Clinical trial NCT01383551: "Becoming Parents": A Hospital-community Partnership
Official title: "Becoming Parents": A Hospital-community Partnership to Enhance Transition to Parenthood
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Expectant Couples
Keywords: Depression
Marital relationship
Parental competence
Lead sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong
name: Kwong Wah Hospital
name: University of Michigan
First posted: 2011-06-28
Enrollment: 290
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: The proposed of this study is to determine if an intervention, known as the "Becoming Parents" programme, is more effective in improving the mental health, marital relationship and parental competence of expectant couples in a Chinese community.

Detailed description: Transition to parenthood is potentially a stressful life event for many new parents, which, if not properly managed, could have adverse effects on their mental health, marital satisfaction, and parent-child relationships. The proposed programme, "Becoming Parents", aims to turn the challenges of the transition into opportunities of learning and support for these parents. Building on our experience of instituting a pioneering programme to support new fathers prenatally, "Becoming Parents" has an extra component of support for new parents in the postnatal period using trained volunteers from the community networks. Through "Becoming Parents", seamless antenatal-postnatal care based on a hospital-community partnership will be provided to 125 expectant couples in a target community which is known for its high risks for postnatal depression, child abuse and intimate partner violence. In addition to addressing the health promotional needs of the target community, "Becoming Parents" will also illustrate how a community's capacity for health promotion can be maximized through the collaboration of healthcare providers and network of community partners in helping couples function more optimally during their transition to parenthood.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. 18 years of age or older
2. Expectant couples with the pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Princess Margaret Hospital before 20 weeks of gestation.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Expected couples who are unable to communicate in Cantonese, Putonghua or English.
2. Multiple pregnancy

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change from Baseline in Depressive Symptoms at 3 months postpartum
timeFrame: Baseline and 3 months postpartum
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change from Baseline in Parental Competence at 3 months postpartum
timeFrame: Baseline and 3 months postpartum
measure: Change from Baseline in Marital Satisfaction at 3 months postpartum
timeFrame: Baseline and 3 months postpartum
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: New Territories
country: Hong Kong
facility: Princess Margaret Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: The University of Hong Kong
name: Agnes Tiwari, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
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