An interventional study of Internet-delivered psychological intervention for work-family conflict in Psychological Stress, Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict, sponsored by University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Poland. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-29.
Sponsored by University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an online program treats stress in working couples. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Participants will:
Background and theoretical rationale: This study evaluates an internet-delivered psychological intervention for heterosexual dual-earner couples experiencing work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). Grounded in Greenhaus and Beutell's multidimensional framework and the Spillover-Crossover Model, the intervention targets time-based and strain-based interrole conflict. The dyadic randomized controlled design investigates individual (actor) effects and interpersonal (partner) crossover effects to test whether joint participation yields superior benefits compared to individual delivery or a waitlist control condition.
Study design and randomization: The study is a four-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial with the couple serving as the unit of recruitment and randomization. Couples are allocated using block randomization via the blockrand package in R with a 1.77:1.77:1 allocation ratio to one of four conditions. The conditions include a dyadic intervention, an individual female-partner intervention, an individual male-partner intervention, and a waitlist control condition.
Digital platform and delivery: The unguided 3-week intervention is hosted on Google Classroom within an institutional Google Workspace for Education environment. To ensure participant privacy, a multiple-classroom architecture assigns each individual or dyad to a private virtual classroom accessible only via individual researcher-managed credentials. Native social communication features are disabled to prevent cross-participant visibility. Built-in automated email notifications serve as digital nudges to promote task engagement.
Intervention structure: The intervention consists of two parallel strands addressing time-based and strain-based conflict. The time-based strand focuses on boundary management, segmentation and integration strategies, implementation intentions, and action planning. The strain-based strand emphasizes recognizing psychological strain transfer, self-distancing, emotional awareness, and behavioral experiments. The dyadic condition incorporates joint activities involving mutual reflection, structured dialogue, and collaborative support planning.
Statistical analysis plan: Efficacy analyses will follow the intention-to-treat principle using linear mixed-effects models to evaluate fixed effects of time, condition, and their interaction. Nested random intercepts will account for repeated observations within participants and non-independence within couples. Dyadic crossover processes will be analyzed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to differentiate actor associations from partner associations. Missing data will be handled via maximum likelihood estimation within mixed-effects models or multiple imputation depending on missingness patterns.
Exclusion Criteria:
Both partners in the dual-earner couple actively participate in the 3-week internet-delivered psychological intervention. Both partners complete assessments at all timepoints.
Behavioral: Internet-delivered psychological intervention for work-family conflict
Only the female partner actively participates in the 3-week internet-delivered psychological intervention during the active trial phase. Both partners complete assessments at all timepoints.
Behavioral: Internet-delivered psychological intervention for work-family conflict
Only the male partner actively participates in the 3-week internet-delivered psychological intervention during the active trial phase. Both partners complete assessments at all timepoints.
Behavioral: Internet-delivered psychological intervention for work-family conflict
Neither partner receives access to the intervention during the active trial phase. Both partners complete assessments at all timepoints. Participants in this group are offered access to the intervention materials after the final 6-month follow-up assessment.
An unguided, 3-week internet-delivered intervention hosted on Google Classroom. It aims to help dual-earner couples manage time-based and strain-based work-family conflict. The program comprises two parallel strands combining psychoeducation, boundary management strategies, self-compassion, emotional awareness, implementation intentions, and behavioral experiments. In the dyadic condition, it also includes joint exercises involving mutual reflection and communication.
Perceived Stress
Perceived stress will be assessed using the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4). The scale measures the extent to which participants perceive their lives as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded. Items are rated on a 5-point scale from 0 ("never") to 4 ("very often"). Positively worded items are reverse scored, and item scores are summed. Higher scores indicate greater perceived stress.
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2) and at the 6-month follow-up (T3).
Work-to-Family Conflict (WFC)
Assessed using the multidimensional measure developed by Carlson et al. (2000). This specific outcome evaluates interference originating in the work domain and affecting family life. It measures time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based dimensions of conflict. Items are rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree"). Higher scores indicate greater work-to-family conflict. Both composite scores and separate dimensional scores (time-based and strain-based) will be analyzed.
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2) and at the 6-month follow-up (T3).
Family-to-Work Conflict (FWC)
Assessed using the multidimensional measure developed by Carlson et al. (2000). This specific outcome evaluates interference originating in the family domain and affecting work. It measures time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based dimensions of conflict. Items are rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree"). Higher scores indicate greater family-to-work conflict. Both composite scores and separate dimensional scores (time-based and strain-based) will be analyzed.
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2) and at the 6-month follow-up (T3).
Job Satisfaction
Assessed using the 3-item Satisfaction with Job Scale (Zalewska, 2003), which evaluates the cognitive appraisal of one's work life. Items are rated on a 7-point scale from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 7 ("strongly agree"). Higher scores indicate greater job satisfaction.
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2) and at the 6-month follow-up (T3).
Family Satisfaction
Assessed using a 3-item scale adapted from the Satisfaction with Family Life Scale (Zabriskie \& Ward, 2013) to evaluate cognitive satisfaction with family life. Items are rated on a 7-point scale from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 7 ("strongly agree"). Higher scores indicate greater family satisfaction.
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2) and at the 6-month follow-up (T3).
Self-Compassion
Assessed using the Polish adaptation of the Self-Compassion Scale Short Form (SCS-SF; 12 items). Evaluates self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness versus self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification. Items are rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ("almost never") to 5 ("almost always"). Higher scores indicate greater self-compassion.
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2) and at the 6-month follow-up (T3).
Segmentation and Integration Strategies
Assessed using 6 items adapted from Kossek et al. (2012) measuring nonwork interrupting work behaviors and work interrupting nonwork behaviors. Items are rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree"). Higher scores reflect specific boundary management styles.
Time frame: Baseline (T1), immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2) and at the 6-month follow-up (T3).
Intervention Credibility and Outcome Expectancy
Assessed using the Credibility/Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ; 6 items). Evaluates cognitive appraisal (credibility subscale) and beliefs about treatment outcome (expectancy subscale). Items 1-3 and 5 are rated on 9-point scales; items 4 and 6 are rated from 0% to 100%. Higher scores indicate higher credibility and expectancy.
Time frame: Baseline (T1).
User Experience
Assessed using the short version of the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ-S). Measures pragmatic aspects (clarity, efficiency) and hedonic aspects (stimulation, novelty) of the intervention platform.
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2).
Intervention Adherence (Quantitative, Qualitative, and Subjective)
Intervention adherence will be evaluated using three complementary indices: Quantitative Adherence: The proportion of completed platform activities out of all assigned activities (score 0-1 or 0%-100%). Qualitative Adherence: Rated by trained judges using activity-specific rubrics on a scale from 0 to 4 based on task congruence and reflection depth (0 = inadequate/AI-generated without engagement; 4 = complete and highly task-congruent). Subjective Adherence: A weekly self-report item asking how carefully tasks were completed on a 5-point scale from 1 ("not carefully at all") to 5 ("very carefully"), averaged across weeks.
Time frame: Weekly during the 3-week intervention period and immediately post-intervention (T2).
Affective Engagement
Assessed using an ultra-short adapted work engagement scale (3 items) rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 5 ("strongly agree"). Calculated as the mean of weekly ratings.
Time frame: Weekly during the 3-week intervention period and immediately post-intervention (T2).
Intervention Fit (Acceptability, Appropriateness, Feasibility)
Assessed using 3 items (inspired by Weiner et al., 2017) measuring acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility. Items are rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ("completely disagree") to 5 ("completely agree").
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2).
Dyadic Adherence and Engagement
Assessed using a short survey administered to participants in the active intervention platform to evaluate mutual participation and engagement in joint exercises (e.g., "My partner actively engaged in joint exercises").
Time frame: Immediately after the 3-week intervention period (T2).
Plan to share: Yes — An anonymized dataset containing individual participant data underlying the study findings will be published in a public repository upon study completion.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Analytic code
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University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw