Feasibility of a Single-Session Primary Caregiver-/Parent-Only Psychoeducation Intervention for Child Anxiety and the Impact of Primary Caregiver-/Parent-Only Interventions for Child Anxiety on Parental Mental Health

Sharples-Yusta, Oliver (2023) Feasibility of a Single-Session Primary Caregiver-/Parent-Only Psychoeducation Intervention for Child Anxiety and the Impact of Primary Caregiver-/Parent-Only Interventions for Child Anxiety on Parental Mental Health. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Background: Anxiety disorder rates in young people are increasing to levels not seen before. Despite the effectiveness of intervention at preventing or treating anxiety disorders in children, few young people receive evidence-based intervention. Barriers to treatment reported by parents include inaccessibility of parental psychoeducation. Parent-only interventions for child anxiety are a valuable adjunct or alternative to child-focused treatments and may be more effective when parents are also anxious; it is not clear why.

Methods: Exploring a possible explanation, a systematic review and meta-analysis examined the impact of parent-only interventions for child anxiety on parental mental health. Additionally, an empirical study feasibility tested a novel, online-delivered, single-session parent-only psychoeducational intervention for child anxiety, which was developed to help address unmet care needs and treatment barriers.

Results: The review included fourteen studies. Data were limited in availability, and findings were mixed. Meta-analyses were non-significant but one showed evidence of a trend favouring parent-only intervention. However, important methodological issues may explain these findings. The feasibility study, with a sample of 55 primary caregivers, found the novel intervention to be acceptable and feasible. Participant retention was high relative to real-world usage data of online-delivered interventions.

Conclusions: The review highlighted the preliminary state of evidence on the topic. Important methodological and reporting issues in individual studies were highlighted and recommendations for future research were discussed. In addition, online-delivered single-session parent-only psychoeducational interventions for child anxiety appear to be acceptable and feasible, which may help address unmet care needs and treatment barriers. Limitations as well as clinical, theoretical, and research implications discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	08 Nov 2023 11:30
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2023 11:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93603
DOI:

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