Dialogical Family Guidance PostDoc Study (DFG II)

The Effectiveness of Dialogical Family Guidance in Families With a Child With Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This new family intervention, called Dialogical Family Guidance (DFG) is developed to target family needs especially in families with a child with neurodevelopmental disorders. PhD study showed, that this intervention is functioning with this target group. Participants (families) experienced that they got information, guidance to ordinary life and that the DFG-therapists were listening to them and above all, helping with individual problems and questions. DFG include six meetings and professionals need to attend on a 3-day long education before using this intervention.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Family Relations; Family Dynamics; Family Support
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Dialogical Family Guidance (DFG)

Detailed Description

Previous studies have highlighted the need for families with a child with neurodevelopmental disorders, to get guidance to daily life, information and also professionals who allow parents to share their own experiences, feelings and questions. Dialogical Family Guidance is developed to offer target families (participants) the help mentioned above. This study is a postdoctoral study to achieve more knowledge and understanding about DFG intervention. This Postdoctoral study is focusing on DFG effectivity offered to families with young children (5-7years). Researchers also want to receive information about DFG effectivity between different units inside and outside the university hospital. Comparation between different units using DFG is one goal with this postdoc study. These results may give researchers deeper understanding when deciding where (university hospital och basic level units) and for whom (childrens age?) DFG intervention is giving the most optimal help.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 50
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Diana Cavonius-Rintahaka, PhD; Phone Number: +358 405551511; Email: diana.cavonius@gmail.com
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Anna Liisa Aho, PhD; Phone Number: +358 401901448; Email: annaliisa.aho@tuni.fi

Study Locations

• Finland
  • Helsinki, Finland, 00029
    • Recruiting
    • Helsinki University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Families with a child with clinical diagnosis within neurodevelopmental ambrella (ADHD, Tourette, Autism disorder, OCD...).
• the child must be between 4-13 years.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Families who do not understand finnish language (because they can not fill the questionnaires and professionals offering DFG are all finnish speaking). At least one parent needs to talk finnish.
• Families who are not motivated to receive DFG.
• Families who do not have a child with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group; These families receive Dialogical family guidance, including six meetings (during 3 months) within the intervention manual proceedings. Parents fill the questionnaires before and after the intervention.	Behavioral: Dialogical Family Guidance (DFG); DFG is family intervention including six meetings with family members. The individual needs and questions of each family are discussed and issues parents bring up are seemed as important.
No Intervention: comparative group; These families (parents in the family) give responses how they manage in ordinary life with their child with neurodevelopmental disorders. These families do not receive the intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
FAFHES	FAFHES (Family Function, Health, and Social Support-questionnaire). The name of the questionnaire explains the content of this questionnaire that includes three sections: family functionality (19 items), family health (23 items), family support provided by professionals (21 items). Likert scale is used with ranging from 1-6 (1= disagree totally......6=I agree totally).	0 months and 3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
DFG-questionnaire	This questionnaire has been developed for DFG intervention including questions about the intervention sessions and themes. Items are included: e.g. questions about the amount and time consumed on DFG, content as a whole, practical advances, did your family get help, would you recommend this to other families. Likert scale from 1-5 is used. Two open ended questions in the end of the questionnaire is included.	3 months
SDQ-p questionnaire (Strengths and difficulties regarding the child)	Measures changes in child's behavior. Includes 25 items with 3 point likert scale.	0 months and 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Tampere University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Diana Cavonius-Rintahaka, PhD, Tampere University, Finland

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 2, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 7, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 13, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): March 21, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 21, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 13, 2024
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: family support; neurodevelopmental disorders; family health; family functionality
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: HUS/7626/2023

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: No information is shared regarding the families attending the study. Analyzed study results are shared by using results from scientific study protocols published in academic and international publications.

Drug and device information, study documents

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