Optimizing Treatment for Parents of Children With Emotional and Behavioural Problems (OPTED)

Study Rationale:

Developmental theories underscore the reciprocal nature of parent-child interactions and the importance of adult teaching and modeling to enable the development of children's emotion regulation, frustration tolerance and behavioural regulation skills. Similarly, these models are bidirectional in that children's skills develop along with, and influence parental cognitions, emotional functioning and the manner in which parent's impose expectations and respond to children's behaviour. Indeed, adult-child transactions can serve to increase or decrease a child and parent's frustration and arousal, fuel response biases in the child and parent, and lead to adaptive or maladaptive parent and child behaviour. Much literature has documented the close association between parental depression and the emergence and maintenance of childhood EBD. From transactional and biopsychosocial perspectives, it has been suggested that depression negatively impacts a parent's ability to regulate their own emotions and cognitions, and subsequently positively attend to their child. As such, parental depression may indirectly contribute to a cycle of behavioural escalation on the part of the child to get their needs met. This is not to suggest that parental depression causes childhood EBD; however, shared genetic and environmental factors may contribute to challenges with parent and child co-regulation of emotion, elevated irritability, unhelpful thinking patterns, and perpetuation of a problematic cycle of interactions. Transactional theory suggests that the "fit" between parental emotional functioning, cognition and behaviour with child emotional and behavioural functioning may be of primary importance, rather than indicating any one ideal parenting approach as is suggested by standard BPT. The transactional model suggests that compatibility between adult and child characteristics and behaviour will produce optimal outcomes. Indeed, the goal of BPT is to help parents develop skills that meet the needs of children with EBD. Current programs may not have sufficient therapeutic components that match the emotional, cognitive and behavioural needs of parents with depression suggesting that alternative and targeted models may be indicated for these parents.

Research Questions:

The aim of the research is to determine the feasibility of novel assessment and treatment for parents with depression that builds parent's functional cognitions, emotion regulation, parenting competencies and skills (Addressing Depression and Positive Parenting Techniques (ADAPT)).

1. To determine the feasibility of recruitment