Online parent intervention shows moderate effect on child QoL in celiac disease pilot RCT

This pilot and feasibility randomized controlled trial enrolled 98 parents of children aged 8-11 years with celiac disease. Participants were assigned to either an online self-help psychological intervention for parents (including psychoeducation and family-based activities) or a waitlist control group. The primary focus was on feasibility outcomes including recruitment, retention, and acceptability, with secondary outcomes measuring parent-reported wellbeing, gluten-free diet (GFD) knowledge, child quality of life (QoL), and GFD management at baseline, 1-month, and 2-month postintervention.

The intervention was found to be acceptable. For parent-reported aspects of their child's QoL, moderate effects were observed in the social domain (Hedges' g=0.72, 95% CI: 0.24-1.19) and the psychosocial summary score (g=0.61, 95% CI: 0.13-1.08). Absolute numbers for these outcomes were not reported. Other secondary outcomes showed trends in the expected direction. Safety and tolerability data were not reported.

Key limitations include the study's pilot and feasibility design, meaning it was not powered to detect definitive efficacy. The results are based on parent-reported outcomes with wide confidence intervals, and the population was specific to parents of children with celiac disease aged 8-11 years. The authors noted that further refinement and adjustments are needed for larger trials, and that additional social support may be required to embed psychological skills into daily life. Funding and conflicts of interest were not reported.

In terms of practice relevance, this study provides preliminary evidence that an online psychological intervention for parents may be feasible and acceptable, with potential signals on some parent-reported child QoL domains. However, these findings represent associations from a small, short-term study and should not be interpreted as demonstrating definitive effectiveness. The intervention requires further development and evaluation in larger, adequately powered trials before any clinical implementation can be considered.