GGC4H, an NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory Trial, uses the RE-AIM framework to test the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing a guidance curriculum for parents to address problems common to early adolescents. Dr. Margaret Kuklinski, Co-PI of the GGC4H project, discussed the study in an interview for the NIH Collaboratory’s annual Steering Committee meeting.
“GGC4H is a 5- or 6-session intervention that helps promote health and prevent prevalent problem behaviors in the teen years,” Kuklinski explained. “It’s been shown in a randomized trial to reduce substance use, depression, and anti-social behavior by strengthening bonds between parents and their kids.” The project is finishing its fourth year by wrapping up the intervention with a second cohort of parents and teens.
One of the main challenges faced by the GGC4H project was the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 delayed the start of the study by 7 months. Baseline surveys had to be redone, and the study intervention redesigned to be delivered virtually. By conducting the study during the pandemic, “we’ve been able to see from parents, just how stressed they are in COVID, and that’s been the silver lining at the end of this process—being able to help families in these challenging times,” Kuklinski said.
“The Collaboratory has been a huge asset to our study,” Kuklinski said. “All of the work groups that we’re able to routinely be a part of means that we don’t have to solve problems on our own as if these problems are unique to our study. We really gain from our partners.”
“What we really hope to do is motivate the routine provision of anticipatory guidance to parents and pediatric primary care,” Kuklinski said. “Programs like Guiding Good Choices allow us to do that in such a deep way, because we have time that pediatricians don’t have.”
GGC4H is supported within the NIH Collaboratory by a cooperative agreement from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and receives logistical and technical support from the NIH Collaboratory Coordinating Center.