Brief, parent-led, transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral teletherapy for youth with emotional problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased stress, anxiety, and depression in children. A six-session, parent-led, transdiagnostic, cognitive-behavioral teletherapy program was adapted from an established protocol to help youth aged between 5 and 13 years manage emotional problems during the pandemic. Methods One-hundred twenty-nine parents of youth struggling with emotional problems during the COVID-19 pandemic participated in the program. Parents reported on their children's psychosocial functioning before and after treatment using validated assessments. They also reported on treatment satisfaction. Clinician-rated global improvement was assessed at each session to determine clinically significant treatment response. Results Significant improvements in parent proxy-reported anxiety ( d = .56), depression ( d = .69), stress ( d = .61), anger ( d = .69), family relationships ( d = .32), and COVID-19-related distress ( d = 1.08) were found, with 62% of participants who completed the program being classified as treatment responders. Parents reported high levels of satisfaction with the program. Limitations This study was limited by use of primarily parent-report assessments and a lack of a control group. Conclusions Brief, parent-led, transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral teletherapy appeared to be an effective way to help youth cope with the pandemic and may be a scalable framework in response to large-scale mental health crises.

Long-term effectiveness and trajectories of change after treatment with SMART, a transdiagnostic CBT for adolescents with emotional problems

“…There are few comparable effectiveness studies with similar participants, clinical settings, treatment duration, and transdiagnostic treatment, but these changes are in line with those found in a meta-analysis of durability of effects of treatments for emotional disorders at 1-year follow-up [ 15 ]. These findings of effect durability are also consistent with the findings of a meta-analysis of long-term outcomes for youth CBTs targeting anxiety [ 77 ]; and extend to long-term effect durability for youth CBTs targeting traumatic stress and depression as well [ 41 ].…”

“…Protocol adaptions for children (UP-C; UP Children) and adolescents (UP-A; UP Adolescents) have been developed and tested by Ehrenreich-May and colleagues [ 33 – 36 ] demonstrating promising effects of transdiagnostic treatment for emotional disorders in children and adolescents. There are several additional studies examining various transdiagnostic programs for youth with emotional disorders in different research settings; in primary care [ 37 , 38 ]; in school settings [ 39 , 40 ]; and in parent-led teletherapy [ 41 ], all showing promising effects. Another promising transdiagnostic therapy protocol for emotional disorders is the Structured Material for Therapy (SMART) [ 42 ].…”

Transdiagnostic considerations of mental health for the post-COVID era: Lessons from the first surge of the pandemic

“…[ 29 ], which is a known comorbidity and not directly related particularly to the COVID-19 mental health symptomatology. In our search we found just a few papers that diagnose three associated symptoms or more[ 15 , 30 - 33 ], as in our study.…”

Family Thriving During COVID-19 and the Benefits for Children’s Well-Being

“…The Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children (UP-C) piloted “Coping with COVID” – a parent-led, therapist-assisted, cognitive behavioral teletherapy – and produced promising, preliminary results. Participating families reported heightened parental self-efficacy, children’s improved emotional functioning, and decreased family distress, particularly for children with emotional difficulties ( Guzick et al, 2022 ). While further research is warranted to determine the effectiveness of “Coping with COVID,” these preliminary results are encouraging for teletherapy targeting family functioning.…”