Randomized Controlled Trial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 6, 2022; 10(16): 5306-5316
Published online Jun 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i16.5306
Effectiveness of psychosocial intervention for internalizing behavior problems among children of parents with alcohol dependence: Randomized controlled trial
Dayananda Bittenahalli Omkarappa, Sreevani Rentala, Prasanthi Nattala
Dayananda Bittenahalli Omkarappa, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Kempegowda College of Nursing, Bangalore 560004, Karnataka, India
Sreevani Rentala, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Dharwad Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Dharwad 580008, Karnataka, India
Prasanthi Nattala, Department of Nursing, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore 560029, Karnataka, India
Author contributions: Omkarappa DB designed and conceived the idea, performed the literature review/comparison, interpreted the data, and performed the majority of the write up in the first draft; Rentala S performed the statistical analysis, assisted in the write up of the first draft and critically reviewed the manuscript; Nattala P critically analyzed the results and reviewed the manuscript; all the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of the submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the institutional ethical committee (KINEC: 12/15-16) of Kempegowda College of Nursing.
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is registered at Clinical Trials Registry-India, No. CTRI/2018/07/01499.
Informed consent statement: Informed assent was taken from the child and informed consent from their parents.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Nothing to disclosed.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dayananda Bittenahalli Omkarappa, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Kempegowda College of Nursing, K.R. Road, V.V. Puram, Bangalore 560004, Karnataka, India. bodayananda@gmail.com
Received: March 20, 2021
Peer-review started: March 20, 2021
First decision: July 15, 2021
Revised: August 23, 2021
Accepted: April 30, 2022
Article in press: April 30, 2022
Published online: June 6, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

The harmful use of alcohol afflicts not only the individual but also the whole family. The literature suggests that adults’ drinking is associated with physical and psychological harms to children. Children of alcoholics are at higher risk for internalizing behavioral problems.

Research motivation

There are few studies focused on school-based intervention for internalizing behavioral problems of children of alcoholic parents in India. There is a need for population-specific psychosocial intervention to prevent complications in childhood.

Research objectives

To develop and evaluate the efficacy of psychosocial intervention for internalizing behavior problems among children of alcoholic parents.

Research methods

A randomized controlled trial with a 2 × 4 factorial design was adopted with longitudinal measurement of outcomes for 6 mo. The psychosocial intervention was administered to the experimental group biweekly in eight sessions over 4 wk after the pre-interventional assessment. The data were collected pre-intervention and at 1, 3 and 6 mo after intervention. Screening tests (modified) were used to identify children of alcoholic parents and Paediatric Symptom Checklist: Youth Report for behavioral problems among children of alcoholics. The outcome variables were assessed using Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

Research results

The present study demonstrated that the psychosocial intervention was effective in reducing anxiety and depression among children of alcoholic parents. It also shows that self-esteem improved significantly after intervention.

Research conclusions

The findings of this provided initial evidence for the effect of psychosocial intervention for children of alcoholics in India.

Research perspectives

The intervention was focused only on children and there is a chance of relapse of these problems due to the family atmosphere, hence future research should include alcoholic parents.