LifeCourse A Melbourne Children's Research Initiative

The Take A Breath Research Program (TAB)

The Take A Breath (TAB) research program investigates the prevalence, trajectories and determinants of distress reactions in parents of children (aged 0–18 years) recently diagnosed with a serious childhood illness or injury (SCII), and evaluates an intervention designed to prevent more serious long-term mental health difficulties.

Parental psychological adaption to their child’s SCII has been identified as a significant predictor of child and family psychosocial adjustment both in the short and longer term. A substantive body of descriptive research has established that posttraumatic stress symptoms and other psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety are experienced by a significant subset of parents who have a child with a SCII.

Overview
Contact

Study Summary
Study name	The Take A Breath Research Program
Study abbreviation	TAB
Current principal investigator/s	Vicki Anderson Frank Muscara Jan Nicholson Meredith Rayner Maria McCarthy Kylie Burke
Current project manager	Frank Muscara
Primary Institution/s	Murdoch Children’s Research Institute - MCRI
Collaborating Institution/s	The Royal Children’s Hospital - RCH La Trobe University Parenting Research Centre University of Queensland
Major funding source/s	The Pratt Foundation Department of Health and Human Services The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation - RCHF
Study website	https://www.mcri.edu.au/research/projects/take-breath
Key reference for study	Muscara, F., Burke, K., McCarthy, M.C., Anderson, V.A., Hearps, S.J.C., Hearps, S.J., Dimovski, A. and Nicholson, J.M. (2015). Parent distress reactions following a serious illness or injury in their child: A protocol paper for The Take a Breath Cohort Study, BMC Psychiatry, 15:153. doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0519-5 Rayner, M., Muscara, F., Dimovski, A., McCarthy, M.C., Yamada, J., Anderson, V.A., Burke, K., Walser, R. and Nicholson, J.M. (2016). Take A Breath: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of an online group intervention to reduce traumatic stress in parents of children with a life threatening illness or injury. BMC Psychiatry, 16(1): 169. doi: 10.1186/s12888-016-0861-2
Study focus	Cohort: Investigating the prevalence, trajectories and determinants of parent distress reactions. RCT: Evaluating the effectiveness of the TAB intervention at reducing parental distress and preventing more serious long-term mental health difficulties.
Sampling frame	Parents of children admitted to 4 different Royal Children's Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) departments: Oncology, Cardiology, Neurology, and Intensive Care.
Primary study type	Longitudinal cohort
Year commenced	2011
Is this study ongoing?	No - the study is complete
Year study ended	2017
Ongoing recruitment?	No
Sample size (N)	Cohort: 194; RCT: 231
Survey data available?	Yes
Imaging data available?	No
Linkage to administrative dataset/s?	Yes, linkage to (at least one) administrative dataset completed
Biosamples available?	No
Are data available to others outside study team, with appropriate safeguards and structures in line with the cohort’s ethics and governance processes?	No
Are there any costs associated with data/sample access for approved requests?	There are usually no costs associated with access
Broadest type of participant consent available	Extended consent (can be used for future ethically approved research related to this project)

Study Contacts
Principal investigator/s	Vicki Anderson Frank Muscara Jan Nicholson Meredith Rayner Maria McCarthy Kylie Burke
Project manager	Frank Muscara
Study Contact	Phone: +613 9936 6653 Email: takeabreath@mcri.edu.au Address: Child Neuropsychology West level 4 Murdoch Children’s Research Institute The Royal Children’s Hospital 50 Flemington Road Parkville VIC 3052