Behaviours and Emotions in Preschoolers (BeEPS)

Behaviours and Emotions in Preschoolers - Detecting Mental Health Problems in Preschool Children in a Primary Care Population

In this TARGet Kids! Study, we want to find out whether a short questionnaire can be used to help find out about mental health problems in preschool age children.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Post Partum Depression; Mental Health Wellness; Emotional Problem; Behavioural Problem

Detailed Description

Research indicates that more than 1 in 10 preschoolers have significant social, emotional and behavioural problems also known as mental health problems. Unfortunately, parents and doctors rarely identify mental health problems in young children in order to begin treatment. We are testing a short five-minute questionnaire completed by parents to see if this may help a doctor notice if a child has social, emotional and behavioural problems.

In addition, we also hope to find out if the presence of feelings of stress and depression in on or both parents may be associated with mental health problems in their preschool child.

This study is being conducted by researchers at SickKids and St. Michael's Hospital.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 183

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1X8
      • The Hospital for Sick Children

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 4 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

TARGet Kids! (The Applied Research Group for Kids) is a research project enrolling healthy children aged 0-5 years during their primary-care health supervision visits with their primary care physician who is a Community Physician Collaborator with the TARGetKids! primary-care practice-based research network. The BeEPS study will recruit participants from within the TARGet Kids! cohort.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Child is between age 2 to 4 years.
2. Parent is the primary caretaker for the child and is able to speak, read and understand English well enough to complete the forms and the PAPA interview.
3. Either one or both parents (primary caretakers) are available to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Children with associated health conditions affecting growth (e.g. failure to thrive, cystic fibrosis);
2. Children with any acute or chronic conditions except for asthma and high functioning autism;
3. Children with severe developmental delay;
4. Children with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks;
5. Families who are not fluent in English.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Total difficulties score	As measured by the preschool strengths and difficulties questionnaire (P-SDQ)	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: TARGetKids!
• Collaborators: The Hospital for Sick Children; Unity Health Toronto
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Alice Charach, MD, The Hospital for Sick Children

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 20, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 26, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 26, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): February 27, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 6, 2025
• Last Verified: January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mental health; preschool; SDQ; parental depression
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Urogenital Diseases; Mental Disorders; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Pregnancy Complications; Behavioral Symptoms; Mood Disorders; Puerperal Disorders; Depressive Disorder; Problem Behavior; Depression; Depression, Postpartum
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1000056960

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No