Nonviolent Communication Plus Personalised E-message for Parents

This pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of combining a brief Nonviolent Communication (NVC) intervention with follow-up personalised AI-generated messages delivered daily via WhatsApp to improve child-parent relationships, parenting competence and family communication. A total of 60 parents of middle school students experiencing difficulties in family communication or recurrent conflict with their children will be recruited in Hong Kong and randomly assigned (in a 1:1 allocation ratio) to an intervention group or an attention control group. The intervention group will participate in two 2-hour NVC workshops, scheduled two weeks apart and delivered by the principal investigator, plus four weeks of personalised AI-generated NVC e-messages daily. The attention control group will receive weekly e-messages with healthy lifestyle tips for 6 weeks. Assessments for participants will be conducted at baseline (T0), post-workshop (T1, after the second session/two weeks after T0), and 12 weeks after baseline (T2). A process evaluation featuring quantitative ratings and open-ended questions will be conducted to explore participants' perceived benefits and subjective experiences.

Inclusion Criteria: * 1\) parents aged 32-59 years with children attending middle school (approximately 12-17 years old) in Hong Kong; * 2\) scoring 3 or above in any item of the 3-item conflict subscale of the Network of Relationship Inventory (Furman \& Buhrmester, 2009); * 3\) able to read Chinese and use a smartphone to receive WhatsApp messages; * 4\) willingness to attend a two-session NVC intervention in group format. Exclusion Criteria: * 1\) severe mental health problems requiring immediate specialist care or inability to provide informed consent.