Family-Focused Adolescent & Lifelong Health Promotion

Summary

The aim of this study is to adapt the Parenting for Lifelong Health for Parents and Teens (PLH) with the Helping Adolescents Thrive Comics in North Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova and conduct a pilot feasibility study of the adapted version. The program will be delivered by ALTERNATIVA in North Macedonia and Health for Youth Association in the Republic of Moldova.

The intervention and training materials will be adapted for the local context and languages (Romanian, Macedonian, and Russian). Facilitators and coaches will be trained to deliver the intervention in the fall of 2023. A pre-post pilot study will be conducted testing the feasibility of the program and the assessment measures with caregivers (30 per country) and their 10-14-year-old children (30 per country). This includes examination of outcomes related to implementation fidelity, program acceptability, and preliminary program effectiveness in improving teens' behavioral and emotional problems.

This feasibility study is part of a larger implementation science project using the MOST framework (Multiphase Optimization Strategy). This specific protocol is for the preparation phase of MOST (Phase 1). There are two more phases of MOST that will follow: the optimization phase (Phase 2) and the evaluation phase (Phase 3). The results of Phase 1 will be used to inform any changes to the intervention and assessment measures that may be necessary before testing the intervention in Phase 2, which will involve a randomized factorial trial.

Conditions

• Adolescent Behavior
• Adolescent - Emotional Problem
• Psychological Well-Being
• Parent-Child Relations
• Parenting

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Parenting for Lifelong Health for Parents and Teens

PLH will be delivered over 6 sessions as a group-based family program with both adolescents and caregivers attending, with joint and separate core sessions framed by joint introductions and endings. It will include activities such as: building positive parent-child relationships; developing problem-solving skills; stress-management and stress-reduction skills; improving effective limit-setting and discipline by parents; talking about feelings and regulating emotions. The PLH program will also include a peer support component and incentive boosters. The Helping Adolescents Thrive comic chapters will be provided as homework activities. The comics, developed by UNICEF, cover adaptation to new situations, stress management, problem-solving, communication skills, risky choices and being there for each other.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Institute for Marriage, Family and Systemic Practice - ALTERNATIVA

  collaborator OTHER

• Health for Youth Association, Moldova

  collaborator OTHER

• Cardiff University

  collaborator OTHER

• Bielefeld University

  collaborator OTHER

• Association for Systematic Therapy Education Center

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Medical University of Vienna

  collaborator OTHER

• University Jaume I Castellon

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Klagenfurt

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Heather Foran, Prof. · University of Klagenfurt

• Yulia Shenderovich, Dr. · Cardiff University

• Marija Raleva, Prof. · Institute for Marriage, Family and Systemic Practice - ALTERNATIVA

• Galina Lesco, Prof. · Cardiff University

• Graham Moore, Prof. · Cardiff University

• Rhiannon Evans, Prof. · Cardiff University

• Nina Heinrichs, Prof. · Bielefeld University

• Judit Simon, Prof. · Medical University of Vienna

• Nevena Calovska, Prof. · Association of Systemic Therapists Education Centre

• Bojan Shimbov, Prof. · University Jaume I Castellon, Spain

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Max Age

14 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-18

Primary Completion

2024-01-15

Completion

2024-01-27

Countries

• Moldova
• North Macedonia

Study Locations