SOS for Caregiver Wellbeing

Summary

Parents and caregivers of children who have a chronic condition carry a large care burden and are at higher risk of having mental health symptoms. This study aims to see if completion of a mental health questionnaire by parents / caregivers at or before the child's paediatric appointment can help identify any symptoms of stress, anxiety or depression.

Following the questionnaire, parents / caregivers will be provided with the results of the questionnaire along with an information resource sheet. This will include information on anxiety, stress and depression, as well as different agencies they can contact to get support.

Parents / caregivers will be followed up at 3 and 6 months to see if they have any changes to mental health and quality of life, and whether they accessed any support services. Participants who did not complete the 3-month survey will be asked at the 6-month clinic visit to provide responses on an iPad to up to 5 questions selected from the 3-month survey. A text message will be sent prior to the visit to inform them.

The primary aim for this trial is to see whether parents / caregivers find this process acceptable, and whether it can work in a busy hospital clinic.

Conditions

• Mental Health
• Depression and Burden in Caregivers
• Anxiety Depression
• Stress
• Caregiver Anxiety
• Parent of Child With Chronic Life-threatening Illness

Interventions

OTHER

Screening, Outcomes and Referral Pathways

All participants complete baseline screening with follow up at 3 and 6 months. A key feature of the study is that a standardised information resource sheet (to community-based services) is provided to all caregivers, regardless of their screening scores. Primary outcomes focus on implementation feasibility and acceptability, while secondary outcomes examine service uptake and longitudinal measurement of caregiver wellbeing. This differs from existing research by providing resources universally rather than only to those scoring above clinical thresholds. Our longitudinal follow-up addresses an evidence gap identified in our systematic review - limited published data on downstream effects on actual service uptake and mental health outcomes over time. The services in the resource sheet also link to routine clinical care that doesn't require specialist support programs with dedicated funding.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Melbourne

  collaborator OTHER

• Royal Children's Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nadia Coscini, BA, MBBS, MSc · Murdoch Children's Research Institute & University of Melbourne

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-10-22

Primary Completion

2026-08-31

Completion

2026-08-31

Countries

• Australia

Study Locations