Childhood Chronic Illness: An Educational Program for Parents of Children With On-Going Health Care Needs

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The long-term goal of this research is to strengthen parents' abilities to manage the complexities of childhood chronic illness. To achieve this goal, the team of parents, health care professionals, and researchers proposes the following specific aim: Develop, implement, and test a unique psycho-educational program, Living with Childhood Chronic Illness (the Program), for effectiveness with parents of children who have chronic illnesses. The investigators propose the following hypotheses: At both 6 and 12 month follow-up points, parents taking part in the intervention, in contrast to control parents, will have: Greater perceived self-efficacy regarding their ability to manage the child's chronic condition; Greater parental ability to involve their child in shared management activities; Greater parental ability to cope at 6 and 12 months following the end of the intervention; Greater emotional health; and Greater parental perceived family quality of life.

Detailed Description
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Parents will enroll in the study by contacting the study number: 206-987-1000 or by sending an email message to family.strengths@seattlechildrens.org. They will complete a survey taking no more than 60 minutes. Parents will then be randomized to either take the class immediately or be in the control group which can take the class in 12 months. At the end of 6 and 12 months all the participants again take the survey. Classes are 7 weeks in length, 2 hours each and are offered at various locations throughout the Greater Seattle area.

Official Title
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Building on Family Strengths: An Educational Program for Parents of Children With On-Going Health Care Needs

Conditions
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Chronic Illness

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: 7 week Building on Family Strengths Program


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Child 2-11 years of age, with diagnosed chronic illness Parent at least 18 years of age, able to speak and read English at 4th grade level and able to attend a 7 week two-hour class program Exclusion Criteria: Child in active hospice treatment

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: 1<br> | Behavioral: 7 week Building on Family Strengths Program<br>* Parents in intervention group attend a 2 hr class for seven weeks. These classes provide information, time for discussion and creation of an action plan for the parent to complete in the intervening week.<br>|
| No Intervention: 0<br> | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| depressive symptoms |  | 6, and 12 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| self-efficacy |  | 6 and 12 months | 
| parent-child shared management |  | 6, and 12 months | 
| coping |  | 6, and 12 months | 
| quality of life |  | 6, and 12 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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children, chronic illness, parent education, parent support