Parental Involvement in Child Anxiety and Depression: Exploring the Impact of Delivery Format on Modifiable Parental Factors.
Kristin Ytreland, Elisabeth Valmyr Bania, Stian Lydersen et al.
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In 30 seconds
This randomized controlled trial, conducted within the ECHO-trial, compared two formats of parental involvement alongside Emotion, an indicated school-based CBT program intended to prevent child anxiety and depression. Parents received either five group sessions or a brochure while their children attended group sessions. Across 1,028 parents who completed online surveys at baseline, post-intervention, and/or 12-month follow-up, anxiety and depression symptoms and parental practices improved slightly on average. The study found no difference in parental factors between the group-session and brochure conditions.
Key findings
- Among 1,028 parents, anxiety and depression symptoms and parental practices showed small average improvements over time.
- Parental factors did not differ between the five-session parent group and brochure conditions.
Why it matters
Parent involvement is common in interventions for child anxiety and depression, but its added value and effects on parental risk and protective factors are not always clear. These findings suggest that, in this school-based prevention program, the more intensive group format did not produce greater change in measured parental factors than a brochure, while average improvements over time were small.
What to keep in mind
Parents completed surveys at baseline, post-intervention, and/or 12-month follow-up, so not all participants necessarily contributed data at every assessment.