Skip to main content
. 2023 Oct 24;2023(10):CD014722. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014722.pub2

Tăut  2021.

Study name Prevention of child mental health problems through parenting interventions in Southeastern Europe (RISE)
Methods Study design: RCT
Country: North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova and Romania
Participants Primary caregivers of children aged 2 to 9 years old
Inclusion criteria: 
a. aged 18 years or older;
b. responsible for the care of a child between the ages of 2 and 9;
c. report at least subclinical levels of child’s behavioural problems as assessed with the oppositional defiant disorder subscale (ODD) of the Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI, scores ≥ 10 will be included);
d. spent at least four nights a week with the child in the same household during the previous month and will continue to do so;
e. agree to being randomised to one of the conditions;
f. consent to participate in the full study;
g. adequate language skills to participate in the group/lecture, either in the primary language of the group or with additional language support provided.
Exclusion criteria:
a. primary caregivers whose children have been removed from their custody
Stated purpose: to test the efficacy and cost‐effectiveness of an optimized version of the promising Parenting for Lifelong Health Programme for Young Children (PLH‐YC, 5 sessions), against a standard lecture on parenting issues (control group, 1 session)
Interventions Intervention:
Parenting for Lifelong Health for Young Children (PLH‐YC) programme, optimized version
The optimized version of PLH‐YC will be delivered over five weekly sessions using a participatory, non‐didactic approach to engage parents in learning positive parenting and child behaviour management skills. PHL‐YC programme focuses on consolidating parenting skills involved in relationship building (spending one‐to‐one time with children and emotional coaching), positive reinforcement of children’s adaptive behaviours (praising and rewarding, providing positive instructions, setting household rules, and routines) and teaching positive discipline strategies (ignoring negative attention‐seeking and unreasonable demands, time‐out, and establishing reasonable consequences for inappropriate behaviours). Programme activities include illustrated comics modelling how to implement key parenting skills, home activity assignments to apply these skills with their children, and group discussions addressing challenges experienced when applying home activities. The programme also includes simple mindfulness stress reduction exercises.
Control:
Active control (parents will receive a structured PowerPoint presentation on parenting and child development issues, called “Raising Healthy Children” (duration: 1 to 1.5 hours). Four topics will be covered: (1) stages of child development; (2) potential risk factors for child internalising problems; (3) resources and protective factors; (4) tips: what parents can do to promote children’s development).
Outcomes Participants'outcomes of interest for this review

  1. Mental health symptoms/depression (child internalizing problems) – Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)

  2. Mental health symptoms/(parental) depression – Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‐21)

  3. Mental health symptoms/(parental) anxiety – Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‐21)

  4. Mental health symptoms/(parental) distress/PTSD – Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‐21) or Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

  5. Quality of life – Child Health Utility 9D (CHU9D)

  6. Social outcomes (social support) – Social Support Survey, Emotional Support Subscale (MOS)


Economic outcomes
Cost‐effectiveness
Time points: baseline, post‐intervention (4 months and 12 months after pre‐assessment)
Starting date December 2020
Contact information Diana Tăut, dianataut@psychology.ro
Notes Source of funding: European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 779318
Prospective trial registration number: NCT04721730