Bania Elisabeth Valmyr, Ytreland Kristin, Sund Anne Mari, Lydersen Stian, Neumer Simon Peter, Adolfsen Frode, Martinsen Kristin, Rasmussen Lene-Mari Potulski, Ingul Jo Magne
The Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare - Central Norway, RKBU Midt-Norge, NTNU, Postbox 8905 MTFS, Trondheim, NO-7491, Norway.
The Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health - Eastern and Southern Norway, Postboks 4623, 0405 Nydalen, Oslo, Norway.
BMC Psychol. 2024 Dec 18;12(1):740. doi: 10.1186/s40359-024-02234-2.
International studies show increasing prevalence of anxiety and depression among children. Parents are vital for children in all aspects of life, also in supporting their offspring in promoting better mental health, life skills and reducing emotional difficulties. Therefore, involving parents in interventions aimed at preventing development of anxiety and depression is natural. In treatment studies, targeted parental involvement has been difficult to prove effective. However, few existing studies investigate the effect of parental involvement in preventive interventions.
We aimed to explore whether attendance influenced the change in child's emotional symptoms post intervention and one-year later reported by parents.
Parents of children attending an indicated preventive intervention named EMOTION, who took part in a high parental involvement condition were included in this study (n = 385). High involvement entailed 5 parent group sessions. Using linear mixed models, we investigated whether attendance in the parent groups influenced the parent-reported levels of children's emotional symptoms post-intervention and at one-year follow-up.
Parents who did not attend parent sessions reported significantly larger reductions in child anxiety symptoms over time than attending parents. There was no such effect on child depression. However, parents who attended sessions reported significantly higher depression symptoms than non-attendees at baseline. Further, attending more parent sessions did not significantly impact either symptom measure.
Given the non-significant differences of parental attendance in this study, future studies could examine less resource demanding interventions for children with emotional difficulties. When the child is struggling with anxiety and depression, the parent's role in child's life could be vital for symptom amelioration. The challenge is finding effective, evidence-based methods to involve parents, to reduce child emotional difficulties and improve their quality of life.
In this preventive study, attendance in parent sessions has limited effect on parent-reported symptoms of child emotional difficulties.
国际研究表明儿童焦虑和抑郁的患病率在不断上升。父母在孩子生活的各个方面都至关重要，在支持子女促进更好的心理健康、生活技能和减少情绪困扰方面也是如此。因此，让父母参与旨在预防焦虑和抑郁发展的干预措施是很自然的。在治疗研究中，有针对性的父母参与很难被证明是有效的。然而，现有的研究很少调查父母参与预防性干预措施的效果。
我们旨在探讨参与情况是否会影响干预后以及一年后父母报告的孩子情绪症状的变化。
本研究纳入了参加一项名为EMOTION的指示性预防干预措施且参与了高父母参与度条件的孩子的父母（n = 385）。高参与度包括5次家长小组会议。我们使用线性混合模型，研究参加家长小组会议是否会影响干预后及一年随访时父母报告的孩子情绪症状水平。
未参加家长会议的父母报告称，随着时间的推移，孩子焦虑症状的减轻幅度明显大于参加会议的父母。对孩子的抑郁症状没有这种影响。然而，参加会议的父母在基线时报告的抑郁症状明显高于未参加者。此外，参加更多的家长会议对任何一项症状指标都没有显著影响。
鉴于本研究中父母参与情况的差异不显著，未来的研究可以考察对有情绪困扰的儿童要求资源较少的干预措施。当孩子在焦虑和抑郁中挣扎时，父母在孩子生活中的角色对于症状改善可能至关重要。挑战在于找到有效的、基于证据的方法让父母参与进来，以减少孩子的情绪困扰并提高他们的生活质量。
在这项预防性研究中，参加家长会议对父母报告的孩子情绪困扰症状的影响有限。
