(PS5-35) Increasing Access to Early Intervention for Childhood Anxiety with a Virtual Space-based Psychoeducation Class

Although anxiety is one of the most prevalent childhood mental health concerns, affecting 20.5% of youth worldwide (Benton et al., 2021), most children with anxiety disorders do not receive services (Child Mind Institute, 2018). Commonly cited barriers to care include a shortage of providers, long waitlists, high costs, time constraints, and transportation difficulties (Radez et al., 2021). Excessive delays in access to care, or lack of access altogether, are particularly concerning given the chronic and often progressive nature of anxiety disorders, with longer duration of untreated illness linked to increased disorder severity, higher rates of comorbidity, greater financial burden, and worse treatment outcomes (Altamura et al., 2008; Dell’Osso et al., 2017; Fineberg et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2021; Pella et al., 2020). Innovation in interventions that increase access to early care is urgently needed. Growing evidence suggests that parent-based interventions for childhood anxiety can be just as and potentially more effective than child-based interventions (Creswell et al., 2022). Furthermore, as they are often briefer than traditional child-focused or parent-child interventions, they may also present a more time- and cost-effective option (Creswell et al., 2017, 2022). A recent surge in research on telehealth as a result of widespread adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that online delivery may be a uniquely effective strategy to address barriers to care, given its potential to extend access to families living in geographically underserved regions, eliminate travel time, and lower the cost of care (Orsolini et al., 2021; Riley et al., 2023; Taylor et al., 2022). Parent-based digital health interventions may thus serve as powerful and accessible tools to mitigate risk for pediatric anxiety. A 6-week parent psychoeducational class based on the evidence-based treatment Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE, Lebowitz et al., 2020) was developed in response to this growing need. The class targets family accommodation to address symptoms of parent/child anxiety, parental stress, and parental compassion for oneself and others. A pilot is ongoing to determine feasibility. This presentation will showcase the program protocol and share mixed methods results issues pertaining to access: recruitment, demographics, engagement, and satisfaction. Participants will include parents who consent to the study upon registering for the class, offered virtually at an academic hospital. To date, 14 parents have participated. An additional class will be offered from 5/24 to 6/24 with an anticipated N = 25. Preliminary analyses indicated the class accessed a broad geographic range, with parents enrolling from multiple U.S. states and globally. Results, clinical implications, and readiness for RTC will be discussed.