Pilot Study of an App-Based Parenting Intervention for Parents with Psychological Distress

Le résumé fourni par la source

More than one in four adults in Germany meets the criteria for a mental illness in the course of a year (Jacobi et al., 2014). Many of these adults are parents. Research shows that it is not so much a parent’s diagnosis as the severity of their psychological distress that influences their parenting behavior (Brennan et al., 2000), as well as the trajectories of their children’s distress into adulthood. Parents with mental health problems often face unique challenges in living with their children. They often have difficulty understanding the needs of their child, have difficulty regulating their own emotions, and experience more stress and conflict (Siegenthaler et al., 2012; Zitzmann et al., 2024). These challenges are accompanied by feelings of guilt, shame, and frustration. There is therefore an urgent need for low-threshold programs that support parents with mental health problems in their daily lives, especially in communicating and interacting with their children. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions offer a promising solution as they are flexible, anonymous and can be tailored to individual needs (Seiferth et al., 2023). When developing such programs, it is important to consider the perspective of parents with mental health problems (Dziobek et al., 2022; Wright et al., 2021). TEPSY is a 10-week smartphone-based parenting intervention for mothers and fathers with psychological distress that was developed through a participatory process. The self-guided mHealth intervention consists of 10 app-based modules with educational material and exercises. It was developed together with parents with psychological distress (public and patient involvement). A feasibility study (n = 56) demonstrated that the intervention was feasible and well accepted (Seiferth et al., submitted). The evaluation phase of the self-guided mHealth parenting intervention TEPSY includes a pilot study (reported in this preregistration) and a subsequent randomized controlled trial (RCT). This pilot study aims to implement the randomized controlled pre-post study design with a small sample size in order to evaluate the feasibility of the study procedures (e.g., recruitment strategies, study protocol, data completeness, and work processes) planned for the subsequent RCT. Furthermore, the pilot study aims to obtain preliminary results on the efficacy of the self-guided mHealth intervention TEPSY for parents with psychological distress compared to treatment as usual in a waitlist control group. Therefore, will examine whether use of the parenting intervention TEPSY has an effect on parental self-efficacy, parental child abuse risk, psychological distress, symptoms of depression/ anxiety/ stress parental child abuse risk, parenting-related stress, parentification, and emotional and behavioral problems in children compared to treatment as usual in a waitlist control group. Additionally, we will examine how the use of healthcare services differs between the intervention group and the waitlist control group after the end of the study period. Additionally, we will assess app use, satisfaction with the intervention, potential adverse and unwanted effects of app use, and how participating parents evaluate the parenting intervention TEPSY. Outcome measures will be administered at baseline (t0) and 10 weeks after baseline (t1). The target sample size for the pilot study is 30 participants (i.e., mothers or fathers). We aim to enroll up to 60 mothers or fathers at t0, assuming that not all will complete the intervention and/or post-intervention assessment (t1).

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