An observational study in Caregiver Mental Health, Parenting Stress and Developmental Disabilities, sponsored by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Not yet recruiting. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-18.
Sponsored by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University · Observational
The goal of this qualitative study is to develop a therapy protocol for fathers of children with special needs in Hong Kong. The therapy is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which helps people cope with difficult emotions by building psychological flexibility - the ability to accept and adjust to hard situations. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Researchers will conduct focus group interviews with two groups of participants: fathers raising children with special needs and social workers who work with these families. The interviews will take about 60 to 90 minutes each.
Participants will:
The findings will be used to develop a protocol for an ACT programme to improve the mental health of fathers raising children with special needs.
230 studies on the registry are indexed under Developmental Disabilities; 65 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 216 across 74 observational studies indexed under Developmental Disabilities.
Browse Developmental Disabilities studies →The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is the lead sponsor of 679 studies on the registry; 257 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Biological fathers of children aged 2 to 12 years with a formal diagnosis of a developmental disability (including autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, or intellectual disability), and social workers with experience working with these families. All participants are able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese.
Informants will include 2 groups, 1) fathers rearing children with special needs and 2) social workers.
For fathers,
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
For social workers,
Inclusion Criteria:
Other: Semi-structured Focus Group Interview
Participants will take part in a 60 to 90-minute, video-recorded, semi-structured focus group interview conducted in Cantonese.
Psychological flexibility
Qualitative method, conducted in the form of individual semi-structured interviews.
Time frame: immediately after the interview
Mental Health
Qualitative method, conducted in the form of individual semi-structured interviews.
Time frame: immediately after the interview
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in May 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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The Hong Kong Polytechnic University →