Effects of an SMS-Based Parenting Intervention on Anxiety Symptoms in Preschool Children

July 22, 2026 updated by: Bilin Zheng, Anhui Medical University

Effects of a Mobile Health-Based Ecological Momentary Parenting Intervention on Anxiety Symptoms in Preschool-Aged Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Excessive screen use and anxiety symptoms in preschool children have become increasingly prominent public health problems. This randomized controlled trial aims to determine whether, compared with a control group, an ecological momentary parenting intervention delivered via text messages and a WeChat public account can reduce screen use, anxiety symptoms, and social-emotional behavior problems in preschool children.

A total of 356 caregiver-child dyads with children aged 3 to 6 years will be randomly assigned to an intervention group with 178 dyads or a control group with 178 dyads. The intervention group will receive an ecological momentary parenting intervention, including text messages and posts on a WeChat public account, focusing on guidance for emotion recognition, anxiety soothing, establishing regular routines, and reasonable screen use management. The control group will receive only general pediatric health science popularization text messages, which do not include content related to child emotion management, anxiety intervention, or screen use management.

The primary outcome is children's anxiety symptoms, assessed by the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale. Secondary outcomes include children's screen use assessed by the ScreenQ scale and social-emotional behavior problems assessed by the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale-30 (SCBE-30)

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

356

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 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

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Children between 3 and 6 years of age and their primary caregivers;
  2. The primary caregiver possesses a mobile phone with SMS-receiving capability, and is able to read and comprehend Chinese;
  3. Provide informed consent to participate in both the intervention and the study assessments.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. The child has a diagnosed neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder;
  2. The child is undergoing other forms of intervention or psychological therapy at the time of the study;

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group
Participants receive ecological momentary parenting intervention via text messages and WeChat public account
Behavioral: Ecological Momentary Parenting Intervention
Participants will receive an ecological momentary parenting intervention delivered via parenting text messages and posts on a WeChat public account. The intervention focuses on emotion recognition, anxiety soothing, establishing regular routines, and reasonable screen use management.
Active Comparator: Control Group
Participants receive general pediatric health education text messages.
Other: General Pediatric Health Education
Participants will receive general pediatric health science popularization text messages that do not include content related to child emotion management, anxiety intervention, or screen use management.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Preschool Anxiety Scale
Time Frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention
The Preschool Anxiety Scale is a 28-item parent-reported measure of anxiety symptoms in preschool-aged children. Each item is scored from 0 to 4, yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 112. Higher scores indicate more severe anxiety symptoms
Baseline and immediately post-intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
ScreenQ Scale
Time Frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention
The ScreenQ is a 16-item parent-reported measure of screen-based media use in young children. It assesses screen access, frequency of screen use, screen content, and caregiver-child co-viewing practices. Item scores are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 26. Higher scores indicate greater inconsistency with recommended screen-media practices
Baseline and immediately post-intervention
Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale-30
Time Frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention
The Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale-30 (SCBE-30) is a 30-item parent-reported measure of social-emotional competence and behavioral problems in preschool-aged children. Each item is rated from 1 to 6. The scale includes three 10-item subscales: Social Competence, Anger-Aggression, and Anxiety-Withdrawal. Each subscale score ranges from 10 to 60. Higher Social Competence scores indicate better social competence, whereas higher Anger-Aggression and Anxiety-Withdrawal scores indicate more severe behavioral or emotional problems
Baseline and immediately post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Anhui Medical 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)

August 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 22, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 22, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 22, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AHMU-2026-05-25

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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