The Department of Human Development of Family Studies is recruiting mothers and/or fathers with a child between the ages of 0-14 years to participate in a project, which evaluates the effectiveness of a brief program to enhance the quality of parent-child relationships. 

The study is titled “Testing the Efficacy of a Brief Intervention to Improve Mindfulness, Attachment, and Emotional Availability,” (Protocol ID #: 17-7139H), also known as Healthy Connections.

The program helps to develop a skill set that may be useful to you both now and as your child(ren) grow over the years. The program topics include everyday use of mindfulness, attachment, and emotional availability in parent-child relationships.

While others around the world have conducted several studies in the last 25 years to document the value of this approach, this will be the first to pare down the essential ingredients in a time-effective way. 

Much research indicates the convenience of distant communication, and of course, much research suggests the importance of actual interactions. In this study, they will do both with participants.

What is involved

Prior to the start of the program, participants will be provided with a survey and then asked to interact with their child for a 20-minute video.

• Participants will then be asked to access a 2.5-3 hour online educational group workshop focusing on improving the emotional health of their parent-child relationships over time. 
• Participants will schedule a 1-hour one-on-one coaching session in which they will have the opportunity to discuss their unique video with a trained coach and will be filmed. 
• Participants will then be asked to complete another 20-minute video of a parent-child interaction (again, filmed through skype/zoom). 
• Participation in this research study is voluntary and at no cost. There is no compensation for participation. 

“In the past, our participants have enjoyed our studies and have reported a gain in their understanding of parent-child bonding and relationships,” Dr. Zeynep Biringen, director of the Emotional Attachment and Emotional Availability Lab. 

How to sign up

Those interested can email Dr. Zeynep Biringen at zeynep.biringen@colostate.edu, and she will provide the next steps.