NCT07318090

F-PGT - Prolonged Grief Treatment for Families Affected by Suicide

Developing a Family-Focused Treatment for Prolonged Grief for Parental Suicide Bereaved Families With Children

• Status: Enrolling By Invitation
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 8 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This pilot open trial is being done to better understand the needs of families who have lost a parent to suicide at least a year ago and who have children ages 8-14 and to develop and test Family-Prolonged Grief Treatment (F-PGT), a modification of prolonged grief therapy (PGT) as a way to help these families. PGT has been proven efficacious for adults with prolonged grief. The therapy has been adapted to include work with parents in helping their children (aged 8-14) and to include sessions with the child. All assessment and treatment sessions of the study are being conducted virtually.

Detailed description

Interested potential adult participants will first complete a preliminary screening conducted by phone or secure zoom. Eligible and interested families will meet with a study clinician to provide written informed consent and child assent to participate in a 2-step study process. Step 1 is baseline assessment and confirming study eligibility, and step 2 is Prolonged Grief Treatment for Families (F-PGT). Families who give consent will complete assessments to confirm eligibility for the study. Those who are not eligible will conclude their study participation. Eligible families will complete the remaining baseline assessments and proceed to step 2, treatment. F-PGT includes 16 virtual sessions where a therapist will meet with either the parent or child, or both. All sessions will be recorded to continue optimize the therapy. In addition, participants will complete regular assessments.

Conditions

• Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD)

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	F-PGT	Family- Prolonged Grief Treatment (F-PGT) is a specialized talk therapy to help families who have lost a parent to suicide. It is based on Prolonged Grief Therapy (PGT) that is efficacious for adults and is now adapted for parents and their children ages 8 to 14. The therapy includes 16 online sessions where a therapist meets with the parent alone, the child alone, or both together. Activities for children are designed to match their age and understanding. The therapy guides families through six steps: understanding and accepting grief, seeing promise in the future, strengthening relationships, sharing the story of the death, living with reminders, and connecting with memories. As a part of the focus on strengthening relationships parents are encouraged to invite a friend or relative to join a session.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-12-17
• Primary completion: 2026-07-01
• Completion: 2026-12-31
• First posted: 2026-01-05
• Last updated: 2026-03-31

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States