Parenting to Prevent: testing a web-based parents’ intervention to prevent adolescent self-harm in Australia

Parenting 2 Prevent (P2P) is a universal, web-based intervention for parents of children aged 8–12 years. It is designed to reduce risk of adolescent self-harm by strengthening parents’ emotion regulation skills and fostering connectedness at home (through autonomy-supportive practices). P2P complements the Bridge to Better (B2B) program, a youth-focused self-harm prevention intervention to be delivered and tested in NSW primary schools (ACTRN12625000880448). This pilot study uses a three-arm parallel (superiority) cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of the P2P intervention and the effectiveness of alternative recruitment pathways. Parents will be randomised at the school level into one of three recruitment arms: 1. Recruitment as usual (control): A physical flyer is sent home with students participating in the B2B trial. The flyer includes a QR code linking parents to P2P registration. 2. Child’s Consent Form embedded link: A direct link to the P2P registration page is embedded in the child’s B2B research consent form sent to parents. 3. Digital flyer: A flyer containing the P2P registration link is distributed via the school’s existing parent communication platform (e.g. School Bytes). Regardless of recruitment strategy, all parents will receive access to the same P2P intervention - a self-directed website hosted by the Black Dog Institute, over an 8 week period. The website has information, downloadable resources, eight YouTube videos and paired weekly activities targeting parents skills in emotion regulation and providing autonomy-supportive care. Each week, parents will receive an automated prompt to: • Engage with one section of the website • Watch one video (approximately 15 minutes) • Spend around 10 minutes practicing a targeted parenting skill. The program is designed to be integrated into everyday parenting routines, to increase likelihood of normalisation and sustained use. Program Overview The intervention has three stages, each presented on a dedicated webpage: 1. Preventing self-harm • Psychoeducation on what self-harm is, its signs and risk factors. • Focus on modifiable risk factors that parents can address in prevention. 2. Strong Foundations • Training in autonomy-supportive parenting to build and maintain strong parent–child connections. • Guidance on repairing relationships after conflict. • Strategies for balancing encouragement with expectations to prevent perfectionism in parenting. 3. Emotion tools • Training in emotion regulation strategies for parents. • Guidance to model and coach emotion regulation strategies with children. The final P2P webpage “Further Support” provides links to Lifeline and Parent line NSW if parents are worried their child could be experiencing self-harm. The intervention is delivered to parents of all children (regardless of risk for self-harm) in stages 2 and 3 (Years 3-6) of NSW primary schools participating in the B2B trial. As a universal intervention, P2P will not be tailored or personalised to individuals or groups. Fortnightly self-report surveys will be used to identify what intervention components participants engaged with, and this will be analysed post-intervention. Program structure: The intervention has eight sections, across three components, which parents complete over eight weeks in their preferred time. The program begins with the ‘Preventing Self-Harm’ component (1 week) to build self-harm literacy and strengthen buy-in for skill development. This is followed by the ‘Strong Foundations’ component (3 weeks), and then the ‘Emotion Tools’ component (4 weeks). This staged sequence reflects evidence that self-harm literacy is a prerequisite for developing preventative skills, and that an emotionally safe, secure home environment is optimal for learning emotion regulation skills. Exposure: • Part 1: Preventing Self-harm. Parents engage with web content (10 minutes), watch 1 x 15-minute video and complete a reflective exercise (5 minutes) over one week. Exposure = 30 mins total (approx. 4 minutes p/day) • Part 2: Strong Foundations. Parents complete 3 x sections each involve - 10 minutes engaging with web content, watching 15-minute video, 10 minutes skill practice p/day for 3 days) for one week. Exposure = 165 mins total (approximately 8 minutes p/day) • Part 3: Emotion tools. Parents complete 4 x sections each involve - 10 minutes engaging with web content, watching 15-minute video, 10 minutes skill practice p/day for 3 days) for one week. Exposure = 220 mins total (approx. 8 minutes p/day) Total parent training is 415 minutes (6hrs 55 mins) over the 8-week period; 3 hours 31 minutes of which are skills practiced during regular parenting. The research team will be available to provide schools and parents with additional support and guidance. Parents will be required to complete fortnightly progress monitoring surveys to assess engagement with the intervention, and time spent practicing skills. Downloadable resources and YouTube videos for the P2P intervention are currently in development. They will be available in March 2026, ahead of the April 2026 trial. Access to these materials will be limited to trial participants.

Parenting 2 Prevent (P2P) is a universal, web-based intervention for parents of children aged 8–12 years. It is designed to reduce risk of adolescent self-harm by strengthening parents’ emotion regulation skills and fostering connectedness at home (through autonomy-supportive practices). P2P complements the Bridge to Better (B2B) program, a youth-focused self-harm prevention intervention to be delivered and tested in NSW primary schools (ACTRN12625000880448). This pilot study uses a quasi-experimental controlled design to evaluate the efficacy of the P2P intervention and the effectiveness of alternative recruitment pathways. Recruitment conditions are assigned at the school level, with schools allocated non-randomly to one of three recruitment arms using a pragmatic approach based on recruitment timing, school preferences, and operational feasibility. 1. Recruitment as usual (control): A physical flyer is sent home with students from school. The flyer includes a QR code linking parents to P2P registration. 2. Child’s Consent Form embedded link: A direct link to the P2P registration page is embedded in the child’s B2B research consent form sent to parents. 3. Digital flyer: A flyer containing the P2P registration link is distributed via the school’s existing parent communication platform (e.g. School Bytes, e-newsletters). Parents will also be recruited via community pathways across Australia, if school-based pathways do not yield the target sample of N = 45 parents needed for the primary objective (intervention efficacy). Regardless of recruitment strategy, all parents will receive access to the same P2P intervention - a self-directed website hosted by the Black Dog Institute, over an 8 week period. The website has information, downloadable resources, eight YouTube videos and paired weekly activities targeting parents skills in emotion regulation and providing autonomy-supportive care. Each week, parents will receive an automated prompt to: • Engage with one section of the website • Watch one video (approximately 15 minutes) • Spend around 10 minutes practicing a targeted parenting skill. The program is designed to be integrated into everyday parenting routines, to increase likelihood of normalisation and sustained use. Program Overview The intervention has three stages, each presented on a dedicated webpage: 1. Preventing self-harm • Psychoeducation on what self-harm is, its signs and risk factors. • Focus on modifiable risk factors that parents can address in prevention. 2. Strong Foundations • Training in autonomy-supportive parenting to build and maintain strong parent–child connections. • Guidance on repairing relationships after conflict. • Strategies for balancing encouragement with expectations to prevent perfectionism in parenting. 3. Emotion tools • Training in emotion regulation strategies for parents. • Guidance to model and coach emotion regulation strategies with children. The final P2P webpage “Further Support” provides links to Lifeline and Parent line NSW if parents are worried their child could be experiencing self-harm. The intervention is delivered to parents of all children (regardless of risk for self-harm) in stages 2 and 3 (Years 3-6) of primary schools in Australia. As a universal intervention, P2P will not be tailored or personalised to individuals or groups. Fortnightly self-report surveys will be used to identify what intervention components participants engaged with, and this will be analysed post-intervention. Program structure: The intervention has eight sections, across three components, which parents complete over eight weeks in their preferred time. The program begins with the ‘Preventing Self-Harm’ component (1 week) to build self-harm literacy and strengthen buy-in for skill development. This is followed by the ‘Strong Foundations’ component (3 weeks), and then the ‘Emotion Tools’ component (4 weeks). This staged sequence reflects evidence that self-harm literacy is a prerequisite for developing preventative skills, and that an emotionally safe, secure home environment is optimal for learning emotion regulation skills. Exposure: • Part 1: Preventing Self-harm. Parents engage with web content (10 minutes), watch 1 x 15-minute video and complete a reflective exercise (5 minutes) over one week. Exposure = 30 mins total (approx. 4 minutes p/day) • Part 2: Strong Foundations. Parents complete 3 x sections each involve - 10 minutes engaging with web content, watching 15-minute video, 10 minutes skill practice p/day for 3 days) for one week. Exposure = 165 mins total (approximately 8 minutes p/day) • Part 3: Emotion tools. Parents complete 4 x sections each involve - 10 minutes engaging with web content, watching 15-minute video, 10 minutes skill practice p/day for 3 days) for one week. Exposure = 220 mins total (approx. 8 minutes p/day) Total parent training is 415 minutes (6hrs 55 mins) over the 8-week period; 3 hours 31 minutes of which are skills practiced during regular parenting. The research team will be available to provide schools and parents with additional support and guidance. Parents will be required to complete fortnightly progress monitoring surveys to assess engagement with the intervention, and time spent practicing skills. Downloadable resources and YouTube videos for the P2P intervention are currently in development. They will be available in March 2026, ahead of the April 2026 trial. Access to these materials will be limited to trial participants.