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Parents' acceptability of blended psychological interventions for children with emotional disorders

Publication . Helena Moreira; Ana Carolina Góis; Ana Maria Pereira; Bárbara Pereira; Brígida Caiado; Maria Inês Nepomuceno; Ana Isabel Pereira

Objectives: This study aims to (1) describe parents' knowledge and use of online resources to address children's mental health issues and the family's general internet and technology usage patterns; (2) examine parents' acceptance of blended interventions for children with emotional disorders (ED); and (3) analyse the predictors of parents' intention to use a blended intervention if their children experienced an ED. Method: The sample included 164 Portuguese parents (95.7 % mothers) of children between the ages of 6 and 13 years who completed an online survey. The study was disseminated through social networks, personal contacts of the researchers, and among parents participating in a randomized controlled trial investigating the efficacy of a psychological intervention for children with ED. Results: Only 4.3 % of parents knew about online psychological interventions for children, and only 1.2 % had used them before. Most parents (73.2 %) reported that they would choose face-to-face individual therapy as their first option if their child had any ED, followed by blended therapy (14.8 %). Regression analyses showed that higher levels of parents' intention to use a blended intervention were predicted by their perceptions of the utility or efficacy of this type of delivery format. Discussion/conclusion: These results suggest that although most parents show unfamiliarity with blended psychological interventions for children, they consider it a treatment modality to which they would resort if their children had emotional difficulties. Their intention to use such an intervention seems to be more likely if they perceive it as useful and effective.

2023-12Journal article

Open access

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of Emotion Detectives In-Out: a blended version of the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders in Portuguese children

Publication . Moreira, Helena; Skvarc, Dave; Gomes-Pereira, Bárbara; Albuquerque, Alzira; Góis, Ana Carolina; Fonseca, Ana; Pereira, Ana Maria; Caiado, B.; Paulino, Bruna; Santos, Catarina; Ehrenreich-May, Jill; Canavarro, M. C.; Saraiva, Mariana; Vicente, Vitória Nunes; Pereira, Ana Isabel

Background: Childhood emotional disorders (EDs; i.e., anxiety and depressive disorders) are currently a public health concern. Their high prevalence, long-term efects, and profound infuence on the lives of children and families high‑ light the need to identify and treat these disorders as early and efectively as possible. This clinical trial will examine the efcacy of a blended version (i.e., combining face-to-face and online sessions into one treatment protocol) of the Unifed Protocol for Children (the “Emotion Detectives In–Out” program). This program is a manualized cogni‑ tive-behavioral therapy for the transdiagnostic treatment of EDs in children aged 7 to 12 years that aims to reduce the intensity and frequency of strong and aversive emotional experiences by helping children learn how to confront those emotions and respond to them in more adaptive ways. Methods: This study is designed as a multicenter equivalence randomized controlled parallel-group two-arm trial comparing the Emotion Detectives In–Out program with an evidenced-based group intervention for chil‑ dren with anxiety disorders (the Coping Cat program). Participants will be children aged between 7 and 12 years with an anxiety disorder or with clinically signifcant anxiety symptoms as well as one of their parents or a legal rep‑ resentative. A minimum sample size of 138 children (69 per group) is needed to test whether the efcacy of the pro‑ posed intervention is equivalent to that of the well-established Coping Cat intervention. Discussion: We expect Emotion Detectives In–Out to be a feasible and efcacious alternative intervention for treat‑ ing children’s EDs by allowing for a greater increase in children’s access to care. A blended format is expected to over‑ come common barriers to treatment (e.g., parents´ lack of time to attend regular sessions) and make the intervention more accessible to families.

2024-02-07Journal article

Open access

Changing parental feeding practices through web-based interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Publication . Gomes, Ana Isabel; Scott, Jane Anne; Pereira, Ana Isabel; Roberto, Magda Sofia; Boraska, Klara; Barros, Luísa

Web-based parent interventions designed to promote children’s healthy eating patterns can enhance parents’ engagement and facilitate behavior change. However, it is still unclear how much the existing programs focus on changing parental feeding practices, and if so, which behavioral methodologies are used and how effective these interventions are in changing these parental behaviors. This systematic review and meta-analysis studied randomized controlled trials of web-based interventions targeting parents of 0-12-year-old children, aiming to promote children’s healthy diet or prevent nutrition-related problems and reporting parental feeding behaviors as one of the outcomes. We conducted an electronic search in four databases from the earliest publication date until February 2020. Of the 1271 records found, we retained twelve studies about nine programs, comprising 1766 parents that completed the baseline evaluation. We found recent interventions, mainly directed to parents of young children, with small, non-clinical samples, and mostly theory-based. The programs were heterogeneous regarding the type of intervention delivered and its duration. The most assessed parental feeding practices were Restriction, Pressure to eat, and Food availability/accessibility. The behavior change techniques Instruction on how to perform the behavior, Demonstration of the behavior, and Identification of self as role model were frequently used. Meta-analytic results indicated that most programs’ effects were small for the evaluated parental practices, except for Food availability/accessibility that benefited the intervention group only when all follow-up measurements were considered. The development of high-quality and controlled trials with larger samples is needed to determine with greater certainty the interventions’ impact on parental feeding behaviors. The more frequent inclusion of measures to evaluate parental practices to support children’s autonomy and of self-regulatory strategies as intervention components should be considered when designing programs.

2021-04-28Journal article

Open access