VIA Family 4 Year Follow-up of a Family-based Preventive Intervention

Summary

This study aims to investigate the long-term effects (2.5 years after post-intervention) of a preventive family-based intervention (VIA Family) compared with treatment as usual (TAU) for children of parents with a severe mental illness.

Background:

Children of parents with a mental illness have an increased lifetime risk of developing a mental illness themselves. Preventive interventions for families with children with high familial risk can potentially disrupt the transgenerational transmission.

The current study is a follow-up study of a trial investigating the effect of the preventive intervention: the VIA Family trial.

The VIA Family trial investigated the superiority of a preventive family-based intervention, VIA Family, compared with treatment as usual (TAU) in improving children's, parents' and families' functioning and well-being. Eligible families had at least one parent with a lifetime severe mental illness diagnosis ( i.e. recurrent major or moderate depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia spectrum disorder), at least one child between the ages of 6-12 years and lived within the Frederiksberg or Copenhagen (Denmark). The trial had a randomized, two-armed, parallel and controlled design. The participating families were randomly assigned to both groups with an allocation ratio of 1:1.

The current study is a follow-up study aiming to explore the effect of the intervention 2.5 years after post-intervention.

The main research questions for the current follow-up study are:

1. Do children participating in the VIA Family intervention experience a greater decrease in symptoms of mental illness from baseline (timepoint 0) to long-term follow-up (timepoint 2) compared with children allocated to TAU?
2. Do parents participating in the VIA Family intervention experience a greater decrease in perceived parental stress from baseline (timepoint 0) to long-term follow-up (timepoint 2) compared with parents allocated to TAU?

Conditions

• Mental Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

VIA Family

A family-based, multi-component, individual-tailored intervention based on case-management.

BEHAVIORAL

Treatment As Usual (TAU)

care as usual

Sponsors & Collaborators

• TrygFonden, Denmark

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Research Unit, Capital Region, Denmark

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Mental Health Services in the Capital Region, Denmark

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Anne A E Thorup · Research Unit at Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Capital Region, Denmark

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-04-01

Primary Completion

2024-01-30

Completion

2024-01-30

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations