Effects of an SMS-Based Parenting Intervention on Anxiety Symptoms in Preschool Children
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Ecological Momentary Parenting Intervention, General Pediatric Health Education.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Problematic Screen Use in Preschool Children, Anxiety Symptoms in Preschool Children, Social-emotional Behavior Problems in Preschool Children. Basic parameters: 3 years — 6 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Effects of a Mobile Health-Based Ecological Momentary Parenting Intervention on Anxiety Symptoms in Preschool-Aged Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Overview
Excessive screen use and anxiety symptoms in preschool children have become increasingly prominent public health problems. This randomized controlled trial aims to determine whether, compared with a control group, an ecological momentary parenting intervention delivered via text messages and a WeChat public account can reduce screen use, anxiety symptoms, and social-emotional behavior problems in preschool children. A total of 356 caregiver-child dyads with children aged 3 to 6 years will be randomly assigned to an intervention group with 178 dyads or a control group with 178 dyads. The intervention group will receive an ecological momentary parenting intervention, including text messages and posts on a WeChat public account, focusing on guidance for emotion recognition, anxiety soothing, establishing regular routines, and reasonable screen use management. The control group will receive only general pediatric health science popularization text messages, which do not include content related to child emotion management, anxiety intervention, or screen use management. The primary outcome is children's anxiety symptoms, assessed by the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale. Secondary outcomes include children's screen use assessed by the ScreenQ scale and social-emotional behavior problems assessed by the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale-30 (SCBE-30)
Interventions
- Behavioral Ecological Momentary Parenting Intervention
Participants will receive an ecological momentary parenting intervention delivered via parenting text messages and posts on a WeChat public account. The intervention focuses on emotion recognition, anxiety soothing, establishing regular routines, and reasonable screen use management. - Other General Pediatric Health Education
Participants will receive general pediatric health science popularization text messages that do not include content related to child emotion management, anxiety intervention, or screen use management.
Primary outcome measures
- Preschool Anxiety Scale [Time frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention]
Secondary outcome measures (2)
- ScreenQ Scale [Time frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention]
- Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale-30 [Time frame: Baseline and immediately post-intervention]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Children between 3 and 6 years of age and their primary caregivers;
- The primary caregiver possesses a mobile phone with SMS-receiving capability, and is able to read and comprehend Chinese;
- Provide informed consent to participate in both the intervention and the study assessments.
Exclusion criteria
- The child has a diagnosed neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder;
- The child is undergoing other forms of intervention or psychological therapy at the time of the study;
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Double blind
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
Center list to be confirmed — check the primary protocol.
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07728344 · AHMU-2026-05-25