Effectiveness of MBT-C Among Foster Children

June 25, 2026 updated by: Asieh Hasanpour Souderjani, Ardakan University

Effectiveness of Mentalization-Based Treatment on Emotion Regulation and Emotional Awareness Among Children in Foster Care

This study examined whether Mentalization-Based Treatment for Children (MBT-C) could improve emotion regulation and emotional awareness among children in foster care. Thirty children aged 7-12 years were randomly assigned to either an MBT-C intervention group or a control group. The intervention group participated in 12 treatment sessions, while the control group received no intervention. Results showed that children who received MBT-C demonstrated improvements in adaptive emotion regulation and emotional awareness, and these improvements were maintained two months later. The findings suggest that MBT-C may be a useful intervention for supporting the emotional development of children in foster care.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

30

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

  • Iran
      • Isfahan, Iran
        • Isfahan Welfare Organization

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

Inclusion Criteria:

  • having emotional and behavioral difficulties, diagnosed using the cutoff score of 14 or higher on the carer-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), including scores of 5 or higher on the Emotional Symptoms subscale and 3 or higher on the Conduct Problems subscale.
  • Aged 7 to 12 years.
  • Living with foster parents for at least 4 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of an intellectual disability.
  • A diagnosed psychiatric disorder documented in the records of the Child Welfare Organization.
  • Participating in other psychotherapeutic interventions.

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: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control group
Experimental: MBT-C
Behavioral: Mentalization-based treatment for children

MBT-C is a transdiagnostic, time-limited, and manualized psychotherapy for children, delivered with parallel parent sessions. The model emphasizes a predetermined number of sessions, a treatment calendar, and a focused case formulation. A clear therapeutic contract is established at the beginning with both parents and children, fostering collaboration, agency, and transparency which is a significant aspect of the mentalizing stance.

While MBTC is designed to address multiple domains, including explicit mentalization, attention control, and relational capacities, these domains were considered supportive targets in the present study, as they contribute to strengthening children's emotion regulation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Emotional awareness
Time Frame: Baseline: One day before the first intervention session. Post-test: One day after the final intervention session. Follow-up: Two months after the final intervention session.
Emotional awareness is defined as the conscious ability to recognize, differentiate, and verbalize one's own emotions, while also identifying and interpreting the emotions of others, thereby supporting adaptive coping and psychological wellbeing. It was measured using the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ). It is a 30-item self-report measure of emotional awareness comprising six subscales: Differentiating Emotions, Verbal Sharing of Emotions, Bodily Awareness of Emotions, Acting Out Emotions, Analysis of Emotions, and Awareness of Others' Emotions. Subscale scores may be examined separately, and a total score can be calculated to reflect overall emotional awareness. Total scores range from 30 to 90, with higher scores indicating greater emotional awareness.
Baseline: One day before the first intervention session. Post-test: One day after the final intervention session. Follow-up: Two months after the final intervention session.
Emotion regulation
Time Frame: Baseline: One day before the first intervention session. Post-test: One day after the final intervention session. Follow-up: Two months after the final intervention session.
Emotion regulation refers to the internal and external processes through which individuals monitor, evaluate, and modify emotional experiences to achieve adaptive functioning. It was measured using The Emotional Regulation Checklist (ERC). This 24-item checklist is a caregiver-report measure designed to assess children's emotional expressiveness and regulation. Respondents rate each item on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (rarely/never) to 4 (almost always). The ERC comprises two distinct subscales: Emotion Regulation (8 items; score range = 8-32) and Lability/Negativity (15 items; score range = 15-60). Scores for each subscale can be interpreted independently, with higher scores on the Emotion Regulation subscale indicating stronger regulatory capacities and higher scores on the Lability/Negativity subscale reflecting greater emotional dysregulation.
Baseline: One day before the first intervention session. Post-test: One day after the final intervention session. Follow-up: Two months after the final intervention session.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Ardakan 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 2, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 22, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

October 22, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 20, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 25, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 29, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 25, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IR.ARDAKAN.REC.1403.023

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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