Effectiveness of Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST)

An RCT Study Investigating the Effectiveness of Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST)

Comparing the effectivity of an EFST parent supervision intervention against Treatment As Usual in an outpatient specialist health care clinics Family unit.

The aim of this study is to compare two different treatment conditions and their effect on the mental health of children and adolescent clients.

The first condition is the typical mental health treatment offered when the family is motivated to receive family based interventions in the clinic, thus, treatment as usual TAU as provided by the cliniques family team. A prior study, including data from the same clinic, found that the TAU was associated with good outcomes, identifying effect sizes equal to what is usual in clinical studies

The second condition, labelled: EFST intervention is a parent guidance intervention delivered as a two-day intensive group course followed by six weekly guidance sessions for parents of children with mental health issues.

Both treatment conditions are currently delivered at the clinic and by randomly assigning clients to each of these we will be able to compare the effects they have on the mental health of children and adolescents. The results will possibly guide what treatments to offer in the future.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children with a wide range of diagnosis will be included.
• Children in the age group from 6-18 years in the mental health clinic will be invited to participate.
• It is preferred that both parents participate in the EFST treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• parents need to live with the child at least 50% of the time (if separated or divorced)
• Parents need to speak Norwegian to a degree that they can comprehend the psychoeducation and participate in the sessions without an interpreter.
• parents with ongoing substance abuse or mental states that make participation too difficult, e.g., psychosis, will be excluded.