The Happy Families Project: Testing the Effectiveness of a Conflict Resolution Program for Families

Effectiveness of an Empirically Supported Family Intervention: Mental Health Outcomes, Mechanisms of Effect, and Organizational Factors

This study is designed to test the effectiveness of a psychoeducation-based program to address communication and conflict resolution in families, thereby supporting mental health in children and their caregivers.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Mental Health; Conflict
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Parent-child intervention; Behavioral: Self-study Intervention

Detailed Description

The goal of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a program to improve mental health in families by reducing stress and supporting effective communication and conflict resolution.

Families will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: in the self-study condition, families will receive information to review on their own, paired with regular (weekly) contact from a family coach; in the second condition, families will receive information to review on their own, regular contact from a coach, and will participate in video sessions with a family coach who will provide feedback on their interactions and coaching on their use of a communication technique. Data collection, management and analysis will be conducted by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, but the intervention will occur through community organizations in three cities in Indiana, allowing for tests of the effectiveness of the program when it is implemented in community settings. Families will participate in a pre-test assessment, a four-week intervention, a post-test assessment, and a one-year follow up assessment. Also evaluated will be organizational factors and factors that impact ultimate implementation and scalability of the program in community settings.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1800
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Katie N Bergman, PhD; Phone Number: 574-631-0956; Email: kbergman@nd.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: E. Mark Cummings, PhD; Phone Number: 574-631-4947; Email: ecumming@nd.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Indiana
    • Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, 46814
      • Recruiting
      • Fort Wayne Center for Children and Families
      • Contact: Katie Bergman, PhD; Phone Number: 574-631-0956; Email: kbergman@nd.edu
    • Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 46260
      • Recruiting
      • Indianapolis Virtual Site
      • Contact: Katie Bergman, PhD; Phone Number: 574-631-0956; Email: kbergman@nd.edu
      • Contact: John G Borkowski, PhD; Email: jborkows@nd.edu
    • Notre Dame, Indiana, United States, 46556
      • Recruiting
      • University of Notre Dame
      • Contact: Katie Bergman, PhD; Phone Number: 574-631-0956; Email: kbergman@nd.edu
      • Contact: E. Mark Cummings, PhD; Phone Number: 574-631-0956; Email: ecumming@nd.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 4 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Two parents or primary caregivers
• Child between 4 and 17 years old
• English literate
• Able/willing to participate through the 12-month follow up assessment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Families who cannot communicate in English
• Single parent families

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Parent-Child Intervention; This is a four-dose intervention that includes psychoeducational modules and communication coaching administered through community organizations over the course of four weeks. Both participating adults and the participating child receive materials to review each week, paired with weekly contact from a family coach.	Behavioral: Parent-child intervention; Families (two adult caregivers, child between 4 and 17) receive four interactive, asynchronous psychoeducation modules to review on their own paired with weekly contact with a communication coach and two live sessions with a communication coach to discuss psychoeducation, receive feedback on their interactions, and practice a communication technique.
Active Comparator: Self-study intervention; This is a four-dose intervention that include written self-study materials to review, paired with weekly contact with a family coach. Both participating adults receive self-study materials; the participating child does not receive separate materials.	Behavioral: Self-study Intervention; Families (two adult caregivers) receive information in a newsletter format to review on their own, paired with weekly contact from a communication coach to answer questions and direct their attention toward specific topics in the newsletter.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)	Youth Adjustment	1 year
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD)	Youth Adjustment	1 year
Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS)	Youth Adjustment	1 year
Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)	Youth Adjustment	1 year
O'Leary Porter Scale (OPS)	Interadult Conflict	1 year
Family Interactions Coding Scale	Observational measures of interadult and family conflict	1 year
Security in the Marital System Questionnaire (SIMS-PR)	Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness	1 year
Security in the Subsystem (SIS)	Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness	1 year
Security in the Family System (SIFS)	Youth Emotional Security: Testing process models associated with youth emotional security as the mechanism of effect for program effectiveness	1 year
Organizational Characteristics Measure (purpose created measure of organizational characteristics)	Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness	4 years
Leadership Perspective Measure (purpose created measure of organizational leaderships' perspective on program, implementation and sustainability)	Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness	4 years
Facilitator Perspective Measure (purpose created measure of community facilitators' perspective on program implementation and training)	Testing organizational factors associated with program effectiveness	4 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Notre Dame

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 13, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 19, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): July 28, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 15, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 13, 2024
• Last Verified: November 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 20-0852

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No