Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Interventions--Teen Online Problem Solving Study (RRTC--TOPS)

March 7, 2016 updated by: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Interventions

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of an Internet-based psychosocial treatment in improving problem-solving, communication skills, stress management strategies, and coping among teens who have had a traumatic brain injury and their families.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adolescents is a significant stressor for both the teen and his or her family. Existing interventions are rare and access to treatment can be restricted by distance and finances. Based on previous findings and participant feedback, we propose to expand the previously developed TOPS intervention by conducting a multi-site study comparing the efficacy of TOPS to that of TOPS-Teen Only (TOPS-TO) in improving child behavior and functioning, parental depression and distress and family functioning. The efficacy of both active treatments would be examined in relation to an internet resource comparison group (IRC). During years 1-3, we will recruit 165 children between the ages of 11 and 18 with moderate to severe TBI and randomly assign them to receive TOPS, TOPS-TO, or IRC. We anticipate that TOPS will result in improvements in child, caregiver, and family functioning relative to IRC; but that TOPS-TO will only result in improvements in child behavior and adjustment. Based on prior research, we anticipate that the family-level treatment model of TOPS may be more effective than TOPS-TO in improving child behavior for children/adolescents with fewer social resources. Given these expectations, we will test the following hypotheses: 1) Children with TBI receiving either TOPS or TOPS-TO will have fewer behavior problems, greater social competence, and better functioning than those receiving IRC at both post-treatment and at a 6-month follow-up assessment. 2) Caregivers of children receiving TOPS will report less depression and psychological distress, less parent-child conflict, and better family functioning than those receiving TOPS-TO or IRC at both post-treatment and at a 6-month follow-up assessment. 3) Social resources will moderate treatment efficacy, such that children with limited social and economic resources will show greater improvements in the more comprehensive TOPS intervention. We hypothesize better teen problem solving and communication skills, fewer teen emotional/behavioral problems, less parental burden and distress, and less parent-teen conflict at follow-up among the TOPS group compared to the IRC group. TOPS makes use of emerging technology to address the multifaceted needs of teens following TBI with the goal of improving the teen's social and emotional functioning, thereby enabling him or her to better negotiate the complex transition to adulthood and independent functioning.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

153

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Colorado
      • Denver, Colorado, United States, 80045
        • The Children's Hospital
    • Ohio
      • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45224
        • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44109
        • MetroHealth Medical Center
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44106
        • Rainbow Babies' and Children's Hospital
      • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43205
        • Nationwide Children's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

11 years to 18 years (ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Moderate to severe TBI that occurred within the last 18 months
  • Overnight hospital stay
  • English-speaking
  • Parent must be willing to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Child does not live with parents or guardian
  • Child or parent has history of hospitalization for psychiatric problem
  • TBI is a result of child abuse
  • Child suffered a non-blunt injury (e.g., projectile wound, stroke, drowning, or other form of asphyxiation)
  • Diagnosed with moderate or severe mental retardation, autism, or a significant developmental disability

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Teen Online Problem Solving (TOPS)
Web intervention
Behavioral: Teen Online Problem Solving (TOPS)
The TOPS program has 10 sessions that provide training in stress management, problem solving, communication, and social skills to all enrolled families, while the remaining 6 sessions address content related to the stressors and burdens of individual families. Each self-guided online session includes real adolescents talking about how TBI affected them, content regarding the skill, video clips showing adolescents and/or families modeling the skill, and exercises giving the family an opportunity to practice the skill. After the completion of the self-guided web pages, the family will meet with the therapist via videoconference; the therapist will review the exercises and help the family implement the problem-solving process with a problem or goal identified by the family.
Other Names:
  • TOPS
Behavioral: Teen Online Problem Solving--Teen Only (TOPS-TO)
TOPS-TO targets the same skills as TOPS and includes largely the same website and intervention content. However, it differs with respect to the extent of family involvement in the sessions. In TOPS-TO, sessions will be conducted with the child or adolescent alone, rather than with the family as whole. Parents will be given access to the TOPS-TO website content via their own password protected site so they will understand the skills that their child is learning. However, only the adolescent, and not the parents, will participate in the synchronous videoconferences with the therapist.
Other Names:
  • TOPS-TO
Behavioral: Internet Resources Comparison (IRC)
Families in the IRC group will also receive a computer, printer, and high-speed internet access if they do not currently have these. Additionally, IRC families receive access to a home page of brain injury resources and links (identical to those given on the TOPS and TOPS-TO homepage) but will not be able to access specific session content. This will enable us to equate the groups with respect to access to the information and resources available on the Web.
Other Names:
  • IRC
EXPERIMENTAL: Teen Online Problem Solving---Teen Only
Web Intervention
Behavioral: Teen Online Problem Solving--Teen Only (TOPS-TO)
TOPS-TO targets the same skills as TOPS and includes largely the same website and intervention content. However, it differs with respect to the extent of family involvement in the sessions. In TOPS-TO, sessions will be conducted with the child or adolescent alone, rather than with the family as whole. Parents will be given access to the TOPS-TO website content via their own password protected site so they will understand the skills that their child is learning. However, only the adolescent, and not the parents, will participate in the synchronous videoconferences with the therapist.
Other Names:
  • TOPS-TO
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Internet Resources Comparison
Web Intervention
Behavioral: Internet Resources Comparison (IRC)
Families in the IRC group will also receive a computer, printer, and high-speed internet access if they do not currently have these. Additionally, IRC families receive access to a home page of brain injury resources and links (identical to those given on the TOPS and TOPS-TO homepage) but will not be able to access specific session content. This will enable us to equate the groups with respect to access to the information and resources available on the Web.
Other Names:
  • IRC

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Parent Report Measures
Time Frame: 5 years
5 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Teen Self-Report Measures
Time Frame: 5 years
5 years
Neuropsychological Testing
Time Frame: 5 years
5 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Collaborators

Children's Hospital Colorado
Nationwide Children's Hospital
MetroHealth Medical Center
Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sharil L Wade, PhD, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2010

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

December 1, 2015

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

December 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 5, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 5, 2010

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

January 6, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

March 8, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 7, 2016

Last Verified

March 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H133B090010--01

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Traumatic Brain Injury

Clinical Trials on Teen Online Problem Solving (TOPS)

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Jordan

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe