Cognitive Behavior Play Therapy and Culturally Adapted Mindfulness-Based Guided Self-Help for Parents
Condition: Emotional Problem; Behavior Problem
MeSH terms: Problem Behavior
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Emotional and behavioral problems not only affect the Child's life but also have long-lasting
      effects on families and society and few studies have been carried out to assess these
      problems. During the critical phase of childhood, a child may face many emotional and social
      pressures that can develop physical, behavioral, social, and academic problems, negatively
      impacting on child's school performance, social involvement, self-esteem along with other
      serious mental health issues. There is a relationship between traditional parenting practices
      (such as parental control, love, and rejection) and emotional problems of children including
      depression and anxiety but very little is known about the role of mindful parenting.
      Globally, many studies have been done on the prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems
      in children, whereas relatively little is known about the prevalence of child mental health
      problems and related risk factors in Pakistan. One of the treatments that they are using
      these days to provide the developmentally appropriate and therefore effective intervention
      that meets the mental health needs of children is Cognitive Behavior Play Therapy and mindful
      parenting.
    

Detailed description: 
      There is a high prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems globally and a similar is
      reported in the children of Pakistan, in a study conducted in Karachi. However, despite the
      alarming situation created by this problem, there is a need of developing culturally adapted
      approaches due to differences from western culture, where these therapies have been developed
      and used first. In this context, this study is planned to find out the effect of Cognitive
      Behavior Play Therapy and Culturally Adapted Mindfulness-based guided self-help for parents
      of children with Emotional and Behavioral Problems.

      The study will be carried out using mixed methods; quantitative and qualitative. The
      qualitative part will consist of a structured interview with a minimum of 10-15 parents, and
      mental health professionals, respectively, using the interview questionnaires. The data will
      be analyzed by systematic content and question analysis which will identify the emerging
      themes and categories. The data will then be reorganized into wider themes, codes, and
      categories and written for guidelines to culturally adapt the guided self-help worksheets for
      parents of emotional and behavioral problems of children.

      The quantitative phase will be an RCT involving approximately 108 students and parents (in
      each arm) to assess the effectiveness of "Play Therapy" for students having emotional and
      behavioral problems and "Mindful parenting" for parents of these children having emotional
      and behavioral problems. All those who fulfill the diagnostic criteria of emotional and
      behavioral problems and are studying in schools will be included in the study.

      The intervention group of the RCT will receive Play Therapy and mindful parenting
      intervention in addition to the treatment as usual (TAU) while the control group receives
      TAU. The assessment will be carried out at baseline and at the end of therapy (8 weeks).
      Strength and difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ) with children, and Bangor mindful parenting
      scale, emotional regulation scale, parenting styles, and marital satisfaction scale with
      parents will be used respectively. Schwartz Outcome Scale will be used at the follow-up to
      measure the outcome.
    

Intervention name(s): Group 1: Play Therapy; Group 2: Mindful Parenting; Group 3: (Combined Interventions of both Group 1 & 2)
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Play therapy will be given to children having emotional and behavioral problems.; Culturally adapted mindful parenting worksheets will be given to the parents of children having emotional and behavioral problems.; Play therapy will be given to children and in addition, culturally adapted mindful parenting worksheets will be given to the parents of children having emotional and behavioral problems.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Play therapy; Mindful parenting; Emotional Problems; Behavioral Problems