Remotely Delivered Video Interaction Guidance for Families of Children With an Intellectual Disability Referred to Specialist Mental Health Services: Protocol for a Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Children with an intellectual disability (ID) are 3-4 times more likely to present with behaviors that challenge and mental health problems than typically developing children. Parenting and the quality of parent-child relationships are risk factors for these families. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated difficulties, leading to an increase in child mental health problems and behaviors that challenge, a deterioration in parental mental health, and further strain on family relationships. Remote family interventions could be an effective solution for both families and specialist mental health services. Video interaction guidance (VIG) has shown promise for improving child mental health. However, it is unclear whether it is widely acceptable to families and feasible to implement across specialist child mental health services.

Objective: This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the feasibility of delivering VIG as a remote intervention for parents of children aged 6-12 years with ID who have been referred to specialist mental health services.

Methods: The study will be undertaken across 5-7 National Health Service specialist mental health services in England, involving 50 participants randomly allocated on a 1:1 basis to either the intervention group (receiving remote VIG) or the treatment-as-usual (TAU) group. The intervention group will engage in 3-5 cycles of VIG delivered remotely over 12 weeks. The primary feasibility outcomes include the recruitment rate, retention at 6-month follow-up, and VIG cycle completion rate. The secondary outcomes will assess the acceptability of VIG and the feasibility of remote implementation, including fidelity to the intervention protocol. Data will be gathered through online surveys and telephone interviews at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Feasibility outcomes will be summarized using descriptive statistics, while thematic analysis will be applied to qualitative data from semistructured interviews with participants, VIG practitioners, and service managers. An embedded process evaluation will explore barriers and facilitators to engagement with VIG, and a parallel health economics evaluation will assess the feasibility of capturing service use data and intervention costs.

Results: The trial was open to recruitment between December 2022 and March 2024. The first results should be available in 2025.

Conclusions: The study is the first randomized evaluation of VIG as offered to parents of children with ID who have been referred to specialist mental health settings. The outcomes from this feasibility trial will inform the decision to proceed with a definitive trial, using a traffic light system to evaluate recruitment, retention, and VIG completion rates alongside qualitative insights and economic evaluations.

Trial registration: ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN13171328; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN13171328.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/54619.