New study offers Step-by-Step help for kids with anger issues
NCT ID NCT06902649
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tests a stepped care approach for children aged 8-16 who struggle with anger, defiance, or aggression. All families start with a brief online parenting program. If more help is needed, they are randomly assigned to additional options, including virtual reality-assisted therapy for the child or parent. The goal is to see if this step-by-step model reduces behavior problems and improves anger control.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- internet-based parenting support and cognitive behavioral therapy with virtual reality
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could provide an effective, step-by-step treatment plan for children with anger or behavioral problems, reducing symptoms without needing lifelong medication.
- What could go wrong
- This is a relatively small trial (210 participants) testing a complex model, so results may not apply to all families. The interventions require active parent and child engagement, which may limit effectiveness for some.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 210 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Apr 2025
- Expected to finish
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Aug 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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8 to 16 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Families with children aged 8-16 years who have difficulty controlling anger or exhibit defiant or aggressive behavior. The child/adolescent meets 3 of the diagnostic criteria for Oppositional Defiant Disorder or 2 criteria for Conduct Disorder indicating aggressive behavior. * Medication for the child can remain stable. * Parents need to be able to read and engage with materials in Swedish Exclusion Criteria: * Families with children younger than 8 years old or who have already turned 17, or who do not exhibit defiant or aggressive behaviors according to the first inclusion criterion. * Children with severe depression, suicidal behavior, bipolar disorder, psychosis, eating disorders, severe autism (level 2 and 3), diagnosed intellectual disability, or ongoing criminal behavior assessed to require interventions other than the study's interventions are excluded. * Children/adolescents with other ongoing psychological treatments for the same condition or assessed by the clinician in need of other interventions * Parents and children with epilepsy or migraines
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Karolinska Institutet
RECRUITINGSolna, Sweden
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Can a WhatsApp chatbot help keep children safer?
- Can summer jobs and mentorship curb youth gun violence?
- Digital tools aim to tame parental anger and boost family harmony
- Texts at the right moment may curb Alcohol-Fueled partner violence