NCT06989593

Breaking Silence Through Story: A Narrative Medicine Intervention for Parents of Children With Urogenital Conditions

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 20 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Sarah Schlegel · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a journaling intervention can reduce stress and anxiety in parents of children with urogenital conditions (such as differences of sex development and hypospadias). The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does guided journaling help to reduce anxiety levels in parents of children with urogenital conditions? * What are parents' perspectives on group-based writing interventions for future support programs? Participants will: * Complete a short anxiety questionnaire (the General Anxiety Disorder-7 scale) at the beginning of the study * Receive a physical journal with 5 writing prompts designed to help process emotions related to their child's condition * Complete 5 journal entries over several weeks, writing about their experiences and feelings * Complete the same anxiety questionnaire again after finishing the journal entries * Participate in a 45-minute interview to discuss how the journaling affected their stress levels and gather feedback on potential group-based writing programs

Conditions

• DSD
• Hypospadias

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Narrative Medicine Journaling Intervention	Participants will complete the GAD-7 anxiety assessment at baseline. They will then receive a physical journal containing 5 structured, therapeutic writing prompts designed to help process emotions related to their child's diagnosis. Prompts focus on processing experiences with diagnosis, addressing uncertainty, coping with stigma, and developing resilience. Parents will be instructed to complete the 5 journal entries, spending 15-20 minutes on each writing session at least once per week. Following completion of the journaling intervention, participants will complete a follow-up GAD-7 assessment and take part in a 30-45 minute qualitative interview to further assess perceived changes in anxiety, stress, and coping strategies, and to gather feedback on potential group-based writing programs.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-10-10
• Primary completion: 2026-05-01
• Completion: 2026-05-01
• First posted: 2025-05-25
• Last updated: 2025-10-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States