NCT Number: NCT07728344
Excessive screen use and anxiety symptoms in preschool children have become increasingly prominent public health problems. This randomized controlled trial aims to determine whether, compared with a control group, an ecological momentary parenting intervention delivered via text messages and a WeChat public account can reduce screen use, anxiety symptoms, and social-emotional behavior problems in preschool children.
A total of 356 caregiver-child dyads with children aged 3 to 6 years will be randomly assigned to an intervention group with 178 dyads or a control group with 178 dyads. The intervention group will receive an ecological momentary parenting intervention, including text messages and posts on a WeChat public account, focusing on guidance for emotion recognition, anxiety soothing, establishing regular routines, and reasonable screen use management. The control group will receive only general pediatric health science popularization text messages, which do not include content related to child emotion management, anxiety intervention, or screen use management.
The primary outcome is children's anxiety symptoms, assessed by the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale. Secondary outcomes include children's screen use assessed by the ScreenQ scale and social-emotional behavior problems assessed by the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale-30 (SCBE-30)
Trial opening soon.
Get Notified3 year–6 year
All sexes
Interventional
Not applicable
Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes
Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.
Inclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria
Participants will receive an ecological momentary parenting intervention delivered via parenting text messages and posts on a WeChat public account. The intervention focuses on emotion recognition, anxiety soothing, establishing regular routines, and reasonable screen use management.
Participants will receive general pediatric health science popularization text messages that do not include content related to child emotion management, anxiety intervention, or screen use management.
Time frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention
The Preschool Anxiety Scale is a 28-item parent-reported measure of anxiety symptoms in preschool-aged children. Each item is scored from 0 to 4, yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 112. Higher scores indicate more severe anxiety symptoms
Time frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention
The ScreenQ is a 16-item parent-reported measure of screen-based media use in young children. It assesses screen access, frequency of screen use, screen content, and caregiver-child co-viewing practices. Item scores are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 26. Higher scores indicate greater inconsistency with recommended screen-media practices
Time frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention
The Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale-30 (SCBE-30) is a 30-item parent-reported measure of social-emotional competence and behavioral problems in preschool-aged children. Each item is rated from 1 to 6. The scale includes three 10-item subscales: Social Competence, Anger-Aggression, and Anxiety-Withdrawal. Each subscale score ranges from 10 to 60. Higher Social Competence scores indicate better social competence, whereas higher Anger-Aggression and Anxiety-Withdrawal scores indicate more severe behavioral or emotional problems
Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.
Anhui Medical University
Other
Effects of a Mobile Health-Based Ecological Momentary Parenting Intervention on Anxiety Symptoms in Preschool-Aged Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial
OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.
View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.
