Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Versus Active Controls in Improving Psychological Functions of Parents and Children With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Summary

Systematic reviews revealed that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for parents had medium-to-large effect sizes in improving parental depression/anxiety (d \> 0.50), dysfunctional parenting styles (ds = 0.61-0.77), and small-to-large effect sizes in improving children's behavioral and emotional problems (ds = 0.25-0.84) in children/teenagers with various chronic diseases. A recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) showed that a web-based ACT program involving a coach providing semi-structured written feedback was significantly better than waitlist controls in improving the self-reported depression, anxiety, burnout, and psychological flexibility skills in parents of children/teenagers with chronic conditions (e.g., type 1 diabetes) up to 4 months post-treatment. The investigator's RCT also found that 4 weekly sessions of group-based ACT plus asthma education was significantly better than asthma education alone in improving parental psychological function (i.e., stress, anxiety, guilt, worries, sorrow, anger, and psychological flexibility), and participants' children's asthma symptoms at 6-month follow-up. The investigator's path analysis showed that ACT improved parental psychological flexibility, which mediated the decrease in parental distress and childhood asthma symptoms. These findings support that ACT for parents not only improves parental psychological flexibility and psychological controls, but also enhances social/emotional functioning of children/teenagers with different problems (e.g., chronic pain). Given the busy schedule of schoolchildren in Hong Kong and the promising results of ACT in improving the psychosocial well-being of both parents and teenagers, providing ACT to parents of teenagers with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) may be a "killing two birds with one stone" solution to benefit both parents and teenagers. The current study will investigate this possibility.

Conditions

• Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

5-week online synchronous ACT intervention

Parents will meet a trained ACT counsellor to undergo five weekly sessions of ACT group training via Zoom. Specifically, each 120-minute synchronous videoconferencing session will involve the ACT counsellor and 6-8 parents.

BEHAVIORAL

asynchronous online AIS education

A healthcare educator with a background in nursing, physiotherapy, or occupational therapy will meet with parents in five weekly 120-minute interactive AIS-related education videoconferencing via Zoom. Specifically, each 120-minute synchronous videoconferencing session will involve the ACT counsellor and 6-8 parents.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong

  collaborator OTHER

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Arnold Wong, PhD · The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-01

Primary Completion

2026-08-31

Completion

2026-08-31

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations