Emotion Focused Family Therapy for Parents of Children With Mental Health Difficulties (NCT05603000)
🩺 Plain-English Summary (8th-Grade Level)
Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) is a promising intervention that aims to teach parents advanced skills to support their child's development of emotion skills and increase their adaptive behaviours, potentially leading to improvements in their child's psychological functioning and family functioning more broadly. This randomized controlled trial (RCT; EFFT vs waitlist control) will (1) test the efficacy of a 6-week group EFFT program on parent and child outcomes and (2) examine maintenance of treatment gains up to four months post-intervention.
Who can join: To join this study, participants generally need to meet the listed inclusion criteria (3 items) and avoid the listed exclusions (6 items).
Location: Maplewoods Centre for Family Therapy and Child Psychology, University of Guelph — Guelph, Ontario
📋 "Do I Qualify?" — 1-Minute Self Screener
Instant ChecklistCheck every box below. If you can check all of them, you may meet the study's basic screening requirements (final eligibility is confirmed by the site team).
Usually NOT eligible if any of the following apply:
- Exclusion Criteria:
- Parent or child not proficient enough in speaking/understanding English to complete measures or EFFT intervention components
- Parent or child with a severe mental health disorder (e.g., active suicidality and psychosis) is not considered suitable for the trial intervention due to the clinical need for immediate intervention
- Parent or child is actively receiving, or due to receive, intensive psychological intervention focused on cognitive and/or behavioural strategies to intervene with emotional or behavioural difficulties
- Parent or child has any disabilities in language, speech or hearing that would interfere with their completion of the EFFT and measures
- Parent or child are allergic to adhesive electrode gel use in some tasks (i.e., sodium chloride)
🔍 Extracted verbatim from the official NIH eligibility criteria. Always confirm with the study coordinator.
📍 All Participating Trial Locations (1 Sites)
- Maplewoods Centre for Family Therapy and Child Psychology, University of Guelph — Guelph, Ontario
💰 Cost, Insurance & Patient Rights
- 100% Free Items: The investigational treatment and protocol-required procedures are supplied at zero cost by the sponsor.
- Routine Patient Care: Under federal law (ACA § 2709) and many state statutes, routine care costs are covered during participation.
- Voluntary Participation: You may withdraw at any time without affecting your standard medical care.