Mobile Behavioral Parent Training for Childhood ADHD: A Micro-randomized Trial

April 8, 2026 updated by: Florida International University

Personalizing Behavioral Parent Training: Improving Reach and Outcomes for Families of Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The goal of the study is to develop and refine a personalized behavioral parent training intervention for caregivers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The behavioral intervention will teach positive parenting through videos and quizzes that caregivers can access through a smartphone application. The program also gives parents and caregivers in-the-moment feedback their use of parenting strategies. The current study, a micro-randomized trial, aims to see whether the in-the-moment feedback given to parents (a push notification on their smartphone) changes parenting behavior right after the feedback. Micro-randomized means that parents are randomly assigned repeatedly, in this study multiple times per day, to receive or not receive parenting feedback or suggestions on their smartphones.

The main questions to answer are:

Is parenting feedback provided by a smartphone application acceptable to caregivers? When parents receive the feedback, do they use more positive parenting skills in the next few minutes compared to when they do not receive the feedback? Is the phone application usable and acceptable to parents and caregivers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

34

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
    • New York
      • Buffalo, New York, United States, 14226
        • Center for Children and Families of Western New York

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

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Child Inclusion Criteria:

  • Currently meets Diagnostic Statistical Manual 5 diagnostic criteria for ADHD
  • Ages 7 -12
  • Has parent-reported impairment in homework performance defined as a score of 3 or greater on an Impairment Rating Scale measure (Fabiano et al., 2006) of homework performance
  • Has at least one parent or primary caregiver who is willing to participate and is able to access the intervention at home via smartphone.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • N/A

Caregiver Participant Inclusion Criterion:

- 18 years old or older

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: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Mobile BPT with in-the-moment feedback
Participants will be randomized multiple times per day to receive a push notification that provides feedback about parenting.
Behavioral: Mobile behavioral parent training (mBPT)
The mobile phone application includes behavioral parent training content (for example, praise, effective commands, reward systems) delivered in videos, examples, and quizzes that parents/caregivers access.
Behavioral: In the moment feedback
In-the-moment feedback will include parenting feedback.
Experimental: Mobile BPT with in-the-moment suggestions
Participants will be randomized multiple times per day to receive a push notification that provides a suggestion for a parenting behavior.
Behavioral: Mobile behavioral parent training (mBPT)
The mobile phone application includes behavioral parent training content (for example, praise, effective commands, reward systems) delivered in videos, examples, and quizzes that parents/caregivers access.
Behavioral: In the moment suggestions
In-the-moment feedback will include suggestions for parenting strategies.
Other: Mobile BPT only
Participants will be randomized multiple times per day to receive no push notification.
Behavioral: Mobile behavioral parent training (mBPT)
The mobile phone application includes behavioral parent training content (for example, praise, effective commands, reward systems) delivered in videos, examples, and quizzes that parents/caregivers access.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Passive Audio Data-Positive Sentiment Analysis
Time Frame: Through study completion, average of 5 weeks
Parent and child interaction behavior- proportion of recorded interaction that is labeled positive via sentiment analysis algorithm. This will be assessed during scheduled, daily audio recordings. Specifically, we will assess sentiment after the randomization of prompt delivery and prior to the next randomization.
Through study completion, average of 5 weeks
Passive Audio Data-Negative Sentiment Analysis
Time Frame: Throughout study completion, average of 5 weeks
Parent and child interaction behavior- proportion of recorded interaction that is labeled negative via sentiment analysis algorithm. This will be assessed during scheduled, daily audio recordings. Specifically, we will assess sentiment after the randomization of prompt delivery and prior to the next randomization.
Throughout study completion, average of 5 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Intervention Engagement
Time Frame: Through study completion, average of 5 weeks
Number of mobile BPT sessions completed divided by the total number of sessions available.
Through study completion, average of 5 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Florida International University

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 (Actual)

April 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 23, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

September 23, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 22, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 22, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

August 28, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 8, 2026

Last Verified

December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1R34MH128513-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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

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.

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