BackgroundChildren of parents with a mental illness or substance use disorder (COPMI) have an increased risk of developing social-emotional problems themselves. Fear of stigmatisation or unawareness of problems prevents children and parents from understanding each other. Little is known about COPMI with mild intellectual disabilities (ID), except that they have a high risk of developing social-emotional problems and require additional support. In this study, we introduce a program for this group, the effectiveness of which we will study using a quasi-experimental design based on matching. The program ‘You are okay’ consists of a support group for children and an online educational program for parents. The goal of the program is to increase children and parents’ perceived competence with an aim to prevent social-emotional problems in children.Methods/DesignChildren between ten and twenty years old with mild ID (IQ between 50 and 85) and at least one of their parents with a mental illness will be included in the study. The children will receive part time treatment or residential care from an institute for children with mild ID and behavioural problems. Participants will be assigned to the intervention or the control group. The study has a quasi-experimental design. The children in the intervention group will join a support group, and their parents will be offered an online educational program. Children in the control group will receive care as usual, and their parents will have no extra offer. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, post-test, and follow up (6 months). Children, parents, and social workers will fill out the questionnaires.DiscussionThe ‘You are okay’ program is expected to increase children and parents’ perceived competence, which can prevent (further) social-emotional problem development. Because the mental illness of parents can be related to the behavioural problems of their children, it is important that children and parents understand each other. When talking about the mental illness of parents becomes standard in children’s treatment, stigmatisation and the fear for stigmatisation can decrease.Trial registrationDutch Trial Register NTR4845. Registered 9 October 2014.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0698-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Children with mild intellectual disabilities and emotional and behavioural problems whose parents have mental health concerns are at an increased risk of developing problems themselves. This study analysed the effectiveness of the ‘You are Okay’-program aimed to support these children and parents and to reduce the risk of problem development in children. Method: A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the experimental group (‘care as usual’ and ‘You are Okay’) with the control group (‘care as usual’) on the main outcome of emotional and behavioural problems and proposed intermediate outcomes. Results: Children in the experimental group reported a significant medium to large decrease in emotional and behavioural problems compared to the control group. The effects on the intermediate outcomes were non-significant. Conclusions: This specific study population comprising a vulnerable group of children seems to benefit from this specially adapted ‘You are Okay’-program. More research is necessary to draw further conclusions.

Many children with mild intellectual disabilities who have parents with mental health concerns suffer from social-emotional problems. The ‘You are Okay’ program is the first to support these children and their parents. An effect study showed first promising results in decreasing children’s emotional and behavioural problems. The current study was conducted to evaluate the intervention qualitatively using experiences of the participants. A combination of questionnaires administered to 28 children and fourteen parents and in-depth interviews with three children, two parents and eight professionals were used to evaluate the experiences of the participants.  Children, parents and professionals viewed ‘You are Okay,’ especially its psychoeducation, mutual recognition, and support, as valuable and useful. However, carefully matching children in support groups and screening for pre-conditions seems to be essential for successful participation. This study concluded that ‘You are Okay’ supports children with mild intellectual disabilities and their parents with mental health concerns. The findings are also in line with the results of the effect study of the program, which showed that ‘You are Okay’ supports children by decreasing their emotional and behavioural problems after participating in the program. Together these results strengthen the idea that this family-focused approach is helpful in children’s treatment.

Introduction: Children of parents with mental health concerns are at-risk for social-emotional problems. In this study, we assessed whether children with a mild intellectual disability and parents with mental health concerns are particularly at-risk. Method: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) reports of children with a mild intellectual disability (N = 55) and their parents with mental health concerns (N = 45) were compared to two comparison groups. The first group included children with average intelligence (N = 13) and their parents with mental health concerns (N = 56), the second group included children with mild intellectual disability (N = 44) and their parents (N = 36). Results: Children with a mild intellectual disability and a parent with mental health concerns show higher total SDQ problem scores and more internalizing and externalizing problems as compared to children in the two other groups. Discussion: Children having mild intellectual disability and parents with mental health concerns are particularly at risk for developing social-emotional problems.