Clinical Research Directory

Enhancing Emotion Regulation in Children With Autism Through Extended Reality

Pilot study on the development of an Extended Reality (XR) application to support emotion regulation in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (random assignment to an experimental group, N = 10, and a control group, N = 10). The matched control group with autistic children of the same age receives emotion regulation coaching without the use of virtual reality. Few studies systematically captured the transfer of XR-supported learning into real life. One study investigated the transfer of breathing techniques into everyday life, where children with ASD successfully transferred these techniques to daily life and applied learned breathing patterns in anxiety-inducing situations. The use of XR systems is considered as low-risk. Primary Hypotheses: * Feasibility analysis of the described XR-supported coaching * Reduced Emotional Dysregulation between T1 and T2 Secondary Hypotheses: * Reduced Parental stress between T1 and T2 * Reduced internalising/externalising behaviors between T1 and T2 * Exploratory analyses of physiological parameter changes during intervention period

Digital Behavioral Parenting Programs With and Without Added Emotion Regulation Strategies to Manage Anger in Parenting

This pilot randomized controlled trial evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of two digital parenting interventions for parents experiencing difficulties with anger in parenting. The interventions are internet-delivered adaptations of evidence-based parenting programs, collectively called the Supporting Healthier Interactions in Families by Online Tools (SHIFT) parenting programs. The main questions the study aims to answer are: 1. Are the study procedures and design feasible for a full-scale RCT? 2. Are the SHIFT parenting programs feasible and acceptable? 3. How do therapists and parents experience the SHIFT parenting programs? 4. Is participation in one of the SHIFT parenting programs, relative to the other and relative to waitlist control, associated with improvements in parent-reported intervention outcomes? 5. Is participation in the SHIFT parenting programs, relative to each other and waitlist control, associated with improvement in weekly measures of target mechanisms? Researchers will compare the two programs against each other and against a waitlist control. The first intervention (SHIFT) is a behavioral parent training (BPT) program with parenting strategies to manage child behavior problems. The second intervention (SHIFT+) includes the same BPT strategies with emotion regulation (ER) techniques from anger-management treatments. Participants will: * Be randomized to SHIFT, SHIFT+ or waitlist control. * Take part in one of the digital interventions and receive support in text messages and phone calls from a therapist at family support services in Swedish municipalities. Some participants will take part in the intervention after the waitlist period. * Respond to questionnaires and take part in interviews.

Emotion Regulation for Middle Schoolers

Early adolescence (ages 11-14) is a key developmental period repeatedly coupled with the onset of mental health problems. Middle schools provide a naturalistic setting in which to implement programming to prevent the development of more significant mental health problems. School-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs have previously filled this gap and have demonstrated impact on social and emotional skills, attitudes, behaviors, and academic performance. Across SEL programs, emotion regulation (ER) has been identified as a primary component that impacts important mental health and school outcomes. ER, a transdiagnostic correlate of mental health, is the set of processes used to manage feelings and their expression to achieve goals. Among middle schoolers, greater use of ER strategies has been found to protect against negative social effects and poorer mental health. Among SEL programs for middle school students, none have examined the impact on ER or mental health outcomes beyond conduct problems, and many fail to provide adequate training and support to their key implementers, teachers. Implementation is also often hampered by time- and resource-intensive delivery schedules. For these reasons, incorporating brief ER skill-building programs using a digital health model into middle schools that includes teacher training to support learning can reduce mental health concerns and promote school functioning. We propose to optimize a brief, validated, digitally delivered ER intervention (iTRAC; Talking about Risk and Adolescent Choices) to include a teacher component that can be delivered within middle schools. This will improve upon the rigor of our pilot research by implementing the program during the regular school day and developing a complementary teacher program to enhance the uptake of the digitally delivered student-facing program hereafter referenced as iTRAC+. iTRAC+ will be evaluated on implementation outcomes and impact on ER abilities among middle schoolers and teachers. The current study will be carried out across implementation Steps 1-3 and will be guided by the Advancing Children's Connection, Emotion Regulation, and School Support (ACCESS) Center implementation framework. In Step 1, we will work with an expert panel and community partners to develop the classroom and teacher components and identify strategies to enhance teacher and school engagement with the program before advancing to the next step. In Step 2, we will evaluate the initial acceptability and feasibility of the expanded iTRAC+ program with four classrooms for further refinement of teacher training materials, teacher recruitment plans, and the classroom delivery schedule. During Step 3, we will randomize 46 classrooms from four middle schools to receive either iTRAC+ or an attention control condition to examine the preliminary impact on mechanisms and outcomes. Students and teachers will be assessed prior to randomization and 4 months after program implementation. This schedule will permit short-term evaluation of the iTRAC+ program and identify barriers and enhancers to future implementation of the program to be assessed within a fully powered implementation trial (R01).