ACT Dad Interview: ACT for Fathers of Children With Special Needs

May 9, 2026 updated by: Dr Katherine Lam, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

A Qualitative Study to Develop a Protocol Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Fathers of Children With Special Needs in Improving Their Psychological Flexibility and Mental Health

The goal of this qualitative study is to develop a therapy protocol for fathers of children with special needs in Hong Kong. The therapy is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which helps people cope with difficult emotions by building psychological flexibility - the ability to accept and adjust to hard situations. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  1. What are the experiences and needs of fathers raising children with special needs?
  2. What content and format of an ACT programme would be most helpful for these fathers?

Researchers will conduct focus group interviews with two groups of participants: fathers raising children with special needs and social workers who work with these families. The interviews will take about 60 to 90 minutes each.

Participants will:

  1. Take part in a recorded focus group interview
  2. Share their experiences, challenges, and views on what an ACT program should include

The findings will be used to develop a protocol for an ACT programme to improve the mental health of fathers raising children with special needs.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

20

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

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
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Biological fathers of children aged 2 to 12 years with a formal diagnosis of a developmental disability (including autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, or intellectual disability), and social workers with experience working with these families. All participants are able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese.

Description

Informants will include 2 groups, 1) fathers rearing children with special needs and 2) social workers.

For fathers,

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. are the biological fathers of children aged 2 to 12 years,
  2. are with a child having a formal diagnosis of a developmental disability, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, or related neurodevelopmental conditions,
  3. are able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Fathers with physical or cognitive impairment
  2. Father with learning problems as identified from NGO or related medical records

For social workers,

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. have experience in working with biological fathers of children aged 2 to 12 years who have a formal diagnosis of a developmental disability, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, or related neurodevelopmental conditions,
  2. are able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese.

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
SEN father and social workers
Other: Semi-structured Focus Group Interview
Participants will take part in a 60 to 90-minute, video-recorded, semi-structured focus group interview conducted in Cantonese.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Psychological flexibility
Time Frame: immediately after the interview
Qualitative method, conducted in the form of individual semi-structured interviews.
immediately after the interview
Mental Health
Time Frame: immediately after the interview
Qualitative method, conducted in the form of individual semi-structured interviews.
immediately after the interview

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

The Hong Kong Polytechnic 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 (Estimated)

May 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 9, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 9, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 9, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ACT Dad interview

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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