BackgroundDeliberate Self-Harm (DSH) is a common problem among children and adolescents in clinical and community populations, and there is a considerable amount of literature investigating factors associated with DSH risk and the effects of DSH on the child. However, there is a dearth of research examining the impact of DSH on parents, and there are few support programmes targeted at this population. This cross-sectional study examines the profile of a sample of parents of young people with DSH who participated in a support programme (Supporting Parents and Carers of young people with self-harm: the SPACE programme), with the goal of investigating pre-test parental well-being, family communication, parental satisfaction, perceived parental social support, and child strengths and difficulties.MethodsParticipants were 130 parents who attended the SPACE programme between 2009 and 2012, and who completed six questionnaires at baseline: the General Health Questionnaire-12, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Kansas Parenting Satisfaction Scale, General Functioning Scale of the McMaster Family Assessment Device, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and a demographic questionnaire.ResultsThe majority of parents met criteria for minor psychological distress (86%) and rated the quantity and severity of their children’s difficulties as being in the abnormally high range (74%) at baseline. A majority of participants (61%) rated their perceived social support as being poor. Lower parental well-being was significantly correlated with poorer family communication, poorer parenting satisfaction, and a greater number of difficulties for the child. Perceived social support was not significantly correlated with parental well-being. Parents whose children were not attending school at baseline had significantly lower well-being scores than those whose children were. Parents whose children had received a formal diagnosis of a mental health disorder also had significantly lower well-being scores than those whose children had not.ConclusionsParents of young people with DSH behaviours face considerable emotional and practical challenges; they have low levels of well-being, parenting satisfaction, social support, and experience poor family communication. Given the importance of parental support for young people with DSH behaviours, consideration should be given to the need for individual or group support for such parents.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the Parents Plus Adolescents Programme (PPAP)—a parent training course specifically targeting parents of young adolescents (aged 11–16 years)—when delivered as a preventative programme in community school settings.MethodsA sample of 126 parents (mean age of children = 12.34 years; range = 10–16 years) were randomly assigned to either a treatment (PPAP; n = 82) or a waiting-list control condition (WC; n = 44). Analyses are based on a study-completer sample post-treatment (n = 109 parents: PPAP n = 70; WC n = 39) and sample at 6 month follow up (n = 42 parents).ResultsBoth post-treatment (between groups) and 6-month follow-up comparisons of study completers (within PPAP group) revealed significant positive effects of the parenting intervention with respect to adolescent behaviour problems and parenting stress. The post treatment comparisons demonstrated large effect sizes on global measures of child difficulties (partial eta squared = 0.15) and self-reported parent stress (partial eta squared = 0.22); there was a moderate effect size on the self-reported parent satisfaction (partial eta squared = 0.13).ConclusionsThis study provides preliminary evidence that PPAP may be an effective model of parent-training implemented in a community-based setting. The strengths and limitations of the study are discussed.

This study is a first-level evaluation of an intervention targeted at adolescents with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in Irish post-primary schools. It is a combined implementation of the Working Things Out adolescent programme and the Parents Plus Adolescent Programme (WTOPPAP). Overall, 47 parents and their children (mean age: 13.81 years) took part in the study. The study used a repeated measures design to assess change at pre- and post-intervention and 5-month follow-up using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, McMaster General Functioning Scale, Goal Attainment (parent- and adolescent-rated), Parent Stress Scale and Kansas Parenting Satisfaction Scale (parent-rated) as assessment measures. This study found that parent-rated child total difficulties and adolescent-rated emotional difficulties significantly improved from pre-test to 5-month follow-up. Parent- and adolescent-rated goals, and parent-rated child conduct difficulties, parental stress and satisfaction with parenting also significantly improved from pre- to post-test. These gains were largely maintained at 5-month follow-up. These findings indicate that the WTOPPAP may be an effective intervention for adolescents with emotional and behavioural difficulties and their parents. It was demonstrated that a manualised family intervention could be effectively rolled out at a number of school locations, with delivery and evaluation being conducted by school staff. Further implications are also discussed.

The term "therapeutic alliance" is widely used without a commonly agreed definition, but most definitions encompass several interpersonal processes such as empathy, rapport, agreement of shared goals and collaboration (Horvath, Del Re, Fluckiger, & Symonds, 2011).These processes act parallel to, and are theoretically independent of, specific modal treatment techniques (Green, 2006). Therapeutic alliance is causally related to better session-on-session symptomatic improvement (Falkenström, Granström, & Holmqvist, 2013) and