Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio.
J Adolesc Health. 2024 Dec;75(6):904-911. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.07.012. Epub 2024 Sep 29.
Parent-adolescent communication is critical for parents' recognition of a need for mental health treatment in their adolescent children. This study aimed to explore facilitators and barriers to parent-adolescent communication about mental health in order to generate ideas for interventions that improve communication and increase adolescent uptake of mental health services.
Twenty adolescents aged 12 to 19 with a history of depression and/or anxiety were enrolled alongside one parent/guardian. Participants completed an online survey, followed by separate, semistructured interviews. Survey data were analyzed via paired and two-sample t tests. Separate, data-driven codebooks were developed from interview transcripts. Qualitative data were analyzed via a template analysis approach.
Adolescents reported higher barriers to psychological help-seeking (24.0 + 7.3) when compared to parents (18.6 + 4.7), both on average (p = .008) and between individual dyads (p = .003). Parents reported better communication with their child (79.0 + 11.5), than adolescents did with their parents on average (68.7 + 17.3, p = .04). Fear of burdening parents, parental guilt and fear of parents' dismissal of mental health concerns were described as barriers to communication. Facilitators of communication included disclosure of familial mental health history, open-mindedness, and patience. Psychotherapy was described as positively impacting communication by assisting adolescents in understanding parents' perspectives, and teaching communication strategies.
Brief clinical interventions addressing structural and emotional barriers to psychological help-seeking, depression literacy, stigma and self-blame among parents, and disclosure of familial mental health history may encourage parent-adolescent communication and increase adolescents' access to mental health care.
父母与青少年的沟通对于父母识别青少年心理健康需求至关重要。本研究旨在探讨父母与青少年就心理健康问题进行沟通的促进因素和障碍，以提出改善沟通和增加青少年接受心理健康服务的干预措施的想法。
招募了 20 名年龄在 12 至 19 岁之间、有抑郁和/或焦虑病史的青少年及其一名家长/监护人。参与者完成了在线调查，随后进行了单独的半结构化访谈。通过配对和两样本 t 检验分析调查数据。从访谈记录中分别开发了数据驱动的代码本。通过模板分析方法分析定性数据。
与父母相比（平均为 18.6±4.7），青少年报告在寻求心理帮助时面临更高的障碍（24.0±7.3），这在平均水平（p=0.008）和个体对之间（p=0.003）均如此。父母报告与孩子的沟通更好（79.0±11.5），而青少年平均与父母的沟通更好（68.7±17.3，p=0.04）。害怕给父母增加负担、父母的内疚感以及害怕父母忽视心理健康问题，被描述为沟通的障碍。沟通的促进因素包括透露家族精神健康史、思想开放和耐心。心理治疗被描述为通过帮助青少年了解父母的观点和教授沟通策略，对改善沟通和增加青少年获得心理健康护理产生积极影响。
简短的临床干预措施可以解决寻求心理帮助的结构性和情感障碍、父母的抑郁知识、污名和自责问题，以及透露家族精神健康史，这些措施可能会鼓励父母与青少年进行沟通，并增加青少年获得心理健康护理的机会。
