Treatment of Children With Peer Related Aggressive Behavior

April 14, 2014 updated by: Manfred Doepfner, University of Cologne

Treatment of Children With Peer Related Aggressive Behavior With the Treatment Programme THAV - a Randomized Controlled Trial

The efficacy of the Treatment Program for Children with Aggressive Behaviour (Therapieprogramm für Kinder mit aggressivem Verhalten, THAV) which is a social competence training delivered in an individual format will be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial with children aged 6 to 12 years with peer-related aggressive behaviour.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The German Treatment Program for Children with Aggressive Behaviour (Therapieprogramm für Kinder mit aggressivem Verhalten, THAV) aims at the therapy of children aged 6 to 12 years with peer-related aggressive behaviour, which results in a persistent impairment of the relationships to other children. Contrary to other treatment approaches, this intervention aims at the individual treatment of problem maintaining and moderating factors of aggressive behaviour. Depending on the individual problem maintaining factors the treatment aims to modify social cognitive information processing, impulse control, social problem solving, social skills and social interactions. Methods: The efficacy will be tested in a partial randomized control group design with n=100 children. N=60 children will be treated for about half a year with the modules of THAV in weekly sessions. The control group of n=40 children will receive alternative interventions with group play and techniques to activate resources of the child. These interventions give the children the opportunity to train pro-social interactions. Outcome parameters are aggressive behaviour und comorbid symptoms as well as problem maintaining factors, psychosocial functioning, family burden and treatment satisfaction. Moreover, variables of the treatment process are assessed. Questionnaires, tests and individual problem checklist were used to assess these outcome and process parameters

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

100

Phase

  • Phase 3

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

  • Germany
      • Cologne, Germany, D-50931
        • Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University Cologne

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

4 years to 10 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age: 6 - 12 years
  • IQ>= 80
  • Diagnoses (ICD-10): F91, F92, F90.1
  • high symptom score in the parent rated Symptom Checklist for Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorder (FBB-SSV) (Stanine ≥ 7) at assessment 1 and assessment 2
  • Often conflicts with other children (clinical rating)
  • Impaired social relationships / activities
  • Parents agree in randomization
  • in medicated children no planned change of the medication

Exclusion Criteria:

  • other disorder is dominating
  • other active psychotherapy
  • severe mental disorder of the parents

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 Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Social Skills Training
Behavioral: Treatment Program for Children with Aggressive Behavior
24 sessions with the child aiming at the reduction of peer related aggressive behavior via social skills training. Additionally up to 10 sessions with relatives of the child in most cases with the parents.
Active Comparator: Play group
Behavioral: Play group
12 double sessions (totally 24 treatment hours) in groups with up to 5 children. Different play activities were presented including techniques to activate resources of the child. These interventions give the children the opportunity to train pro-social interactions. Additionally up to 3 parent sessions were also included.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Questionnaire for Aggressive Behavior of Children (FAVK) total score for peer related aggression
Time Frame: Change from pre- assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and to follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment
The Questionnaire for Aggressive Behavior of Children (FAVK) is a newly developed parent rating scale which assesses several factors of peer related aggression: (1) disturbance of social cognitive information processing, (2) disturbance of social problem solving and social skills, (3) disturbance of impulse control, and (4) disturbance of social interaction. These scores a summed to a total score
Change from pre- assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and to follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Symptom Checklist for Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorder (FBB-SSV), parent and teacher rating
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment
The Symptom Checklist for Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorder (FBB-SSV) assesses all symptom criteria for ODD and some of the symptom criteria of Conduct Disorders according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV.
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment
Change in Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher Report Form (TRF)
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment
The CBCL and the TRF are well evaluated rating scales for the assessement of a broad spectrum of child behavioral and emotional problems as perceived by parents and teachers respectively
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment
Change in KINDL rating scale for quality of life
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
The KINDL is a German parent and patient rating scale for the assessment of different aspects of QoL
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
Change in Modified WFIRS (Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale)
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
The modified WFIRS is a parent rating scale for the assessment of psychosocial functioning in children with ODD/CD. The original WFIRS has been developed to assess psychosocial functioning in children with ADHD. Several items have been adapted or deleted in thise modified version.
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
Change in Individual Problem Checklist (IPC)
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
The IPC assesses individual problems as defined together with the parents. It represents the individual problems which were aimed to reduce with the treatment.
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
Change in Social Problem Solving Test (SPST)
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
The Social Problem Solving Test (SPST) is a newly developed test that assesses problem solving compentecies according to the social problem solving theory of Kenneth Dodge as well as behavioural tendencies in specific conflict situations.
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
Change in Five minutes speech sample (FMSS)
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
The FMSS is a standard assessment procedure to assess negative expressed emotions within the family. The parents are asked to describe their child for five minutes. The recorded descriptions were analyzed according to several domains.
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin
Change in Depression Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire (DASS)
Time Frame: change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment
The DASS assesses parental depression anxiety and stress
change form pre assessment to post assessment 30 weeks after treatment begin and follow up 3 months and 9 months after post assessment

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Cologne

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Anja Goertz-Dorten, PhD, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Univ. Cologne

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

January 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 26, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 28, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

July 29, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 15, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 14, 2014

Last Verified

April 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • THAV-Study 1

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 Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Clinical Trials on Treatment Program for Children with Aggressive Behavior

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Malawi

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe