DOI: 10.25377/sussex.25428244
title: Data from the 'Parenting with Anxiety' trial (2022)

description: Parenting with Anxiety was a randomised controlled trial of a web-based intervention for parents with anxiety difficulties, aimed at preventing anxiety in offspring.
Two datasets have been prepared for sharing:
<em>pwa_parents_share.dta</em> contains the data recorded from parents who took part in the study.
<em>pwa_cores_share.dta</em> contains data provided by an additional adult, as nominated by the index parent.
A single dataset has not been prepared as the datasets come from different database exports. Full exports were provided for the final SWAT analyses and final full analyses but the SWAT analyses occurred before data collection was complete for the parents. Hence the co-respondent dataset was derived from a database export on 11<sup>th</sup> May 2023 and the parent dataset was derived from the final database export on 8<sup>th</sup> June 2023. The sharable datasets represent the datasets that were used for each of the respective analyses.
Datasets were saved in Stata format (.dta). This format was chosen as it was the format used for analyses, retains metadata (e.g. variable and category labels), and can be opened directly in SPSS, SAS or R (using the haven package).
More information about preparation of the datasets is found in <em>pwa_dataset_preparation.pdf</em>
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<strong>Background:</strong>
Anxiety is the most common childhood mental health condition and is associated with impaired child outcomes, including increased risk of mental health difficulties in adulthood. Anxiety runs in families: when a parent has anxiety, their child has a 50% higher chance of developing it themselves. Environmental factors are predominant in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety and, of these, parenting processes play a major role. Interventions that target parents to support them to limit the impact of any anxiogenic parenting behaviors are associated with reduced anxiety in their children. A brief UK-based group intervention delivered to parents within the UK National Health Service led to a 16% reduction in children meeting the criteria for an anxiety disorder. However, this intervention is not widely accessible. To widen access, a 9-module web-based version of this intervention has been developed. This course comprises psychoeducation and home practice delivered through text, video, animations, and practice tasks.
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<strong>Objective:</strong>
This study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of delivering this web-based intervention and assess its effectiveness in reducing child anxiety symptoms.
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<strong>Methods:</strong>
This is the protocol for a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a community sample of 1754 parents with self-identified high levels of anxiety with a child aged 2-11 years. Parents in the intervention arm will receive access to the web-based course, which they undertake at a self-determined rate. The control arm receives no intervention. Follow-up data collection is at months 6 and months 9-21. Intention-to-treat analysis will be conducted on outcomes including child anxiety, child mental health symptoms, and well-being; parental anxiety and well-being; and parenting behaviors.
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<strong>Results:</strong>
Funding was received in April 2020, and recruitment started in February 2021, ending in October 2022. A total of 1350 participants were recruited as of May 2022. Trial outcomes are pending publication in late 2024.
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<strong>Conclusions:</strong>
The results of this RCT will provide evidence on the utility of a web-based course in preventing intergenerational transmission of anxiety and increase the understanding of familial anxiety.
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<strong>Trial Registration:</strong>
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04755933; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04755933
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<strong>International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID):</strong>
DERR1-10.2196/40707
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<strong>JMIR Res Protoc 2022;11(11):e40707</strong>