Clinical trial NCT03109184: Violence Prevention for Middle School Boys
Official title: Partner Violence Prevention for Middle School Boys: A Dyadic Web-Based Intervention
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Intimate Partner Violence
Keywords: Dating violence prevention
Adolescent boys
Middle school
Web-based prevention
Lead sponsor: Northeastern University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Rhode Island Hospital
First posted: 2017-04-12
Enrollment: 119
Sex: MALE
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 14
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This study will develop and test a web-based intervention to enhance emotion regulation skills and parent-son relationship communication to decrease adolescent boys' risk for dating violence involvement as well as attitudes supporting relationship aggression.

Detailed description: Over the past ten years dating violence (DV) has been recognized as a significant public health problem affecting adolescents. Emerging data suggest that boys and girls have different developmental trajectories toward violence and therefore prevention programs that target their unique pathways to DV are needed. Despite this need, there is a relative dearth of such gender-informed programs for early adolescent boys. This research project aims to prevent the emergence of DV perpetration/ victimization among boys by developing a web-based intervention that is informed by research on gender-specific pathways to violence and harnesses the influence of parents during the early adolescent years.

Among boys, the perpetration of delinquency-related violence and attitudes supporting violence has been found to predict later perpetration of DV. Thus, gender-informed interventions designed to prevent DV in boys need to target skills that underlie violent behavior and attitudes. The goal of this study is to develop and test a web-based intervention to enhance emotion regulation skills and parent-son relationship communication to prevent DV.

Development and testing will occur in three phases. In the Development Phase, the intervention modules will be developed and iteratively reviewed by both a panel of experts familiar with the research in the field as well as an advisory group of parents and teens from the target population. In the Acceptability Testing Phase, testing will be conducted to assess acceptability and feasibility, and this will be followed by revisions to the intervention program based on feedback and observations. During the Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) Phase, 120 families will complete the intervention program in an observed setting, to ensure fidelity to intervention dosing. Parents and adolescents will complete the program together and then complete assessments of aggressive and risk behaviors, parent-child communication, and emotion regulation at baseline, 3-,and 9-month follow-ups.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 1) adolescent enrolled in the 7th or 8th grade,
* 2) parent/legal guardian and teen are English speaking,
* 3) parent/legal guardian is willing to provide consent for the adolescent to participate in the study,
* 4) adolescent is willing to provide assent for their own participation.

Exclusion Criteria:

* 1) observable cognitive or developmental delays that would preclude participation,
* 2) residing with participating parent/guardian less than half time

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Dating Violence (DV) Perpetration From Baseline to 9 Months
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 months, and 9 months
measure: Change in General Aggressive Behavior From Baseline to 9 Months
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 months, 9 months
measure: Change in Attitudes About Relationship Violence From Baseline to 9 Months
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 months, and 9 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Emotion Regulation Skills From Baseline to 9 Months
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 months, and 9 months
measure: Change in Parent-Adolescent Communication From Baseline to 9 Months
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 months, and 9 months
measure: Change in Emotion Regulation Skills Baseline to 9 Months
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 months, 9 months
measure: Change in Distress Tolerance From Baseline to 9 Months
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 months, 9 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Providence
country: United States
facility: Rhode Island Hospital
state: Rhode Island
Study officials:
affiliation: Northeastern University
name: Christie Rizzo, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Rizzo CJ, Houck C, Barker D, Collibee C, Hood E, Bala K. Project STRONG: an Online, Parent-Son Intervention for the Prevention of Dating Violence among Early Adolescent Boys. Prev Sci. 2021 Feb;22(2):193-204. doi: 10.1007/s11121-020-01168-6. Epub 2020 Sep 17.