Building Blocks for Child and Family Well-being

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Building Blocks for Family Well-being: BBFW is a 6-week brief virtual program that promotes experiential learning, provides individually tailored strategies, and builds a community of support for caregivers. The program provides an integrated understanding of the family context, and equips caregivers with tools to help families connect, problem-solve, cope with stress, and thrive. The following topics are covered over 6 weeks: Introduction to the model; Getting to Know Your Family Members (e.g., temperament); Supporting Child Emotions; Promoting Positive Behaviours; Limit-Setting and Sibling Dynamics; Parenting Teams and Wrap-Up.

Study summary

Background. Understanding emotions, stress, and conflicts within the family context is critical for promoting positive change. However, most support services for families often address child development, parenting, couple relationships separately without considering these as interacting systems that contributes to overall family well-being. This project is to evaluate an existing clinical service in York University Psychology Clinic (YUPC), "Building Blocks for Child and Family Well-being" (BBFW), which provides an integrated understanding of the family context, and equips caregivers with tools to help families connect, problem-solve, cope with stress, and thrive. BBFW is a brief virtual program that promotes experiential learning, provides individually tailored strategies, and builds a community of support for caregivers. The current study aims to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the BBFW program within the York University Psychology Clinic (YUPC), with four objectives:

1. Evaluating the feasibility of implementing the BBWF program into YUPC clinical services, represented by enrolment rates, sample characteristics, retention (i.e., number of sessions attended, % dropout), adherence (i.e., completing in- and out-of-session activities), as well as the acceptability of the program among participants.
2. Examining sample and clinical characteristics of those attending the BBFW service
3. Exploring the effectiveness of the BBFW program through changes in family functioning and meta-emotion philosophy from pre- to post-intervention, as well as changes at 1- and 3-month follow-ups.
4. Evaluating and refining the program quality using participant quantitative and qualitative feedback.

The BBFW program is based on the best evidence from developmental, family, and relationship science. It aims to support family mental health and well-being through a holistic and sustainable approach, viewing the family as a set of multiple, interdependent systems. This program provides a brief, cost-effective, and accessible alternative with the potential to reduce the burden on traditional mental health and support services for Canadian families.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Participants Enrolled Per month — Week 0
  Number of participants enrolled per month.
• Geographic Reach — Week 0
  Cities/towns in Ontario families accessing the program reside. Data will be collected through the demographic questionnaire administered at baseline.
• Retention — Week 0 to Week 18
  The percentage of participants who remain in study until the end of the follow up session.
• Adherence — Week 1 to Week 6
  Number of sessions attended.
• Adherence — Week 6
  Completion rate of in session activities.
• Child Age Groups — Week 0
  Mean age of child of the parent who is seeking service. Data will be collected through the demographic questionnaire administered at baseline.
• Primary Presenting Concern — Week 0
  Primary presenting concern of parent who is seeking service, collected at baseline using demographic questionnaire. Options include: child emotion regulation; child behavioural problems; challenging siblings dynamics; challenging co-parenting dynamics (working as a team with second parent); family stress, chaos, and/or conflict; other \[please specify\].
• Family Clinical Characteristics — Week 2
  Family Clinical Characteristics include parent relationship dimension. The Relationship Dimension Scale (Lafrance, Henderson, \& Mayman, 2020) is a 14-item tool for parents to reflect on different aspect of their relationships with their child/children. This is a qualitative measure that will be examined for themes arising in participating caregivers.
• Family Clinical Characteristics — Week 1
  Family Clinical Characteristics include parent stress. The Family Stress Checklist includes 35 items which measures a parent's level of stress in 7 areas (i.e., financial, professional, physical, relational, environmental, child, parenting, discrimination). Each item is rated on a 5-item scale. Mean of items in each area will be calculated, with minimum score=1, maximum score=5. Higher scores correspond to higher level of stress in each area.
• Client Satisfaction — Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6
  Client Satisfaction will be measured using surveys and participant qualitative feedback. A brief satisfaction survey will be administered weekly at the end of each group session. This survey consists of 4 questions about the content, facilitation, group activities/discussion, as well as an open-ended question for general feedback about the session. In the end, participant will be asked to complete another satisfaction survey about the program overall. Means of the survey items will be calculated. Minimum score=1, maximum score=4. Higher scores correspond to higher satisfaction.
• Client Acceptability — Week 6
  Percentage of participants reporting at least 'good' on 80 % or more indicators on an Implementation Acceptability Scale that will assess attitude, burden, perceived effectiveness, and ethicality. Minimum score=7, maximum score=35. Higher scores correspond to better outcomes.

Trial sites (2)

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