Jockey Club Support Project to Improve Emotion Regulation and Family Resilience in Cross-Boundary Families Randomized Controlled Trial Involving Parents and Children Grades 5 to 12

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are conducting a randomized controlled trial to improve emotion regulation skills and resilience in cross-boundary families between Mainland China and Hong Kong. The study focuses on parents and their children, aiming to reduce family conflicts and enhance psychological well-being, family harmony, and social connections. The research is guided by models of emotion regulation and family dynamics and predicts better outcomes in the intervention group compared to a control group. The study has two groups with a 21 allocation ratio. Parents in the intervention group will attend four group activity sessions, while children will participate in two sessions. Both parents and children receive training on emotion regulation skills such as mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, situation change, acceptance, and breathing techniques, along with family emotion system theories. The control group receives training on moderating the use of commercial electronics, understanding addiction mechanisms, improving family communication, and exploring substitute activities. Participants will be assessed at the start, after 4 weeks, and after 8 weeks for outcomes including resilience, cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation, affective experiences, depression and anxiety symptoms, and well-being. Secondary measures include family resilience and harmony, parent-child conflicts, parenting self-efficacy, and parental stress. The trial is sponsored by the City University of Hong Kong and includes both parents and children living in Shenzhen who have ties to Hong Kong residency.

Jockey Club Support Project