Investigating a Brief Virtual Seminar Series for Parents of Teens Ages 13-17

Overview

The goal of this clinical trial is to see if a brief positive parenting seminar series delivered virtually helps parents of teenagers ages 13-17 learn additional tools and strategies to support teens' development, encourage good behavior, build confidence and responsibility, and improve how teens connect with others. The study also looks at how these seminars improve parenting practices and teen outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are whether parents are satisfied with the intervention and find the strategies helpful and acceptable, whether the intervention leads to changes in parenting behaviors (e.g., positive parenting) and teen outcomes (e.g., emotional and behavioral problems), and how removing the group discussion from the seminars impacts parents' ability to improve their parenting skills and their teenager's outcomes. Researchers will compare three groups: parents receiving the seminars with a group discussion, parents receiving the seminars without a group discussion, and parents on a waitlist. This will help determine if group discussions lead to greater improvements in parenting practices and teen outcomes. Participants will attend three online parenting seminars via telehealth (if assigned to a seminar group). They will complete surveys before, during, and after the seminars to share their experiences and provide feedback. Participants in the waitlist group will complete surveys at the beginning and end of the study, and will participate in the seminars after the study period.

Despite the effectiveness of parenting interventions in promoting adaptive child-rearing behaviors and preventing youth internalizing and externalizing problems, our current model for mental health treatment that involves a highly trained mental health professional providing services in a one-on-one format at a clinic, private office, or health-care facility is not sustainable. As such, there is an urgent need to identify ways to increase the accessibility and scalability of mental health services to reduce the well-documented gap between youth and families who need mental health services and those who are able to access them. There is also a paucity of evidence-based parenting interventions for parents of adolescents, despite the increased risk for family conflict and mental health difficulties observed during this developmental period; thus, the primary goal of the current project is to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a brief (i.e., 3 session) seminar series for parents of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17, which will be offered via telehealth to increase accessibility. Finally, this project will evaluate whether the ability for parents to ask questions and discuss skill implementation with a mental health provider is necessary for treatment effectiveness, given that programs that do not require a provider for implementation have the potential for greater scalability. After completing the baseline survey, eligible parents will be randomly assigned to condition using block randomization. For parents assigned to the intervention-as-usual condition (i.e., 90-minute condition), seminars will be delivered live by two masters-level therapists who are fully accredited in Selected Teen Triple P. The seminars consist of 60-minutes of seminar content (i.e., discussion of various parenting strategies), followed by a 30-minute question-and-answer period. Participation will be encouraged by co-leaders throughout the seminars and the question-and-answer period. For parents assigned to the intervention without an active discussion component (i.e., 60-minute condition), seminar content will be pre-recorded by the same two co-leaders who lead the seminars live to ensure standardization of the material and to create an environment focused on receiving information rather than active participation. During these meetings, participants will not be allowed to unmute and will only be able to message the hosts of the meeting (i.e., the leader). The same seminar content was covered in both intervention conditions. The seminars included Raising Responsible Teenagers, Raising Competent Teenagers, and Getting Teenagers Connected. Approximately 2-months and 4-months after attending the final seminar, parents will be contacted to complete a 30-minute follow-up survey for which they will be compensated. The dates that parents attended each seminar will be recorded and parents will be contacted approximately 2-months and 4-months after their last attended seminar (or their last opportunity to attend a seminar if they do not attend all three seminars). Parents in the waitlist control condition will be contacted approximately 2-months and 4-months after the last seminar was offered to those assigned to the intervention conditions in their enrollment cohort.