NCT05514730

Treatment for Problematic Sexual Behavior of Preteen Children

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 42 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 4 Years – 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Relatively little is known about the treatment of problematic sexual behavior (PSB) displayed by preteen children. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining potential treatments are rare and the available results to date are generally underwhelming. A new protocol, termed Phase-Based Treatment (PBT) for Preteen PSB, has shown positive results in an early stage pilot and during community implementation efforts. This trial will be the first RCT of PBT and aim to determine whether PBT might outperform a treatment-as-usual condition.

Detailed description

In 2015, a new intervention, PBT, was designed that relied on the current etiological research on PSB and the state-of-the-science regarding behavior change among children. A small pilot of the protocol yielded positive results. Although the pilot included only 10 participants, statistically significant pre-post changes were observed for general PSB, intrusive forms of sexual behavior, and social modeling of sexuality in the home. Training in PBT was provided to a limited number of practicing clinicians in the state of Texas and program evaluation metrics were included. Pre-post change for general PSB was significant, as were changes for intrusive forms of sexual behavior. Despite positive outcomes in non-controlled research, it is unclear whether PBT achieves effects larger than might be seen with more general, non-specific forms of intervention. To demonstrate such an effect requires the completion of a randomized controlled trial (RCT). However, a number of feasibility issues must be answered before conducting a large scale, definitive RCT. As such, the current RCT is conceived as a feasibility project to determine the likelihood of successfully recruiting and retaining a sufficient number of participants, to derive comparative effect size estimates between PBT and SAU to inform later power analyses, and to ascertain participant satisfaction with PBT.

Conditions

• Problematic Sexual Behavior Among Preteen Children

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Phase-based Treatment (PBT) for Problematic Sexual Behavior of Preteen Children	PBT is a skills-based protocol that primarily works with caregivers to manage problematic behavior and to teach children healthy information about sex and sexuality. It was designed based on the current empirical knowledge regarding the etiology and treatment of childhood problematic sexual behavior. It is delivered in 12 weekly sessions, with each session lasting approximately 50 minutes.
BEHAVIORAL	Treatment-as-Usual (TAU)	The TAU intervention designed for this trial relies largely on the delivery of child-focused treatment techniques, particularly on the development of therapeutic rapport through the utilization of non-directive techniques. These sessions are supplemented with educational materials for the caregiver on child behavior and parenting recommendations. This treatment is designed to be administered over 12 weekly sessions, with each session lasting approximately 50 minutes.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-01-09
• Primary completion: 2028-06-01
• Completion: 2028-06-01
• First posted: 2022-08-24
• Last updated: 2026-02-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States