ACT Dad's Power: Feasibility RCT for Fathers of Children With Special Needs

ACT Dad's Power: A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Fathers of Children With Special Needs in Improving Their Psychological Flexibility and Mental Health

Objective: (1) To examine the feasibility of proceeding to a future definitive RCT of ACT in Hong Kong Chinese fathers rearing children with special needs. (2) To calculate the effect sizes of the intervention on fathers' psychological flexibility, shame, guilt, and quality of life (QoL) at the 6-month follow-up. (3) To calculate the potential efficacy of the intervention.

Methods: A 2-arm feasibility randomised controlled trail will be conducted on 50 fathers of children with special needs. 25 participants will be allocated into the intervention group to attend 6 weekly 45-60 minute sessions of ACT with VR. 25 participants will be allocated to the control group receiving 6 weekly 45-60 minute sessions of health talks and simple social support.

Outcome and measurement: Primary outcomes are screening rate, eligibility rate, consent rate, randomization rate, attendance rate, adherence rate, retention rate, completion rate, missing data, and adverse events. Secondary outcomes are the effect sizes and preliminary efficacy of the intervention on psychological flexibility, shame, guilt, depressive symptoms, and QoL at T4. Both groups will be required to fill in a set of questionnaires at the start of intervention (T1), post-intervention (T2), 3 (T3), and 6 months (T4) after the end of intervention. They will also be invited to join semi-structure interviews at T2.

Data analysis: Descriptive statistics, mixed between-within-participants analysis of variance, and content analysis will be used.

Inclusion Criteria:

• (1) who are the biological fathers of children aged 2 to 12 years
• (2) with a child having a formal diagnosis of a developmental disability, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, or related neurodevelopmental conditions
• (3) who are able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese

Exclusion Criteria:

• (1) who are currently undergoing psychotherapies
• (2) with physical or cognitive impairment and learning problems as identified from NGO or related medical records
• (3) who exhibit a high risk of serious mental illnesses screened using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale , with a score of ≥13