Project EMPOWER-OCD

BEHAVIORAL

Project EMPOWER-OCD

Project EMPOWER-OCD is a web-based intervention for caregivers that takes about 20-25 minutes to complete that reduces accommodation. The program is drawing from an empirically supported intervention, Project EMPOWER, and will be adapted for the OCD population pending stakeholder input during phase 1 and include 5 elements: (1) an introduction to the program's rationale; (2) psychoeducation around OCD-driven avoidance, along with how caregiver accommodation can inadvertently maintain these avoidance patterns; (3) information on how caregivers can better identify patterns of avoidance, validate, and encourage approach behaviors instead; (4) creation of an "action plan" to promote approach behavior and reducing avoidance; (5) a vignette exercise in which caregivers read about another case and provide possible solutions based on what they learned. Resources for finding mental health treatment for OCD are presented at the end.

BEHAVIORAL

Project CARE

To evaluate the effects of Project EMPOWER-OCD, we will compare it to an active psychoeducation-based SSI that provides general information on caregiving and caregiver mental health. The intervention includes 5 elements that mirror Project EMPOWER: (1) introduction to the rationale for the program; (2) introduce the concept of caregiving across relationships and situations; (3) present broad information on typical development processes; (4) helping caregivers identify their own role and reflect on how caregiving looks like in their life (5) vignette exercise where caregivers identify caregiving roles, prompting reflection on roles. This active comparator intentionally does not include any psychoeducational components explicitly designed to reduce accommodation of anxiety, OCD, and its related disorders.

Family Accommodation Scale

Time frame: Change from baseline, 2-week follow-up, 4-week follow-up

19-item measure designed to assess the child's OCD symptoms and the extent to which a caregiver accommodates a child's OCD symptoms. Only the part two of the measure will be used to get the report of family member's responses to OCD. Items are rated from 0 (never) to 4 (every day). Total sum score ranges from 0 to 76 with higher scores indicating more frequent parental accommodation.

Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale

Time frame: Change from baseline, 2-week follow-up, 4-week follow-up

A two-part measure with a checklist of common obsessions and compulsions as well as a 10-item part that asks participants to report on the severity of their child's OCD rated on a 0 (none) to 4 (extreme) scale. Total sum score ranges from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher symptom severity.

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