Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of the Let's Connect® intervention: A trauma-responsive,...

This paper outlines the study protocol for an evaluation of the Let's Connect® (LC) parenting program. LC is a trauma-responsive, emotion-focused parenting program that teaches parents/caregivers to identify and respond to children's emotional needs and behaviors in a way that builds connection and warmth and promotes children's emotional competence, mental and behavioral health, and overall well-being. In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), this project will evaluate the efficacy of LC in a virtual delivery format with families who are at-risk for or have experienced trauma, violence, and/or other adverse life events.

We will recruit up to 200 parent-child dyads (children ages 4-14 years) and randomize them to the 14-week LC intervention condition or waitlist control condition. Primary outcomes include parent well-being, parenting practices, child well-being, and child social-emotional competencies. Outcomes will be assessed using parent and child report questionnaires, parent interview, and observational data at three time points: baseline (T1), posttest (T2; ∼14 weeks after baseline), and follow-up (T3; 6-months after posttest). Intent-to-treat analyses will be used to estimate intervention effects across the three assessment points.

This study is the first RCT of the LC parenting intervention that will evaluate its efficacy and will contribute to evidence of innovative and culturally responsive, emotion-focused parenting interventions in a sustainable delivery format. This trial is preregistered on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/xd5he/).