Text-messaging Intervention to Support Parents After Their Child's Psychiatric Emergency

Description

This grant aims to develop and test a text-messaging intervention for parents of children and teens evaluated in the emergency department for a psychiatric emergency and discharged home with outpatient referrals. The intervention for parents will teach parents skills to navigate the mental health services system and build their self-efficacy in managing their child's mental health. This research has the potential to improve services for families seeking emergency psychiatric support, with the goal of facilitating treatment engagement and reducing emergency services utilization using scalable, cost-effective, accessible tools.

Conditions

Parents, Self Efficacy, Mental Health Literacy, Psychiatric Emergency

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

This grant aims to develop and test a text-messaging intervention for parents of children and teens evaluated in the emergency department for a psychiatric emergency and discharged home with outpatient referrals. The intervention for parents will teach parents skills to navigate the mental health services system and build their self-efficacy in managing their child's mental health. This research has the potential to improve services for families seeking emergency psychiatric support, with the goal of facilitating treatment engagement and reducing emergency services utilization using scalable, cost-effective, accessible tools.

Developing and Testing a Text-messaging Intervention to Support Parents After Their Child's Psychiatric Emergency

Text-messaging Intervention to Support Parents After Their Child's Psychiatric Emergency

Condition
Parents
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Nashville

Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37212

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * Parents or legal guardians of a child ages 11-17;
  • * Parents or legal guardians must live with their child ≥50% of the time;
  • * Child must be admitted to the pediatric emergency department for a mental health crisis;
  • * Child must be discharged home from the emergency department with referrals to outpatient care.
  • * Do not have daily access to a mobile phone that can receive SMS text messages;
  • * Do not speak and read fluently in English.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Collaborators and Investigators

Vanderbilt University Medical Center,

Margaret Benningfield, MD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Study Record Dates

2026-12-30