A six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Abstract Background Children with mental health difficulties are at increased risk of many adverse psychological, academic, and social outcomes. Emotion regulation is a key transdiagnostic factor in the development and maintenance of mental health challenges. Parents and the family system (e.g., par...
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BMC
2025-02-01
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| Series: | BMC Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06382-y |
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| author | Jessica A. Seddon Chelsea L. Reaume Kristel Thomassin |
| author_facet | Jessica A. Seddon Chelsea L. Reaume Kristel Thomassin |
| author_sort | Jessica A. Seddon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Children with mental health difficulties are at increased risk of many adverse psychological, academic, and social outcomes. Emotion regulation is a key transdiagnostic factor in the development and maintenance of mental health challenges. Parents and the family system (e.g., parental functioning, parenting, parent-child relationship) play a central role in children’s development of emotion regulation and, in turn, their mental health. Therefore, continued efforts are needed to understand the effectiveness of emotion-focused treatments for child mental health difficulties, particularly those that include a family-based approach. Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) is an intervention for parents of children with mental health difficulties that teaches parents advanced skills to support their child’s emotional development, potentially leading to improvements in the psychological functioning of the affected child as well as the family. Despite this, EFFT’s efficacy has yet to be tested empirically via a randomized controlled trial. Methods A six-week group modality of EFFT was developed based on the standard manualized version of a two-day group modality of EFFT. Efficacy of the six-week group modality of EFFT will be tested in a randomized controlled trial among parents of children aged 7 to 15 with anxiety, depression, or behavioral challenges. Parents will be randomized to the intervention condition or waitlist control condition. Online questionnaires and in-lab assessments will be conducted at pre-treatment, post-treatment, 4-month follow-up and 1-year follow-up. Intervention effects on primary (parent psychological symptoms, child psychological symptoms, parent emotion regulation, child emotion regulation, parent-child co-regulation) and secondary (parental emotion socialization, parent emotion blocks, parental self-efficacy, perceived parental stress, treatment satisfaction, treatment fidelity) outcomes will be analyzed by linear mixed models. Discussion The study protocol describes the randomized controlled trial of EFFT, a parent group intervention for parents of children with anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges. Findings contribute to the understanding of the efficacy of EFFT as a time-limited, transdiagnostic intervention for the treatment of child mental health challenges with potential positive impacts on parent and family functioning. Trial registration [2a] ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05603000. Prospectively registered October 13, 2022. Protocol version [3] Version 1.1 November 2023. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d9fa55a3fe084dfc81bf61726f9a0e14 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1471-244X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj-art-d9fa55a3fe084dfc81bf61726f9a0e142025-08-20T02:13:06ZengBMCBMC Psychiatry1471-244X2025-02-0125111610.1186/s12888-024-06382-yA six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trialJessica A. Seddon0Chelsea L. Reaume1Kristel Thomassin2Department of Psychology, University of GuelphDepartment of Psychology, University of GuelphDepartment of Psychology, University of GuelphAbstract Background Children with mental health difficulties are at increased risk of many adverse psychological, academic, and social outcomes. Emotion regulation is a key transdiagnostic factor in the development and maintenance of mental health challenges. Parents and the family system (e.g., parental functioning, parenting, parent-child relationship) play a central role in children’s development of emotion regulation and, in turn, their mental health. Therefore, continued efforts are needed to understand the effectiveness of emotion-focused treatments for child mental health difficulties, particularly those that include a family-based approach. Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) is an intervention for parents of children with mental health difficulties that teaches parents advanced skills to support their child’s emotional development, potentially leading to improvements in the psychological functioning of the affected child as well as the family. Despite this, EFFT’s efficacy has yet to be tested empirically via a randomized controlled trial. Methods A six-week group modality of EFFT was developed based on the standard manualized version of a two-day group modality of EFFT. Efficacy of the six-week group modality of EFFT will be tested in a randomized controlled trial among parents of children aged 7 to 15 with anxiety, depression, or behavioral challenges. Parents will be randomized to the intervention condition or waitlist control condition. Online questionnaires and in-lab assessments will be conducted at pre-treatment, post-treatment, 4-month follow-up and 1-year follow-up. Intervention effects on primary (parent psychological symptoms, child psychological symptoms, parent emotion regulation, child emotion regulation, parent-child co-regulation) and secondary (parental emotion socialization, parent emotion blocks, parental self-efficacy, perceived parental stress, treatment satisfaction, treatment fidelity) outcomes will be analyzed by linear mixed models. Discussion The study protocol describes the randomized controlled trial of EFFT, a parent group intervention for parents of children with anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges. Findings contribute to the understanding of the efficacy of EFFT as a time-limited, transdiagnostic intervention for the treatment of child mental health challenges with potential positive impacts on parent and family functioning. Trial registration [2a] ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05603000. Prospectively registered October 13, 2022. Protocol version [3] Version 1.1 November 2023.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06382-yEmotion focused family therapyRandomized controlled trialGroup interventionTransdiagnosticChildAdolescent |
| spellingShingle | Jessica A. Seddon Chelsea L. Reaume Kristel Thomassin A six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trial BMC Psychiatry Emotion focused family therapy Randomized controlled trial Group intervention Transdiagnostic Child Adolescent |
| title | A six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trial |
| title_full | A six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trial |
| title_fullStr | A six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | A six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trial |
| title_short | A six-week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges: protocol for a randomized controlled trial |
| title_sort | six week group program of emotion focused family therapy for parents of children with mental health challenges protocol for a randomized controlled trial |
| topic | Emotion focused family therapy Randomized controlled trial Group intervention Transdiagnostic Child Adolescent |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06382-y |
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