An At-distance and Online Intervention to Promote Parental Involvement and Self-regulation

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Lupis program: parental intervention to promote self-regulation in children: Narrative-based intervention-the self-regulation strategies covered in each module (e.g., goal setting and asking for help). Each module will include: i) a video discussing self-regulation strategies incorporated into "The Three Little Pigs" tale; ii) three activities related to the video content; iii) a weekly synchronous group videoconference session with a trained educational psychologist acting as a mediator.

Parental intervention on study methods: Each module will include: i) a video discussing study methods; ii) three activities related to the video content; iii) a weekly synchronous group videoconference session with a trained educational psychologist acting as a mediator.

Study summary

Parents play a significant role in their children's development and learning. Parental involvement (PI) is characterized by behavioral profiles that are manifested in activities at home (e.g., helping with homework) and school (e.g., participating in meetings with teachers). Involved parents tend to create more opportunities for their children to develop different competencies. These competencies are relevant to children's academic success, namely, the knowledge and use of self-regulation (SR) strategies. SR strategies enable children to take control and responsibility for their behaviors, thoughts, and emotions, thereby achieving a goal (e.g., an academic goal), which in turn leads to higher academic performance and well-being.

Extensive research has identified PI and SR as strong predictors of children's academic success, underscoring the need to promote them actively. Thus, the main goal of this investigation - the Lupis program - is to develop and evaluate the efficacy of an at-distance and online intervention program for parents of 1st and 2nd grade elementary school students. The Lupis will be a narrative-based intervention, utilizing wise intervention techniques in its design. The Lupis program will aim to promote PI and, consequently, SR competencies in children.

In general, it is expected to develop an effective intervention program to promote PI and SR competencies in children. Additionally, Lupis is expected to help parents and children prevent and address the challenges of transitioning from preschool to elementary school with essential competencies for children's learning and academic success.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Parents - Sociodemographic questionnaire — Baseline (pre-intervention)
  These measures will include questions about the individuals (e.g., gender, age, level of education) and their families (e.g., number of children).
• Parental Role Construction for Involvement in the Child's Education — baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)
  This measure assesses parents' beliefs about their Involvement in the Child's Education and comprises 16 items split into two parts: (i) Part 1 (Role Activity Beliefs, ten items about parents' beliefs about what should be done in relation to their children's education, e.g., "I believe it is my responsibility to help my child with homework"). Parents will respond on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Disagree very strongly") to 6 ("Agree very strongly"); and (ii) Part 2 (Attitudes towards School, six items about parents' feelings of their school experiences when as students (e.g., "My school experience was…"). Parents will respond on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Bad") to 6 ("Good"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original was .80 and .85, respectively.
• Parental Self-Efficacy for Helping the Child Succeed in School — baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)
  This measure assesses parents' perceptions of their self-efficacy for helping the child succeed in school through seven items (e.g., "I feel successful about my efforts to help my child learn"). Parents will answer on a six-point Likert-like scale, ranging from 1 ("Disagree very strongly") to 6 ("Agree very strongly"). The Cronbach's alpha of the original study was .78.
• Parents' Perceptions of Specific Invitations for Involvement from the Child — baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)
  This measure (six items) assesses parents' perceptions of their involvement in response to their children's invitations (e.g., "My child asked me to attend a special event at school"). Parents will indicate the frequency of these invitations on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Never") to 6 ("Daily"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original study was .78.
• Parents' Perceptions of Specific Invitations for Involvement from the Teacher — baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)
  This measure (six items) assesses parents' perceptions of their involvement in response to their children's teacher invitations (e.g., "My child's teacher asked me to attend a special event at school"). Parents will indicate the frequency of these invitations on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Never") to 6 ("Daily"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original study was .81.
• Parents' Perceived Life Context — baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)
  This measure (15 items) assesses parents' perceptions of constraints (e.g., Time and Energy and Knowledge and Skills) to their involvement in the child's education. Parents will respond to the six statements about Time and Energy (e.g., "I have enough time and energy to communicate effectively with my child about the school day") and the nine statements about Knowledge and Skills (e.g., "I know enough about the subjects of my child's homework to help him or her) on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Disagree very strongly") to 6 ("Agree very strongly"). The Cronbach's alpha of the original study was .84 and .83, respectively.
• Parental Involvement Mechanisms Measurement — baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)
  This scale (51 items) assesses parents' involvement strategies and "mechanisms". Parents will respond on a six-point Likert-like scale from 1 ("Not at all true") to 6 ("Completely true") to: (i) 13 items on Encouragement (e.g., "We encourage this child to believe that he/she can learn new things"); (ii) ten items on Modeling (e.g., "We show this child that we like to learn new things"); (iii) 13 items on Reinforcement (e.g., "We show this child we like it when he or she wants to learn new things"), and (iv) 15 items on Instruction (e.g., "We teach this child to go at his or her own pace while doing schoolwork"). The Cronbach's alpha for the original study's four dimensions was .91, .88, .90, and .93, respectively.
• Module assessment - engagement on platforms — During the 5-week intervention period, from baseline (pre-intervention) through immediately after the intervention (week 6)
  Parents' interactions on online platforms will be gathered as observational measures of parents' engagement in the program. The observational measures will include participants' answers to the content of the Edpuzzle® videos, comments to Facebook® posts, and the number of sessions attended on Zoom®.
• Shape School — baseline (pre-intervention); Immediately after the intervention (6 weeks after baseline); Follow-up (3 months after the intervention; 19 weeks after baseline)
  To assess SR strategies in children, the investigators will administer a neuropsychological test of executive functions. Shape School follows a storybook format that features cartoons with different geometric shapes (squares and circles) in various colors (red, blue, and yellow). The test consists of four experimental conditions (control, inhibition, switch, and both). The number of correctly identified stimuli and the response time are recorded for each condition, and the efficiency value is calculated by dividing the number of correct stimuli by the reaction time in each condition (Efficiency = #Correct/Total Time). The internal consistency values for Escola de Formas present an adequate result for conditions B (α = .89), C (α = .71), and D (α = .71). Except for two items, the children's answers were correct for condition A (α = 1).

Trial sites (1)

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