Parenting Mindfully Study II

Launched by GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY · May 6, 2022

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

The Parenting Mindfully Study II is a research trial designed to help stressed parents of teenagers aged 12 to 14. The study is comparing two approaches: one that teaches parents to practice mindfulness (which means being present and aware in the moment) and another that provides general parenting education. The goal is to see which method better supports parents and helps reduce issues like substance use and emotional problems in their adolescents.

To participate, families need to have a teenager in the specified age range and a parent who experiences high levels of stress. It's important that at least one parent can read and understand English enough to fill out questionnaires. However, parents or teens with certain mental health issues or untreated substance use problems are not eligible for the study. If you join, you can expect to learn new parenting strategies and be asked to complete some questionnaires. Additionally, some parents may have the opportunity to take part in brain scans before and after the program to help researchers understand the effects of the intervention.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Main Study Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria:
• Inclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Family with adolescent between 12-14 years;
• • 2. High stress levels for at least one primary caregiver (referred to as "parents" throughout the application, but not required to be biological parents) on stress screener;
• • 3. Adequate English proficiency to complete questionnaires for adolescent and at least one parent (because several of our questionnaires have not been validated for use in other languages)
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 1. Diagnosis of intellectual disability for adolescent or psychosis for adolescent;
• • 2. Current active suicidality that is untreated for parent or adolescent (We will refer participants with active suicidality for inpatient treatment. They will be eligible to participate in the study once stabilized),
• • 3. Current SUDs that are untreated for parent except Tobacco Use Disorder (because participants must to be able to refrain from substances except nicotine/tobacco during the PAIT lab session day safely without withdrawal symptoms). We will refer parents with active SUDs to treatment. They will be eligible to participate in the study once stabilized and in treatment.
• • 4. Lifetime SUD diagnosis for adolescent because an aim of the study is SUD prevention.
• • Note: We are recruiting for about 130 of the primary caregiver parents to be eligible in and interested in completing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans are pre and post-intervention. If we do not meet this number, we will restrict recruitment to those families with one parent who is interested in and eligible for fMRI.