Grow Together, Thrive Together: A Feasibility Study of a Brief Relationship Intervention for Emerging Adults and Their Caregivers

N/ANot Yet RecruitingNCT07418320

York University60 enrolled

Overview

Background. Emerging adulthood is a period of major change in young people's lives, including increased independence, new responsibilities, and shifting relationships with parents or caregivers. During this time, disagreements between emerging adults and caregivers are common and may become more frequent or emotionally intense. How families manage these disagreements may affect relationship quality and emotional well-being for both emerging adults and caregivers. However, there are few brief, accessible programs designed to support emerging adults and caregivers together during this transition. Grow Together, Thrive Together (G2T2) is a brief, online, writing-based relationship program designed for emerging adults and their caregivers. The program encourages participants to reflect on disagreements using a neutral, outside-observer perspective, with the goal of helping families approach conflict in healthier ways. G2T2 is designed to be low-intensity, self-directed, and accessible, and can be completed remotely using secure online platforms. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the G2T2 program and study procedures, rather than to test effectiveness. This feasibility clinical trial will examine whether emerging adult-caregiver dyads can be successfully recruited and retained, whether participants complete the writing sessions as planned, and whether participants find the program acceptable, easy to use, and understandable. The study will also explore whether participants report using the conflict reappraisal strategy outside of the writing sessions and examine changes in relationship and conflict-related outcomes before and after the program to inform future research. Participants will take part as emerging adult-caregiver pairs. Each participant will complete an online baseline survey, three brief online writing sessions completed over approximately nine weeks, and a follow-up survey one week after the final session. Each writing session includes brief questions about recent disagreements, a short instructional video, brief questions to check understanding of the strategy, and guided writing exercises focused on reflecting on disagreements and planning how to use the strategy in future interactions. All activities are completed independently and online. Findings from this study will be used to refine the G2T2 program and study procedures and to inform the design of a future, larger randomized controlled trial.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Interventions

Grow Together Thrive Together (G2T2)BEHAVIORAL

Grow Together, Thrive Together (G2T2) is a brief, online, writing-based relationship intervention designed for emerging adult-caregiver dyads. The intervention is grounded in conflict reappraisal and third-party perspective-taking and aims to reduce negative reciprocity during disagreements by helping participants reinterpret conflicts from a neutral, outside-observer perspective. Across sessions, participants are guided through structured writing exercises that focus on describing recent disagreements factually, considering alternative interpretations of the conflict, identifying barriers to applying the strategy, and planning how to use the reappraisal approach in future interactions. Instructional video content and brief learning check questions support understanding of the core strategy. The intervention is designed to be low-intensity, scalable, and culturally responsive, and is adapted from an evidence-informed writing intervention previously tested in other relational contexts.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Emerging adults aged 18-25 years and their primary caregiver or parent, enrolled as emerging adult-caregiver dyads * Both members of the dyad must independently provide informed consent prior to participation * Sufficient English literacy to complete online questionnaires in English * Reliable access to the internet via a computer or mobile device * Dyad members may live together or separately * Participants may continue usual or recommended mental health care (e.g., psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy) during the study Exclusion Criteria: * Concurrent participation in a structured family-based intervention (e.g., manualized family therapy or family skills programs) during the study period

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Recruitment Feasibility

Recruitment feasibility will be assessed by the proportion of the target sample of emerging adult-caregiver dyads successfully recruited during the planned recruitment period (58 weeks from March 20 2026 to May 1 2027). Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined success criterion of recruiting at least 70% of the target sample.

Time frame: Week 0-58

Caregiver Socioeconomic Status (Income and Education)

Percentage of caregivers meeting socioeconomic criteria, defined as having a household income below the Toronto median and/or a high school education or less. Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined benchmark of ≥30% of caregivers meeting these criteria.

Time frame: Week 0

Participant Retention

Participant retention will be assessed as the proportion of enrolled emerging adult-caregiver dyads who complete the post-intervention assessment one week after the final writing session. Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined success criterion of at least 75% dyad retention.

Time frame: Week 0-10

Intervention Adherence

Intervention adherence will be assessed as the proportion of emerging adult-caregiver dyads who complete at least two of the three online writing sessions. Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined success criterion of at least 75% adherence.

Time frame: Week 1-9

Intervention Uptake

Intervention uptake will be assessed as the proportion of emerging adult-caregiver dyads reporting use of the conflict reappraisal strategy since their previous intervention session. Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined success criterion of at least 80% uptake.

Time frame: Week 5-10

Intervention Acceptability

Intervention acceptability will be assessed using participant responses to a validated acceptability questionnaire based on the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. Acceptability will be evaluated as the proportion of participants endorsing at least "agree" on 80% or more of questionnaire items, with a predefined success criterion of at least 80%.

Time frame: Week 10

Digital Usability

Digital usability will be assessed using participant ratings on the Ease of Use and Comprehension subscales of the Website Evaluation Questionnaire. Usability will be evaluated as the proportion of participants endorsing at least "agree" on 80% or more of items, with a predefined success criterion of at least 80%.

Time frame: Week 10

Racial Diversity

Percentage of participants identifying as racialized. Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined benchmark of ≥55.7% racialized participants.

Time frame: Week 0

Sexual and Gender Diversity

Percentage of emerging adult participants identifying as Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or other sexual and/or gender minority identities (2SLGBTQ+). Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined benchmark of ≥10.5% 2SLGBTQ+ emerging adults.

Time frame: Week 0

Immigrant Status

Percentage of participants who are foreign-born. Feasibility will be evaluated against a predefined benchmark of ≥46.6% foreign-born participants.

Time frame: Week 0

Secondary Outcomes

Change in Emerging Adult-Caregiver Relationship Quality

Relationship quality will be assessed using the Parental Environment Questionnaire (PEQ; caregiver and emerging adult versions), which includes five subscales: conflict, involvement, regard for parent, regard for child, and structure. Exploratory analyses will examine mean change from baseline to one week post-intervention.