An Internet-Based Parent Training With Telephone Coaching on Managing Disruptive Behavior in Children at Special Family Counseling Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Feasibility Study.

BACKGROUND: There is growing concern about the short- and long-term impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the mental health and psychosocial well-being of children and families. There are no existing studies about feasibility and outcomes using internet-based parent training programs with telephone coaching for disruptive behavioral problems in childhood during the COVID-19 pandemic in clinical settings. OBJECTIVE: This study explored how the Strongest Families Smart Website (SFSW) parent training program, with telephone coaching, provided support during the COVID-19 pandemic at specialist family counseling centers in Helsinki, Finland, when restrictions made face-to-face counseling impossible. This study followed the success of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and its implementation study of the SFSW parent training program by primary care child health clinics. The aim was to improve parenting skills, so that parents could tackle disruptive behavior by developing positive parent-child relationships. It started in May 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height in Finland. METHODS: In total, 8 family counseling centers in Helsinki identified 50 referrals aged 3-8 years with high levels of parent-reported disruptive behavioral problems. Child psychopathology and functioning and parental skills and well-being were measured at baseline, posttreatment, and 6 months later using a range of tools. The data were extracted from questionnaires completed by the parents. RESULTS: We found that 44 (88%) of the 50 families completed the whole 11-session parent training program. Most of the children (n=48, 96%) had definitive or severe behavioral problems when they were initially screened by the centers, but with those assessed at the 6-month follow-up (n=45, 90%), this dropped to 58% (n=26). There were significant changes from baseline to 6-month follow-up in most of the child psychopathology measures, including the Child Behavior Checklist-Parent Report Form (CBCL) total score (mean change 16.3, SE 3.0, 95% CI 10.2-22.3; P<.001) and externalizing score (mean change 7.0, SE 1.0, 95% CI 4.9-9.0; P<.001). When parenting skills were measured with the Parenting Scale (PS), they showed significant changes from baseline to 6-month follow-up in total scores (mean change 0.5, SE 0.1, 95% CI 0.4-0.7; P<.001). Parents showed significant change in the stress subscore (mean change 3.9, SE 0.8, 95% CI 2.2-5.6; P<.001). Of the parents who filled in the satisfaction questionnaire (n=45, 90%), 42 (93%) reported high satisfaction in the skills and 44 (98%) in the professionalism of the family coaches. CONCLUSIONS: The program proved to be an effective method for improving parenting skills and child psychopathology and functioning. The parents were satisfied with the program, and the dropout rate was exceptionally low. The study shows that the training program could be implemented in specialist clinical settings and during crisis conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effectiveness of an Internet-Based and Telephone-Assisted Training for Parents of 4-Year-Old Children With Disruptive Behavior: Implementation Research.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of effectiveness studies when digital parent training programs are implemented in real-world practice. The efficacy of the internet-based and telephone-assisted Finnish Strongest Families Smart Website (SFSW) parent training intervention on the disruptive behavior of 4-year-old children was studied in a randomized controlled trial setting in Southwest Finland between 2011 and 2013. After that, the intervention was implemented nationwide in child health clinics from 2015 onwards. OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this study was to compare the treatment characteristics and effectiveness of the SFSW parent training intervention between the families who received the intervention when it was implemented as a normal practice in child health clinics and the families who received the same intervention during the randomized controlled trial. METHODS: The implementation group comprised 600 families who were recruited in the SFSW intervention between January 2015 and May 2017 in real-world implementation. The RCT intervention group comprised 232 families who were recruited between October 2011 and November 2013. The same demographic and child and parent measures were collected from both study groups and were compared using linear mixed-effect models for repeated measurements. The child psychopathology and functioning level were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) version 1.5-5 for preschool children, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU), and a modified version of the Barkley Home Situations Questionnaire. Parenting skills were measured using the 31-item Parenting Scale and the shorter 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The estimated child and parent outcomes were adjusted for CBCL externalizing scores at baseline, maternal education, duration of the behavior problems, and paternal age. The baseline measurements of each outcome were used as covariates. RESULTS: The implementation group was more likely to complete the intervention than the RCT intervention group (514/600, 85.7% vs 176/232, 75.9%, respectively; P<.001). There were no significant differences between the implementation and RCT intervention groups with regard to child measures, including CBCL externalizing score (-0.2, 95% CI -1.3 to 1.6; P=.83), total score (-0.7, 95% CI -3.0 to 4.5; P=.70), internalizing score (-0.3, 95% CI -1.0 to 1.6; P=.64), and ICU total score (-0.4, 95% Cl -1.9 to 1.2; P=.64). No significant difference was detected in the Parenting Scale total score (0.0, 95% Cl -0.1 to 0.1; P=.50), while DASS-21 total score differed nearly significantly (2.5, 95% Cl 0.0-5.1; P=.05), indicating better improvement in the implementation group. CONCLUSIONS: The internet-based and telephone-assisted SFSW parent training intervention was effectively implemented in real-world settings. These findings have implications for addressing the unmet needs of children with disruptive behavior problems. Our initiative could also provide a quick socially distanced solution for the considerable mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01750996; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01750996. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/1471-2458-13-985.

Digital mental health literacy -program for the first-year medical students' wellbeing: a one group quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Medical students are prone to mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, and their psychological burden is mainly related to their highly demanding studies. Interventions are needed to improve medical students' mental health literacy (MHL) and wellbeing. This study assessed the digital Transitions, a MHL program for medical students that covered blended life skills and mindfulness activities. METHODOLOGY: This was a one group, quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study. The study population was 374 first-year students who started attending the medical faculty at the University of Turku, Finland, in 2018-2019. Transitions was provided as an elective course and 220 students chose to attend and 182 agreed to participate in our research. Transitions included two 60-minute lectures, four weeks apart, with online self-learning material in between. The content focused on life and academic skills, stress management, positive mental health, mental health problems and disorders. It included mindfulness audiotapes. Mental health knowledge, stigma and help-seeking questionnaires were used to measure MHL. The Perceived Stress Scale and General Health Questionnaire measured the students' stress and health, respectively. A single group design, with repeated measurements of analysis of variance, was used to analyze the differences in the mean outcome scores for the 158 students who completed all three stages: the pre-test (before the first lecture), the post-test (after the second lecture) and the two-month follow-up evaluation. RESULTS: The students' mean scores for mental health knowledge improved (-1.6, 95% Cl -1.9 to -1.3, P<.001) and their emotional symptoms were alleviated immediately after the program (0.5, 95% Cl 0.0 to 1.1, P=.040). The changes were maintained at the two-month follow up (-1.7, 95% Cl -2.0 to -1.4, P<.001 and 1.0, 95% Cl 0.2 to 1.8, P=.019, respectively). The students' stress levels reduced (P=.022) and their attitudes towards help-seeking improved after the program (P<.001), but these changes were not maintained at the two-month follow up. The stigma of mental illness did not change during the study (P=.13). CONCLUSIONS: The digital Transitions program was easily integrated into the university curriculum and it improved the students' mental health literacy and wellbeing. The program may respond to the increasing global need for universal digital services, especially during the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered at the ISRCTN registry (26 May 2021), registration number 10.1186/ ISRCTN10565335 ).

Internet-assisted cognitive behavioural therapy with telephone coaching for anxious Finnish children aged 10-13 years: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Childhood anxiety is common, causes significant functional impairment and may lead to psychosocial problems by adulthood. Although cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is effective for treating anxiety, its availability is limited by the lack of trained CBT therapists and easily accessible local services. To address the challenges in both recognition and treatment, this study combines systematic anxiety screening in the general population with a randomised controlled trial (RCT) on internet-assisted CBT (ICBT) with telephone coaching. Child, family and intervention-related factors are studied as possible predictors or moderators, together with the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study is an open two-parallel group RCT, stratified by sex, that compares ICBT with telephone coaching to an education control. Children aged 10-13 are screened at yearly school healthcare check-ups using five items from the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) Questionnaire. The families of children who screen positive for anxiety are contacted to assess the family's eligibility for the RCT. The inclusion criteria include scoring at least 22 points in the 41-item SCARED Questionnaire. The primary outcome is the SCARED child and parent reports. The secondary outcomes include the impact of anxiety, quality of life, comorbidity, peer relationships, perceptions of school, parental well-being and service use. Additional measures include demographics and life events, anxiety disorder diagnoses, as well as therapeutic partnerships, the use of the programme and general satisfaction among the intervention group. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the research ethics board of the Hospital District of South West Finland and local authorities. Participation is voluntary and based on informed consent. The anonymity of the participants will be protected and the results will be published in a scientific journal and disseminated to healthcare professionals and the general public. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03310489, pre-results, initially released on 30 September 2017.