An interventional study of Healthy Lifestyle Tips and Nonviolent Communication Intervention & Personalised E-messages in Family Conflict and Relationship, Parent Child, sponsored by Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Hong Kong. Open to participants aged 32 Years to 59 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-23.
Sponsored by Hong Kong Metropolitan University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of combining a brief Nonviolent Communication (NVC) intervention with follow-up personalised AI-generated messages delivered daily via WhatsApp to improve child-parent relationships, parenting competence and family communication.
A total of 60 parents of middle school students experiencing difficulties in family communication or recurrent conflict with their children will be recruited in Hong Kong and randomly assigned (in a 1:1 allocation ratio) to an intervention group or an attention control group.
The intervention group will participate in two 2-hour NVC workshops, scheduled two weeks apart and delivered by the principal investigator, plus four weeks of personalised AI-generated NVC e-messages daily. The attention control group will receive weekly e-messages with healthy lifestyle tips for 6 weeks.
Assessments for participants will be conducted at baseline (T0), post-workshop (T1, after the second session/two weeks after T0), and 12 weeks after baseline (T2). A process evaluation featuring quantitative ratings and open-ended questions will be conducted to explore participants' perceived benefits and subjective experiences.
Hong Kong Metropolitan University is the lead sponsor of 56 studies on the registry; 31 are open to participants now.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants in the intervention group will receive two 2-hour NVC intervention workshops, scheduled two weeks apart and delivered in small groups (either online or face-to-face) by the PI, plus four weeks of daily personalised AI-generated NVC messages via WhatsApp.
Behavioral: Nonviolent Communication Intervention & Personalised E-messages
Participants in the attention control group will not receive any NVC intervention workshops during the study. They will receive regular healthy lifestyle information messages via WhatsApp for 6 weeks.
Behavioral: Healthy Lifestyle Tips
The attention control group will receive an information pamphlet that encourages them to maintain a healthy diet, engage in regular physical activity, and practice weight control. Participants will receive weekly WhatsApp messages about healthy lifestyle tips for 6 weeks.
The intervention includes an introduction to NVC's four principles, the difference between observations and judgments, identifying and expressing feelings, taking responsibility for feelings and needs, and using positive action language when making requests. The intervention workshops will be offered in rolling monthly cycles for approximately three rounds over three months (two rounds will be online, and one will be face-to-face). Participants who miss the second session may attend an equivalent session in the second or third cycle. Between and following the sessions, participants will receive AI-generated, tailored messages via WhatsApp daily for four weeks that provide concise NVC tips and guide parents through NVC-style conversations with their adolescents.
Recruitment rate
Recruitment rate is defined as the proportion of eligible or contacted candidates who actually agree to join the study (Number Enrolled / Number Eligible or Approached).
Time frame: Baseline (T0)
Retention rate
Retention rate is defined as the percentage of randomised participants retained and assessed with valid primary outcome data.
Time frame: 12-week assessment (T2, around 3 months after baseline)
Child-Parent Relationship
The Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS-SF) is a 15-item scale for evaluating two dimensions of the relationship between parents and children: conflict and closeness. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree"). Scores for closeness and conflict are calculated separately, with higher closeness scores indicating a stronger emotional bond and a supportive relationship between parents and children (Driscoll \& Pianta, 2011). Higher conflict scores indicate greater conflict between parents and children. The internal consistency reliabilities were adequate in a Chinese sample (Cronbach's alpha = 0.78 to 0.81) (Tan et al., 2023).
Time frame: Baseline (T0), Post-workshop assessment (T1, 2 weeks after T0), and 12-week assessment (T2, around 3 months after T0).
Parenting Competence
The Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC) (Ngai et al., 2007) is a 17-item scale to measure parents' perceived competence in the parenting role. Each item is rated on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Higher scores indicate greater competence in parenting. Cronbach's alpha was 0.93 in a Chinese sample.
Time frame: Baseline (T0), Post-workshop assessment (T1, 2 weeks after T0), and 12-week assessment (T2, around 3 months after T0).
Family function
The Family Communication Scale (FCS) is a 10-item scale used to measure family communication (Guo et al., 2021). Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree"). A higher total score (range 10-50) indicates a higher level of positive family communication. The Chinese version of FCS showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91) and was stable over 1 month (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.69).
Time frame: Baseline (T0), Post-workshop assessment (T1, 2 weeks after T0), and 12-week assessment (T2, around 3 months after T0).
Anxiety
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-7 scale is a 7-item instrument to assess anxiety symptoms in the past two weeks (Spitzer et al., 2006; Tong et al., 2016). Each item is scored from 0 to 3. The seven item scores are summed to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety symptom severity.
Time frame: Baseline (T0), Post-workshop assessment (T1, 2 weeks after T0), and 12-week assessment (T2, around 3 months after T0).
Perceived Benefits
Evaluated through process evaluation metrics assessing perceived benefits, subjective changes in personal mental health, and happiness. Participants rate overall satisfaction on a 0-10 scale, with 0 indicating "very dissatisfied" and 10 indicating "very satisfied". Open-ended questions will also collect participants' comments and suggestions.
Time frame: Post-workshop assessment (T1) and 12-week assessment (T2, around 3 months after T0)
Plan to share: No — We are not sharing individual participant data (IPD) due to privacy concerns and limitations in participant consent. Although the data is de-identified, there remains a risk of re-identification, and participants were not explicitly consented for public data sharing. Aggregate results will be made available through publications and presentations to ensure transparency.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Start is estimated for Oct 2026; primary completion for Jun 2027, 8 months later.
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This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Hong Kong Metropolitan University