Effectiveness of the online video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting and sensitive discipline (VIPP-Online): a randomized control trial in Chile

BACKGROUND: The first years of life are considered a crucial period for children’s developmental trajectories. Among the most important predictors of positive child developmental trajectories are parental sensitivity and child-parent attachment security. Both are seriously compromised by parental stress and burnout. The Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) has been developed to promote parental sensitivity and secure attachment. Considering the meta-analytic effectiveness of VIPP-SD, a more favorable cost-effectiveness of an online version of the intervention, and the need to provide parenting support to struggling parents, we aim to test the effectiveness of the online version of the VIPP-SD in a Chilean population. METHOD: We will conduct an RCT that aims at implementing the VIPP-Online and to evaluate its effects on maternal sensitivity, limit setting, parental burnout, physiological stress levels, child behavioral problems, and infant attachment. Child temperament, mother’s mental health, and sociodemographic factors will be measured as possible moderators. We will involve 140 mothers with children of 14–15 months, selected for their high scores on a screening instrument for parental burnout. Families will be randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control group. The VIPP-Online intervention will include twelve weekly sessions implemented by trained psychologists. DISCUSSION: The study aims to provide evidence of the potential effectiveness of an online parenting intervention with cost-benefit advantages for the Chilean context, with a modality that allows for scalability without geographical obstacles. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT07365189, 23/01/2026.