Incarceration is a prevalent problem globally and in Nigeria. Its effect significantly impacts left behind parent or primary care givers and also the wellbeing of the families and children. Limited access to support has posed a constraint in effectively addressing the issues suffered by affected families in Nigeria. In addition, having a family member incarcerated could affect parenting due to factors such as anxiety, trauma, depression, poor social support, awareness of legal channels for complaint and harsh parenting to children. The implication is that it could not only have a negative impact on the affected victim but also on their parenting styles or caring responsibilities, which could be detrimental to children\'s development and wellbeing and resort to criminal behaviours. In essence this study seeks to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a brief FAmily oriented Mindfulness informed Legal Education (FAMiLE) intervention in comparison to the waitlist control group (who will be administered the intervention at a later date) in improving parenting, legal awareness, social cohesion, wellbeing and reducing trauma and anxiety as a result of the effect of having a family member incarcerated.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
24
The FAmily oriented Mindfulness informed Legal Education (FAMiLE) is a low-intensity intervention involving four sessions. The session will cover relevant aspects of brief mindfulness, legal education, awareness of human rights and challenges of complaint, including support. The Family oriented component will include stress management, including coping techniques and problem-solving, positive communication, behaviour modification and parenting, and a session on consolidation including sustaining gains. The intervention will also incorporate positive parenting and interactions with children.
Service Satisfaction Scale
A five item scale that can be used to assess and measure satisfaction, acceptability and quality of the intervention. Higher score denote positive outcomes and acceptability. Lower score denotes poor satisfaction and acceptability.
Time frame: 4 weeks at the end of intervention
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5)
The PCL-5 is a 20-item self-report measure that can be used to assess the 20 DSM-5 symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. A 5-10 point change represents reliable change (i.e., change not due to chance) and a 10-20 point change represents clinically significant change.
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7)
The GAD-7 is a seven item scale for screening, measuring and assessing the severity of generalised anxiety disorder. Scores of 5, 10, and 15 are taken as the cut-off points for mild, moderate and severe anxiety, respectively.
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3)
The scale is a 3-item self-reported measure designed for assessing and measuring the level of social support. The sum score ranges from 3 to 14, with high values representing strong levels and low values representing poor levels of social support as indicated as follows: a) 3-8 poor social support, b) 9-11 moderate social support, c) 12-14 strong social support.
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
Legal-informed Awareness of Complaint Channel Scale (LACCS)
The LACCS is a 10-item scale that is designed for assessing and measuring level of awareness of complaint channels and legal rights. The scale has an overall rating of 30, with 0-7 indicating poor knowledge, 8-15 (average knowledge), 16-22 (good knowledge) and 23-30 (excellent knowledge).
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
Harsh Parenting Scale
The scale is a 4 item scale use to assess harsh parenting. The scale has a rating of 20 with lower scores indicating non harsh parenting and higher scores indicating severe harsh parenting.
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
Parenting Stress Scale
The PSS is an 18-item questionnaire for assessing parents' feelings about their parenting role, exploring both positive aspects (e.g. personal development, emotional benefits,) and negative aspects of parenthood (e.g. demands on resources, and feelings of stress). Parental stress scores range from 18 to 90, with lower scores indicating lower levels of parental stress.
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a 9-item questionnaire that will be used for screening, monitoring, measuring and assessing the severity of depression. Low scores (e.g. 0-4) indicate no depression, however, higher scores (20-27) indicates severe depression.
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
European Quality of Life Scale EQ-5D-5L
The EQ-5D-5L is a 5 item scale designed to aid assessment of the generic quality of life. In the EQ-5D-5L, each dimension has five response levels: no problems (Level 1); slight (Level 2); moderate (Level 3); severe (Level 4); and extreme problems (Level 5). There are 3,125 possible health states defined by combining one level from each dimension, ranging from 11111 (full health) to 55555 (worst health).
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
Incarceration, Stress and Parenting Scale
The scale is a 4 item scale that will be use for assessing and measuring incarceration impact, stress and parenting. The scale has an overall rating of 20 with score ranging 1-5 indicating severe stress in parenting, 5-10 indicating moderately severe stress in parenting, 11-15 mild stress in parenting and 16- 20 no stress in parenting.
Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks end of intervention and 3 months post intervention.
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