None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The study aims to investigate the links between the parent-adolescent relationship and adolescent mental health and functioning, and how these variables may be mediated by participation in a brief parenting intervention. One hundred and fourteen (114) parent-adolescent dyads will be recruited. Adolescents will be aged 11 to 17 years and will meet diagnostic criteria for i) an Anxiety Disorder, ii) Conduct Disorder or iii) no psychiatric disorder (No Disorder). The goal is to recruit equal numbers of parent-adolescent dyads within each diagnostic category. The main objectives are: 1) to evaluate the influence of differential aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship, particularly connectedness and hostility, on adolescent mental health; and 2) to assess the effectiveness of the parenting group for promoting supportive parenting, improved parent-adolescent relationships (i.e., increased connectedness and reduced hostility), and improved adolescent functioning. Parent-adolescent dyads will take part in two face-to-face multi-method assessment sessions, approximately six to eight weeks apart. Following the first assessment session (pre-intervention, Time 1), parents will participate a brief, stand-alone 2-hour parenting intervention, the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program discussion group: ‘Coping with Teenagers’ Emotions’. The intervention aims to enhance parenting skills and knowledge and introduce strategies to help parents encourage their teenager to better manage their own emotions. The second assessment session (post-intervention, Time 2) will be held approximately two to four weeks following parent attendance at the parenting group. Parent-adolescent dyads will be followed up via online questionnaires six months after completing the second assessment session (6-month follow-up, Time 3).
Interventions
The intervention is a single time-point, 2-hour discussion group that will be offered to parents as a stand-alone program. The ‘Coping with Teenagers’ Emotions’ discussion group is a 2-hour group (part of the Teen Triple P-Positive Parenting Program) that aims to teach parents strategies to encourage their adolescent to better manage their emotions, to deal with emotional behaviour and to effectively resolve problems that have triggered the emotional behaviour. The group sessions will be facilit
The intervention is a single time-point, 2-hour discussion group that will be offered to parents as a stand-alone program. The ‘Coping with Teenagers’ Emotions’ discussion group is a 2-hour group (part of the Teen Triple P-Positive Parenting Program) that aims to teach parents strategies to encourage their adolescent to better manage their emotions, to deal with emotional behaviour and to effectively resolve problems that have triggered the emotional behaviour. The group sessions will be facilitated by a by a trained and accredited Triple P practitioner with approximately 10 to 20 parents in attendance per group. During the discussion group, parents will watch DVD segments to prompt group discussion and provide step-by-step suggestions about positive parenting strategies to help prevent problems and to cope with adolescents’ emotions and support the adolescent to deal appropriately with their feelings. The group will include active discussions of the parenting strategies introduced and will involve parents in developing a personalised parenting plan. Parents will be guided through the exercises in the workbook by the facilitator. The tasks have been designed to further parents’ understanding of the strategies introduced and issues raised by the group and to support implementation of the suggested strategies with their family. Every parent will receive a ‘Coping with Teenagers’ Emotions’ workbook that includes information and practical exercises covered during the discussion group. The workbook reinforces the material presented during the group and can be used at home with partners who were unable to attend. Parent-adolescent dyads will take part in two face-to-face multi-method assessment sessions, approximately six to eight weeks apart, pre- and post-intervention. The Time 1 (T1) pre-intervention assessment will commence with a diagnostic interview (A) administered to parents and adolescents to classify families into adolescent mental health categories i.e., Anxiety Disorder, Conduct Disorder, No Disorder. Parents and adolescents will complete questionnaires (B) independently to provide information on demographics, parenting behaviours and practices, parents’ and adolescents’ psychological wellbeing, and the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. The battery of measures will be prepared in separate parent and adolescent survey packages. Parent-adolescent interactions will then be observed during adolescent completion of a problem-solving puzzle task to assess for the presence of behaviours characteristic of connectedness and hostility in the relationship (C). The video recording of the interactions will be played back to parents and adolescents individually to assess their beliefs, reactions and attributions during the problem-solving task (D). The Time 2 (T2) post-intervention assessment will involve tasks B, C and D. Longitudinal data will be obtained from parent-adolescent dyads at Time 3 (T3), 6 months after T2, via quantitative measures only (B).
Sponsors
Parenting and Family Support Centre, The University of Queensland
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Single group
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
11 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants will be adolescents aged between 11 and 17 years and their parents. A minimum of 114 parent-adolescent dyads in total will be recruited for this study, with the goal of recruiting at least 38 dyads for each of the three study groups: 1) Anxiety Disorder Group, 2) Conduct Disorder Group, or a 3) No Disorder Group. All recruited participants will complete an initial diagnostic interview using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, Child and Parent versions (ADIS-C/P). Based on the results from the ADIS-C/P interviews, participants who meet criteria for an anxiety disorder will be categorised in the Anxiety Disorder Group and those who meet criteria for a Conduct Disorder will be categorised in the Conduct Disorder Group. The Anxiety Disorder Group sample will consist of parent-adolescent dyads with adolescents who meet DSM-IV criteria for anxiety disorders, and are consistent with DSM-5 classification for anxiety disorders, which include: Separation Anxiety Disorder, Selective Mutism, Specific Phobia, Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia), Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, and Generalised Anxiety Disorder. The Conduct Disorder Group will consist of parent-adolescent dyads with adolescents who meet DSM-IV criteria for externalising disorders, and are consistent with DSM-5 classification for Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders, which include: Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Participants who have completed the ADIS-C/P and do not meet criteria for these two categories, and who do not fulfill the key exclusion criteria, will be remain eligible for the study and categorised in the No Disorder Group. Participants in the No Disorder Group are included if they have not accessed a child and/or adolescent mental health service for treatment in the 12 months prior to recruitment to this study. The ratio of male to female adolescent participants will be balanced (1:1) as far as possible, within ethical limits and feasibility. For parents, efforts will be made to recruit both mothers and fathers; however, as is typical in parenting research, it is expected that a higher ratio of mothers will participate in the study.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria which apply are: • Participants from non-English speaking backgrounds or whose English is insufficient to participate. This will be determined by the telephone screening process and includes both adolescents and their parents. • Adolescents who are not in the primary care of their parents. This also applies to adolescents in foster care who are in temporary placements. • Adolescents and/or their parents who meet diagnostic criteria for one or more of the following disorders: intellectual disability, schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, organic mental disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders. • For the clinical sample groups: adolescents with a principal diagnosis of anxiety disorder who also meet criteria for a conduct disorder, and vice versa (based on DSM-IV criteria)*. • Consistent with the reclassification in DSM-5, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will be excluded from the category of anxiety disorders for the purpose of this research. • For the no disorder group: participants who have previously accessed a child and/or adolescent service (government or private) for mental health treatment in the past 12 months. *For this study, interested participants who meet DSM-IV criteria for both an anxiety disorder and conduct disorder will be excluded. This is to control for potential confounding variables presented by comorbid diagnoses and to clarify findings about treatment effects on specific subgroups of the population that are the target of this research, i.e. anxiety- and conduct-disordered adolescents. Those excluded due to not meeting full criteria can be provided with appropriate referrals to other support services.
Outcome results
None listed