Pilot feasibility study of the PIA Parent Program
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN10645626 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10645626 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | 2021-02036 |
- Submission date
- 11/12/2024
- Registration date
- 17/02/2025
- Last edited
- 17/02/2025
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
Parenting an adolescent child is often challenging due to the massive psychological, physiological, and social-relational changes that adolescents go through. Parents of adolescents who recently migrated into a new social-cultural context may be at particular risk for experiencing elevated stress and frustration due to their limited knowledge of the culture, institutions, and social system. Thus, they may not be able to provide support and guidance to their adolescent child who may need additional support in navigating and socially integrating in the host society. The current parenting program, the PIA Parent Program, targets parents who arrived in Sweden after 2015, following the major immigration wave in Europe. Sweden admitted the highest number of refugees in 2015 and the following couple of years relative to its population size all over Europe. Thus, supporting the adjustment and well-being of the newly arrived families became a major concern. The program uses the parent training approach. Parents in groups, with the help of one or two group leaders, discuss the themes in weekly meetings over four weeks. The main focus and the content of the sessions have been developed based on extant literature on immigrant and refugee parents' experiences of resettlement, and a set of interviews which aimed to examine the recently arrived parents' experiences and concerns in Sweden. The goal of this study is to test the feasibility of the implementation process and preliminary outcomes of the program for recently arrived immigrant parents who have adolescent children.
Who can participate?
Parents of 12-16-year-old children who migrated to Sweden after 2015
What does the study involve?
The program uses the well-established parent training paradigm to promote parents' skills in helping their children become resilient citizens of society. The program aims to promote the skills to be good role models, improve relationships with their children, develop their communication skills, increase knowledge about the Swedish school system, and skills that may promote the engagement of parents in their child's schooling.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The participants of the PIA Parent Program have the opportunity to develop a new perspective on challenges related to immigration, develop feelings of efficacy in handling and overcoming these challenges, and acquire tools they can use to promote their own and their adolescent children’s adjustment and social integration. In fact, the pilot tests of this program showed that the parents found participation enjoyable and considered the content of the program relevant and helpful.
The discussions during the program sessions are not about negative experiences or private matters. However, discussions may evoke emotions in some participants. Therefore, the facilitators will be trained in communication skills and in recognizing if something like this is happening. The participants are also informed that their participation is voluntary, and they can leave the session or the study at any time. The group leader and research leader will serve as contact persons if participants feel the need to talk to someone after the session.
Where is the study run from?
Örebro University (Sweden)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
January 2021 to March 2023
Who is funding the study?
Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) (Sweden)
Who is the main contact?
Dr Metin Ozdemir, metin.ozdemir@oru.se
Contact information
Public, Scientific, Principal Investigator
Örebro University
Fakultetsgatan 1
Örebro
701 82
Sweden
 ORCID ID |
0000-0001-7009-5955 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +46 (0)19 30 1246 |
| metin.ozdemir@oru.se |
Study information
| Study design | Single group pre-, post-test design |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Single-group, pre-, post-test design |
| Study setting(s) | Community |
| Study type | Prevention |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use the contact details to request a participant information sheet. |
| Scientific title | Promoting recently arrived immigrant parents' adjustment and well-being: a pilot feasibility study of the PIA Parent Program |
| Study acronym | PIAParent_Pilot |
| Study objectives | This study focuses on understanding the feasibility and acceptability of the PIA Parent Program content and program implementation process. Specific questions are: 1. How do the recently arrived parents perceive participating in the program? 2. How do the group leaders (facilitators) experience the program implementation process? 3. What are the preliminary effects of the program on parents' skills, perceptions, and attitudes? 4. What background characteristics of the parents are related to their participation, retention, perception of the program and program implementation, and program outcomes? |
| Ethics approval(s) |
Approved 11/05/2021, Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Box 2110, Uppsala, 75002, Sweden; +46 (0)10 475 08 00; registrator@etikprovning.se), ref: 2021-02036 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Promoting the adjustment and well-being of recently arrived immigrant parents in Sweden |
| Intervention | The PIA-Parent program is a short parenting support program to promote newly arrived immigrant and refugee parents' skills in helping their children become resilient citizens of society. The program focuses on important themes in parenting and the aim is to increase the level of knowledge about being a parent of teenagers in a new cultural context. The program aims to give parents the skills to be good role models, improve parent-child attachment, develop their open communication skills, and increase knowledge about the Swedish school system and their obligations and rights as parents. The intervention also focuses on how to communicate with the school and how parents can support their children's schoolwork. Finally, the program focuses on helping parents to encourage their children to become part of society such as to join a sports or cultural association to promote their sense of belonging. These topics are covered in four meetings. The program takes 4 weeks. The sessions are led by two group leaders who were trained in the PIA Parent program and can speak the mother tongue of the participants. Groups meet for 2.5 hours weekly over a 4-week period. The participants answer pre-test and post-test measures before the program starts and after the program is completed, respectively. Parents answer session reports after each meeting is completed, and the group leaders answer a set of questions to report about the implementation process. In addition, interviews with parents are conducted to develop insight into their experiences of participating in the program. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | 1. Parent-child relationship quality measured using the secure-base subscale of the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI) at pre-test and post-test 2. Warmth measured using the warmth subscale of the Family Check-up (FCU) Caregiver Assessment Scale at pre-test and post-test 3. Conflict measured using the conflict subscale of the FCU Caregiver Assessment Scale at pre-test and post-test 4. Parent-child communication measured using the companionship subscale of the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI) at pre-test and post-test 5. Parents' use of validation strategies was measured using a 5-item measure at pre-test and post-test 6. Parents’ perceived efficacy to support their child’s schooling measured using the Parental Self-Efficacy for Helping the Child Succeed in School Scale at pre-test and post-test |
| Secondary outcome measures | 1. Sense of societal belonging measured using the adult version of the Societal Belongingness Scale developed based on the Adolescents’ Societal Belongingness Scale (ASBS) at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up 2. Hope regarding the future and hope for achieving the future goals were measured with single items each at pre-test and post-test |
| Overall study start date | 01/01/2021 |
| Completion date | 31/03/2023 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Other |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Lower age limit | 25 Years |
| Upper age limit | 100 Years |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 70-120 |
| Total final enrolment | 54 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. Parents who were born in another country and living in Sweden up to 6 years by at start of the program 2. Parents have a child between ages 12 and 16 years 3. The parents should be able to follow the programs in Swedish or in one of the other languages that the program materials are available: Arabic, Dari, Kurdish, Somalian, and Tigrinya |
| Key exclusion criteria | Participants who self-report that they currently receive treatment for a psychological problem or psychiatric illness. |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/09/2021 |
| Date of final enrolment | 31/12/2022 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Sweden
Study participating centre
Örebro
701 82
Sweden
Sponsor information
University/education
Fakultetsgatan 1
Örebro
701 82
Sweden
| Phone | +46 (0)19 30 30 00 |
|---|---|
| registrator@oru.se | |
| Website | https://www.oru.se |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/05kytsw45 |
Funders
Funder type
Government
Government organisation / National government
- Alternative name(s)
- Swedish Research Council, VR
- Location
- Sweden
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 30/06/2025 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Available on request |
| Publication and dissemination plan | The results will be published in form of scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. They will also be presented at conferences and reported back to the stake holders in various formats. |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study could be available upon request from Dr Metin Ozdemir, metin.ozdemir@oru.se. Individual participant data regarding the primary and secondary outcomes collected during the trial will be shared after the de-identification and publication of the key studies. Data could be provided along with the study protocol and codebook to researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal to achieve the aims in the approved research proposal and for individual participant data meta-analysis, given that there is no ethical and legal restriction. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement. |
Editorial Notes
11/12/2024: Study's existence confirmed by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority.
