Abstract
Depression and anxiety are common among children and young people and can impact on the well-being of their parents/carers. Dominant intervention approaches include parent training; however, this approach does not directly address parents’ well-being. Our objective was to examine the effect of interventions, with at least a component to directly address the parents’ own well-being, on parents’ well-being outcomes, including stress, depression and anxiety.
Study selection and analysis
A systematic search was performed in the following: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO, Scopus, CENTRAL, Web of Science Core Collection (six citation indexes) and WHO ICTRP from inception to 30 December 2023. Interventions that aimed to support parents/carers managing the impact of their child’s/young person’s mental health were eligible. EPHPP (Effective Public Health Practice Project) was used to quality appraise the included studies. A meta-analysis of relevant outcomes was conducted.
Findings
Fifteen studies were eligible comprising 812 parents/carers. Global methodological quality varied. Seven outcomes (anxiety, depression, stress, burden, self-efficacy, quality of life and knowledge of mood disorders) were synthesised at post-intervention. A small reduction in parental/carer anxiety favouring intervention was indicated in one of the analyses (g=−0.26, 95% CI −0.44 to –0.09, p=0.02), when excluding an influential case. Three outcomes were synthesised at follow-up, none of which were statistically significant.
Conclusions
Interventions directly addressing the well-being for parents of children with anxiety and/or depression appear not to be effective overall. Clearer conceptualisation of factors linked to parental distress is required to create more targeted interventions.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | BMJ Mental Health |
Early online date | 25 Sept 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 25 Sept 2024 |
Data Availability Statement
All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.Funding
This project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Grant Reference Number NIHR203023). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. This study was also supported in part by the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucester Clinical Commissioning Group’s ’Research Capability Funding’ scheme RCF 21/22- 1FM. The funders had no directing role in the protocol. GB’s time on the project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Funders | Funder number |
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National Institute for Health and Care Research | NIHR203023 |