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NCT Number: NCT06592651

Home Within the Heart: a Playful Journey to Strengthen Family Resilience

The primary aim of this clinical trial is to enhance open and secure communication within the family, strengthen the parent-child bond, and reinforce feelings of safety and stability, and strengthen family resilience.

In addition,the investigators want to assess the effectiveness of a short-term therapeutic workshop in enhancing reflective functioning, beliefs about the malleability of emotions, the reported use of effective emotional regulation strategies, and the perceived parental self-efficacy and child behavior.

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Key information

Age range

18 year–70 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

About this study

The participants will:

Complete questionnaires and participate in clinical interviews regarding their relationship with their children and their mental functioning prior to the workshop.

The intervention group will engage in a 4-session workshop (held once a week) facilitated practitioners from various therapeutic disciplines, including clinical, educational, and developmental psychologists, as well as group facilitators.

During each session, observers document the quality of the interaction between the parent and child, focusing on aspects such as emotion, responsiveness, encouragement, and instruction.

After the workshop, participants will again complete questionnaires.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

A parent who have been evacuated from war zones in the northern and southern regions of the country, and has a child of ages 3-6.

Exclusion criteria

  • A parent under the age of 18.
  • A parent who have not been evacuated from war zones.
  • A parent who has a child under 3 years of age, or above 6 years of age.

Treatment and study plan

Play Therapy Workshop

Behavioral

4 session group intervention foucused on psycho-educational knowledge regarding tools for effective emotional coping with stressful events in the context of the "Iron Swords" war, focusing on building mental resilience in the parent-child dyad through play therapy. Each group consists of 5 parent-child dyads with children aged 3-6 years, who have been evacuated from war zones in the northern and southern regions of the country.

Primary outcomes

  1. Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21)

    Time frame: Up to 20 weeks

    DASS-21 is a widely used psychological assessment tool designed to measure the emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress.Each item is scored on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 ("Did not apply to me at all") to 3 ("Applied to me very much or most of the time"). The scores for each subscale are summed and then multiplied by 2 to maintain consistency with the original DASS-42 scores.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF)

    Time frame: Up to 20 weeks

    The MHC-SF is a shorter version of the Mental Health Continuum-Long Form (MHC-LF) and is designed to assess well-being across three dimensions: emotional well-being, social well-being, and psychological well-being.Each item is rated on a 6-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 ("never") to 5 ("every day"). The responses reflect the frequency of these positive experiences over the past month. Scores are calculated for each dimension, and a total score is obtained by summing the items. Higher scores indicate higher levels of well-being.

  2. Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ-18)

    Time frame: Up to 20 weeks

    The PRFQ-18 questionnaire consists of 18 items which respondents rate each item on a 7-point Likert scale, where higher scores indicate higher levels of reflective functioning.

  3. Political Life Events Exposure (PLE)

    Time frame: Up to 20 weeks

    Political Life Events Exposure will be measured using the PLE scale containing 20 items regarding injury to a family member as a result of war, terrorism or military circumstances. For each item, participants are asked to indicate if they were exposed over the past six months, and if so, how stressful it was for them on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very stressful) .Two measures are calculated: objective exposure (the sum of events that individuals experience) and subjective exposure (the sum of ratings of the stress level associated with the event). There is no justification for calculating an internal consistency score for PLE, but test-retest reliability has revealed a high reliability of r=0.87.

  4. Stress Reaction Checklist (SRCL)

    Time frame: Up to 20 weeks

    The Stress Reaction Checklist (SRC) or Stress Reaction Checklist for Life Events (SRCL) is a psychological assessment tool designed to measure an individual's stress reactions following life events. This tool evaluates the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physical responses to stress, providing insights into how individuals cope with stressful situations.Responses are typically measured on a 5-point Likert scale,with higher scores indicating more severe or frequent stress reactions. The total score can be used to assess overall stress levels, while subscale scores can provide detailed information about specific types of stress responses.

  5. Child-Parent Relationship Scale - Short Form (CPRS-SF)

    Time frame: Up to 20 weeks

    The Child-Parent Relationship Scale - Short Form (CPRS-SF) consists of 15 items designed to assess the quality of the parent-child relationship. These items are divided into two subscales: Closeness Subscale and Conflict Subscale. Respondents (typically parents) rate each item on a Likert scale, often ranging from 1 (definitely does not apply) to 5 (definitely applies).The scale provides scores for the overall relationship quality as well as specific subscales for warmth, closeness, and conflict.

  6. Brief Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (BPSES)

    Time frame: Up to 20 weeks

    The BPSES typically consists of 6 to 10 items, although this can vary depending on the specific version used. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale, often ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree), where parents indicate their level of agreement with statements about their parenting abilities.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Yael Enav, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

72 50-726-1474

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Haifa

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Home Within the Heart

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Sep 19, 2024
Registry last updated
Sep 19, 2024

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.

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