Grow Together, Thrive Together: A Feasibility Study of a Brief Relationship Intervention for Emerging Adults and Their Caregivers

Official title

Grow Together, Thrive Together (G2T2): A Feasibility Study of a Brief Writing-Based Relationship Intervention for Emerging Adults and Their Caregivers

Overview

Background. Emerging adulthood is a period of major change in young people's lives, including increased independence, new responsibilities, and shifting relationships with parents or caregivers. During this time, disagreements between emerging adults and caregivers are common and may become more frequent or emotionally intense. How families manage these disagreements may affect relationship quality and emotional well-being for both emerging adults and caregivers. However, there are few brief, accessible programs designed to support emerging adults and caregivers together during this transition. Grow Together, Thrive Together (G2T2) is a brief, online, writing-based relationship program designed for emerging adults and their caregivers. The program encourages participants to reflect on disagreements using a neutral, outside-observer perspective, with the goal of helping families approach conflict in healthier ways. G2T2 is designed to be low-intensity, self-directed, and accessible, and can be completed remotely using secure online platforms. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the G2T2 program and study procedures, rather than to test effectiveness. This feasibility clinical trial will examine whether emerging adult-caregiver dyads can be successfully recruited and retained, whether participants complete the writing sessions as planned, and whether participants find the program acceptable, easy to use, and understandable. The study will also explore whether participants report using the conflict reappraisal strategy outside of the writing sessions and examine changes in relationship and conflict-related outcomes before and after the program to inform future research. Participants will take part as emerging adult-caregiver pairs. Each participant will complete an online baseline survey, three brief online writing sessions completed over approximately nine weeks, and a follow-up survey one week after the final session. Each writing session includes brief questions about recent disagreements, a short instructional video, brief questions to check understanding of the strategy, and guided writing exercises focused on reflecting on disagreements and planning how to use the strategy in future interactions. All activities are completed independently and online. Findings from this study will be used to refine the G2T2 program and study procedures and to inform the design of a future, larger randomized controlled trial.

Interventions

• Behavioral Grow Together Thrive Together (G2T2)
  Grow Together, Thrive Together (G2T2) is a brief, online, writing-based relationship intervention designed for emerging adult-caregiver dyads. The intervention is grounded in conflict reappraisal and third-party perspective-taking and aims to reduce negative reciprocity during disagreements by helping participants reinterpret conflicts from a neutral, outside-observer perspective. Across sessions, participants are guided through structured writing exercises that focus on describing recent disagr

Primary outcome measures

• Recruitment Feasibility [Time frame: Week 0-58]
• Caregiver Socioeconomic Status (Income and Education) [Time frame: Week 0]
• Participant Retention [Time frame: Week 0-10]
• Intervention Adherence [Time frame: Week 1-9]
• Intervention Uptake [Time frame: Week 5-10]
• Intervention Acceptability [Time frame: Week 10]
• Digital Usability [Time frame: Week 10]
• Racial Diversity [Time frame: Week 0]
• Sexual and Gender Diversity [Time frame: Week 0]
• Immigrant Status [Time frame: Week 0]

Secondary outcome measures (5)

• Change in Emerging Adult-Caregiver Relationship Quality [Time frame: Pre-post change from Week 0 to Week 10]
• Change in Conflict Behavior [Time frame: Pre-post change from Week 0 to Week 10]
• Change in Emerging Adult Support-Seeking and Perceived Support [Time frame: Pre-post change from Week 0 to Week 10]
• Change in Conflict-Related Distress [Time frame: Pre-post change from Week 0 to Week 10]
• Change in Parental Autonomy Support [Time frame: Pre-post change from Week 0 to Week 10]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Emerging adults aged 18-25 years and their primary caregiver or parent, enrolled as emerging adult-caregiver dyads
• Both members of the dyad must independently provide informed consent prior to participation
• Sufficient English literacy to complete online questionnaires in English
• Reliable access to the internet via a computer or mobile device
• Dyad members may live together or separately
• Participants may continue usual or recommended mental health care (e.g., psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy) during the study

Exclusion criteria

• Concurrent participation in a structured family-based intervention (e.g., manualized family therapy or family skills programs) during the study period

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

N/A

Model

Single group

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

Canada · 1 center

• York University — North York

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07418320 · 4466

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗