Emotion Focused Family Therapy for Parents of Children With Mental Health Difficulties

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Emotion Focused Family Therapy for Parents of Children With Mental Health Difficulties

Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) is a promising intervention that aims to teach parents advanced skills to support their child's development of emotion skills and increase their adaptive behaviours, potentially leading to improvements in their child's psychological functioning and family functioning more broadly.

This randomized controlled trial (RCT; EFFT vs waitlist control) will (1) test the efficacy of a 6-week group EFFT program on parent and child outcomes and (2) examine maintenance of treatment gains up to four months post-intervention.

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) will test the efficacy of a 6-week Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) group program on parent and child outcomes, compared to a waitlist control. Families will be randomized to either the EFFT group treatment or a waitlist. The RCT will evaluate changes in parent functioning, child functioning, and parent-child relationship functioning. A 4-month follow-up will test whether any changes from pre-to-post intervention are maintained at 4 months.

The RCT will also test proposed mechanisms of change (parent-child relationship quality, family functioning) and moderators of treatment effectiveness (parental stress).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parent of child aged 7 to 15 years old with anxiety, depression, or behavioural challenges
• Parent of child is willing to participate in intervention
• Parent is living at home with the child

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parent or child not proficient enough in speaking/understanding English to complete measures or EFFT intervention components
• Parent or child with a severe mental health disorder (e.g., active suicidality and psychosis) is not considered suitable for the trial intervention due to the clinical need for immediate intervention
• Parent or child is actively receiving, or due to receive, intensive psychological intervention focused on cognitive and/or behavioural strategies to intervene with emotional or behavioural difficulties
• Parent or child has any disabilities in language, speech or hearing that would interfere with their completion of the EFFT and measures
• Parent or child are allergic to adhesive electrode gel use in some tasks (i.e., sodium chloride)