The international collaboration of psychologists and epidemiologists, led by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and published in BMJ Mental Health looked at early interventions used to support parents with children under the age of four who have mental health problems, known as internalising problems.
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Using data from 59 randomised controlled trials across 18 countries, the findings revealed that giving support early on to parents and families can increase the quality of life of the child and the family as a whole, reaping potentially large societal and economic benefits.
Involving parents in the support process also has better outcomes for the child, as parenting support focusing on the parent-child relationship was found to be the most successful in preventing children from developing emotional and behavioural problems.
However, the expectation of incoming help that waitlists give parents results in them withdrawing from other support communities or self-help processes, according to the study.
Psychology professor at MMU and the study’s senior author, Rebecca Pearson, said: “Parenting interventions are costly because they involve lots of different parts, most of which have been developed to reduce child ‘behavioural’ problems. It is, therefore, important to look at what specific parts of support work to reduce emotional problems.”
The University of Bristol, Kings College London and authors in Spain, Chile and South Africa also took part in the study to inform shared decision making about early years support.
University of Bristol’s Ilaria Costantini, the study’s lead author, said: “The small positive effect of the parenting support programmes tells us that there is still a lot of work to be done to develop effective parenting interventions with long-lasting positive effects in preventing or lessening children’s emotional problems.
"Improving the way studies measure child emotions (most rely on parent's reports) and making it easier for scientists to access clinical trial data together with better descriptions of the features of parenting support programs will allow researchers, policy makers and families to gain a clearer and more reliable picture of what works and what does not.”
The findings come as organisations across the UK are calling for more action to combat rising mental health issues among children.
