Clinical trial NCT05196724: Holding a Foster Child's Mind in Mind
Official title: Holding a Foster Child's Mind in Mind
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Attachment Disorder
Behavior Problem
Keywords: Foster care
Mentalization
Therapy
Attachment
Effects
Lead sponsor: VIVE - The Danish Center for Social Science Research
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Copenhagen
name: University College Copenhagen
name: Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families
First posted: 2022-01-19
Enrollment: 175
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: This is a prospective cluster-randomized controlled trial with two conditions: (1) an intervention group who will receive MBT and (2) and a control group who receive usual care (UC).
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The aim of this study is to examine the effects of Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) for foster families in Denmark on child mental health and well-being, parental stress, mental health, and reflective function, parental mind-mindedness and the parent-child relationship.

Detailed description: Children placed in foster care are psychologically and physically vulnerable and show more social, developmental, and behavioral problems than children living with their family of origin. Many foster parents struggle to care for these children, some of whom have experienced serious adversity at a young age. The study examines the effects of Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) in a cluster-randomized controlled trial with 175 foster families with children aged 4-17 years in 10 Danish municipalities.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Any kind of foster family (including professional and kinship care) with at least one full-time foster child aged 4-17 years.
* Elevated child symptoms as measured by X scales and
* An expressed need for support from either the foster parents or the foster child.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Foster families in which there are no reported difficulties and concerns regarding the child or the placement.
* Foster families in which the child was placed with the family within the last X months

Primary outcomes:
measure: Child mental health
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Child Mental health
timeFrame: Follow-up (6 months post-intervention)
measure: Child well-being
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Child well-being
timeFrame: follow-up (6 months post-intervention)
measure: Parental reflective function
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Parental reflective function
timeFrame: follow-up (6 months post-intervention)
measure: Parent-child interaction
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Attachment
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Parental stress
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Parental stress
timeFrame: follow-up (6 months post-intervention)
measure: Parent mental health
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Parent mental health
timeFrame: follow-up (6 months post-intervention)
measure: Parental mind-mindedness
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Parental mind-mindedness
timeFrame: follow-up (6 months post-intervention)
measure: Perception of the family
timeFrame: post-intervention (16 weeks)
measure: Perception of the family
timeFrame: follow-up (6 months post-intervention)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Copenhagen
country: Denmark
facility: VIVE - The Danish Centre of Social Science Research
Study officials:
affiliation: VIVE
name: Maiken Pontoppidan, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: