Project Raising Exposure Awareness for Caregiver Help-Seeking
Anxiety · Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) · Trauma and Stress Related Disorders
What this study involves
The registry does not currently label this study as recruiting. Ask about its status before planning a screening visit.
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Age range
- 18 years - Not specified
- Sex eligible
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Participants
- 100 Estimated
These are starting points, not an eligibility decision. The research team must review the full requirements.
About the research
The goal of this pilot randomized study is to learn whether a dissemination campaign co-designed with a community advisory board helps caregivers of children with anxiety and related disorders seek exposure therapy, compared with standard information. Participants are caregivers of children ages 4 to 18 with current anxiety, OCD, or traumatic stress symptoms.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Does the dissemination campaign improve caregivers' knowledge of exposure therapy, attitudes toward it, perceived norms about seeking it, and confidence that they can find an exposure therapist, compared with dissemination-as-usual?
Does the dissemination campaign increase caregivers' intentions to seek exposure therapy for their child, compared with dissemination-as-usual?
Researchers will compare the dissemination campaign to dissemination-as-usual, which is links to professional organization websites and advice to contact their insurance company or search an online therapist directory.
Participants will:
- Complete an online survey about their help-seeking intentions, knowledge, attitudes, norms, and confidence
- Be randomly assigned to review either the dissemination campaign or dissemination-as-usual materials for at least 10 minutes
- Complete the same survey again right after reviewing the materials
- Possibly be invited to a 15-minute phone interview 2 months later about whether they sought treatment for their child and what barriers they faced
Who may be able to participate?
The list below is the sponsor’s full registry wording. It can include conditions, prior treatment, test results and other requirements. A match in search does not mean you qualify.
Inclusion Criteria:
Adult (age 18 or older) parent or other family caregiver Has a child aged 4 to 18 years with current symptoms of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and/or traumatic stress, by caregiver report Able to read and understand English Able to provide informed consent
Exclusion Criteria:
Survey responses flagged as likely invalid or inaccurate during data screening, including uniform responding or duplicate or suspicious IP addresses Previous participation in this study
Understand screeningTreatment, groups and participation
The registry may describe treatments and study duration without a complete visit calendar. Ask the study team for the exact schedule, procedures, risks, costs and alternatives. Keep your usual care plan unless your treating clinician tells you otherwise.
- Assignment
- Random assignment
- Masking
- Single masked
Tailored Dissemination Campaign
Caregivers are randomized to review the community advisory board-designed dissemination campaign, including flyers, infographics, testimonial videos, and explainer video.
Behavioral: Tailored Dissemination Campaign
Dissemination-as-usual
Caregivers are randomized to review standard information about finding mental health services for their child (e.g., information found via google and foundation websites)
Behavioral: Dissemination-as-usual
Tailored Dissemination Campaign BEHAVIORAL
A direct-to-consumer dissemination campaign about exposure therapy for youth anxiety and related disorders, co-designed with a community advisory board of family caregivers and providers and refined through caregiver focus groups. It covers the same core content as standard information about finding mental health care, but uses terminology and explanations developed with the advisory board. It also includes a skills-focused "how-to" guide for finding and accessing an exposure therapist. The campaign targets help-seeking mechanisms from the Theory of Planned Behavior: knowledge, attitudes, perceived norms, and self-efficacy. Participants review the materials online for at least 10 minutes.
Dissemination-as-usual BEHAVIORAL
Standard information about seeking mental health care for a child: links to professional organization websites and summary of information generated from Google searches. Participants review the materials online for at least 10 minutes.
What researchers are measuring
Outcome measures describe what is being studied. They are not proof that a treatment works.
Primary measures
Caregiver Self-Efficacy for Seeking Exposure Therapy
Time frame: Baseline (pre-review) and immediately post-review (same study session)
Self-efficacy for finding an exposure therapist for one's child, measured with two caregiver-report items rated on a 7-point agreement scale (e.g., "If I really wanted to, I could find an exposure specialist for my child"). The items are averaged into a score from 1 to 7, and higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy. Groups will be compared on the post-review score, controlling for baseline.
Caregiver Attitudes Toward Exposure Therapy
Time frame: Baseline (pre-review) and immediately post-review (same study session)
Attitudes toward exposure therapy, measured with four standard semantic differential scales. The total score is the average of z-standardized items, and higher scores indicate more favorable attitudes. Groups will be compared on the post-review score, controlling for baseline.
Perceived Norms for Seeking Exposure Therapy
Time frame: Baseline (pre-review) and immediately post-review (same study session)
Perceived norms about seeking exposure therapy, measured with two items rated on a 7-point agreement scale. One asks whether "other caregivers like me" would seek exposure therapy, and the other asks whether people important to the caregiver would approve. The items are averaged into a score from 1 to 7, and higher scores indicate more favorable perceived norms. Groups will be compared on the post-review score, controlling for baseline.
Secondary measures
Caregiver Intentions to Seek Exposure Therapy
Time frame: Baseline (pre-review) and immediately post-review (same study session)
Strength of caregivers' intentions to seek exposure therapy for their child, measured with two items rated on a 7-point scale: how willing and how likely the caregiver is to seek exposure therapy. The items are averaged into a score from 1 to 7, and higher scores indicate stronger intentions. Groups will be compared on the post-review score, controlling for baseline.
Caregiver Knowledge of Exposure Therapy
Time frame: Baseline (pre-review) and immediately post-review (same study session)
Caregiver awareness of and prior experience with exposure therapy, measured with a previously developed two-item measure. Groups will be compared on the post-review score, controlling for baseline.
Acceptability of Dissemination Strategies
Time frame: Immediately post-review (same study session)
Caregiver ratings of the acceptability of each dissemination strategy developed with the community advisory board.
Caregiver-Reported Connection to Mental Health Services
Time frame: 2 months post-review
Number of caregivers in a purposive subsample (n=32; 16 per arm, selected for high or low baseline intentions) who report successfully connecting their child with mental health services, and the type of treatment sought (including exposure therapy). This is assessed in a 15-minute structured phone interview. Reported barriers to accessing care and the influence of study materials on help-seeking will be analyzed qualitatively with rapid qualitative analysis, using codes from the Theory of Planned Behavior.
Review the complete result tables and limitations in the official record.
Open official results ↗Research locations (0)
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No locations are listed. Use the official study contact.
Study team and timeline
- Lead sponsor
- Brown University
- Study start
- Jan 15, 2027 Estimated
- Primary completion
- Jun 15, 2027 Estimated
- Study completion
- Dec 31, 2027 Estimated
- First posted
- Nov 10, 2026 Actual
- Last updated
- Nov 10, 2026 Actual
Official study contacts
Official study title
A Direct-to-consumer Dissemination Campaign About Exposure to Increase Treatment Access
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Source: ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Information is submitted by sponsors and investigators. NLM does not approve the safety or science of all listed studies. Registry disclaimer.
Retrieved: Nov 11, 2026 · Last registry update: Nov 10, 2026