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Parenting / Families

Exploring the Roles of Parents’ Mental Health and Parenting Stress: What Predicts Engagement to a Brief, Telehealth version of Behavioral Parent Training?

(PS12-25) Exploring the Roles of Parents’ Mental Health and Parenting Stress: What Predicts Engagement to a Brief, Telehealth Version of Behavioral Parent Training?

Saturday, November 16, 2024

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown

Author(s)

GR

Gabriela Reyes, B.A.

Professional Research Assistant
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States

Co-Author(s)

SS

Shaelyn S. Solenske, B.S.

Professional Research Assistant
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States
ST

Sarah Taylor-Cavelier, Ph.D.

Psychology Fellow
Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, Colorado, United States
Jacob Holzman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States

Abstract Text: Behavioral parent training (BPT) has proven to be effective for many childhood behavioral health concerns. Research has shown that BPT leads to improvement in parent outcomes, including parent stress, competence, parenting self-esteem, and depression. Yet, these benefits are contingent upon active parental engagement. Parental engagement is influenced by many factors, including logistical barriers, financial stressors, parent/family stress, and family cohesion. As such, we adapted a BPT intervention to be brief (i.e., 6, 1-hour sessions) and delivered through telehealth to reduce engagement barriers. However, it is unclear if parental stress continues to predict engagement challenges for this new BPT program. This study aims to examine if parents’ mental health and parenting stress predict engagement in a brief, group-based BPT intervention delivered via telehealth to caregivers (n=34) of 3- to 7-year-olds at an outpatient behavioral health clinic. We hypothesize that parental mental health concerns and parenting stress will be positively related to attendance as well as satisfaction. Additionally, we will explore the link between parent’s stress/mental health and homework completion, which is understudied in BPT clinical trials. Primary caregivers completed the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scale to measure general mental health concerns. They also completed the Parenting Stress Index – Short Form to assess parenting stress. Engagement during the group was measured by attendance (completed by clinicians) and weekly homework practice (completed by participant). Primary caregivers completed the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire after the group to rate their satisfaction with the intervention. Preliminary correlations between caregiver mental concerns, parenting stress, and engagement outcomes (i.e., attendance, homework practice, satisfaction) were examined. P</span>arents who endorsed more parenting stress tended to practice homework more often (r = .42, p = .02). Similarly, parents who endorsed being generally more stressed tended to practice homework more often (r = .44, p = .02). Interestingly, caregiver mental health concerns and parenting stress were not related to attendance (r range = -.05 to .13, p’s > .47) or satisfaction (r range = -.09 to .27, p’s > .16). While this study did not find evidence that caregiver stress was related to attendance or satisfaction, caregiver stress was related to homework practice. Higher levels of caregiver stress predicted more homework practice. These preliminary findings suggest that further research is needed to explore the relationships between homework practice and parental stress. Additionally, considering caregiver stress was unrelated to several engagement outcomes, further research is needed to understand whether adaptations to BPT’s format decreases engagement barriers. We will continue to recruit caregivers through two community partners, including a large children’s hospital and several Head Start sites. We anticipate recruiting 20 more families across these settings prior to ABCT. We expect presenting findings that will have significant implications on factors related to BPT engagement when disseminated among community partnered settings.