative parenting practices with their young children, who are more likely to face challenges with emotional and behavioral regulation and subsequently misuse substances themselves. There is thus an urgent need for evidence-based interventions to promote positive parenting skills in parents who misuse substances. Interventions must be convenient, non-stigmatizing, and accessible to parents with problematic substance use, who frequently face barriers to engaging with healthcare systems. Pediatric primary care is an ideal setting to offer a brief intervention for maladaptive parenting behaviors associated with parental substance use, as the vast majority of children under 5 access pediatric primary care at least annually and parents generally report high levels of trust in their child's pediatrician.

The Family Check-Up (FCU) Online app, which was created specifically to promote positive parenting skills in parents with past or current substance misuse, is ideal for delivery to parents with pre-school age children in a pediatric primary care setting as it is brief, convenient, and delivered in a self-directed format that parents favor. The main objective of this pilot study is to test the feasibility and acceptability of the FCU-Online, a brief, app-based parenting intervention, for parents reporting lifetime problematic substance use in a pediatric primary care setting.

In this study, investigators will partner with pediatric primary care providers to recruit parent participants, then evaluate feasibility and acceptability by systematically assessing parents' engagement with the FCU Online app. Engagement data from the app includes time spent in app overall and in each module, activities completed, and which modules were accessed. Investigators will also administer a consumer satisfaction survey, which will ask parents to report on their perceptions of the app (e.g., helpfulness, useability, and effects on parenting). To assess engagement in telehealth coaching sessions, investigators will use the following variables: number of telehealth sessions completed, length of session, content of sessions, and coaches' ratings of participant engagement in the session and barriers to using the app. Coaches will also rate participant engagement on a 3-point scale from "low" to "high." Lastly, investigators will conduct qualitative interviews with a sub-sample of participants to solicit additional feedback on the acceptability of the FCU Online, focusing particularly on the perception of acceptability within an integrated primary care context and stigma associated with endorsing substance use in this setting.

A second aim of this study is to assess pediatric healthcare providers' perceptions and attitudes regarding the fit of the FCU Online with their practice settings as well as potential barriers to implementation. Through semi-structured focus groups and qualitative interviews with pediatric healthcare providers, investigators will assess provider- and practice-level factors that may facilitate or impede the implementation of the FCU Online in pediatric primary care settings.

Enrollment: 18 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Must be a parent of a child between the ages of 10 months and 5 years that lives in the parent's home at least 50% of the time;
• Must be over the age of 18;
• Must speak English fluently;
• Must have a smart phone with text messaging capability and access to email;
• Must endorse "yes" on at least one of the five following screening questions addressing lifetime family substance misuse: 1) participant has ever drunk alcohol or used drugs more than they meant to, 2) participant has ever participated in treatment for substance use, 3) participant has ever felt they wanted or needed to cut down on their drinking or drug use, 4) participant ever ever lived with someone who had a problem with drinking or using drugs, including prescription drugs, and 5) a family member's drinking or drug use ever impacted the participant's child. Note: Items 1, 3, and 5 were adapted from the Family Questions section of the Survey of Well-Being of Young Children (SWYC) screening form, which has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for use as a screening tool in pediatric primary care settings. Adaptations made reflect lifetime family substance misuse instead of family substance misuse in the past year. Item 2 was added to include parents in substance use treatment, and item 4 was adapted from the Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire for Adults to further reflect family substance use.

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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18 participants in 1 patient group

Parent participants

Experimental group

Description:

Parents receive access to the FCU Online website and telehealth coaching/ support provided by a trained mental health provider. The FCU Online website includes a brief 5-minute assessment, feedback on parents' responses, and online tools to support parenting in areas that were identified as challenges by the assessment. These tools include animated videos, parenting tips, and interactives to help practice parenting skills. Telehealth coaching will focus on Wellness and Self-Care, Parenting and Substance Use, Positive Parenting, Proactive Parenting, and Supervision and Limit Setting.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Family Check-Up Online