Focusing on parent-child relationships and scrapping waitlists for parental support with mental health can prevent children from experiencing anxiety and depression later in life, psychologists have found.
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.
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…
