Discussion
externalizing behavior, depressive symptoms
EVENT, RECRUITMENT, DISORDERS
This study will offer understanding of how interventions can promote children’s mental health when delivered at different developmental stages. Findings will increase our understanding of the extent to which a SEL program delivered by teachers in preschool may have long lasting effects on adolescents’ mental health. Further, results will provide knowledge regarding the possible booster effects of an online parenting program (PW) on adolescents’ mental health. Considering the high numbers of children and adolescents with mental health problems and disorders [The present project promises several new insights and innovations that are noteworthy. Scientific contributions within the area of social emotional learning (SEL) pertain to the six- to eight-year follow up of the PATHS intervention, which will be conducted in this project (i.e., pre-test data). PATHS is a SEL intervention that aims to directly support the development of emotion regulation, a key aspect of social emotional competence. Long term follow ups are rare, especially outside of the U.S., and only two prior studies have followed-up preschool SEL intervention for more than four years. In this project, the long-term impact of an intervention to support preschool children’s social emotional competence will be documented. Furthermore, the project advances our knowledge about developmental trajectories relevant to emotion regulation and mental health, which can inform wider SEL interventions.Regarding the booster intervention, study of the effects of the Parent Web (PW) contributes to the field of evidence-based parent training interventions, which are generally associated with improved mental health and well-being in children and parents. In previous research, the selected version of the PW intervention showed promising effects, with reductions in parent reported externalizing behavior in youth as well as reduced depressive symptoms and stress in parents [Because this is a booster intervention for a particular cohort of families who had prior participation in the preschool edition of PATHS, the generalizability of study findings is not as robust as it would be if this was a one-time new study enrollment with a wider pool of families. Other limitations to the current design are that this is a quasi- rather than randomized controlled trial. Advantages to this study design and trial are that the effects of multiple universal interventions with families are tested, and this trial is tested in an effectiveness trial approach with also gives insight into study recruitment and intervention completion expectations for future intervention trials of PW.We expect to report project findings in open access scientific publications (e.g., peer reviewed). We also plan to create annual project updates distributed through our project website and to engage in outreach about our study and the topics that are involved in the project (via meetings, a project forum event with community stakeholders). Study results will not be described until all relevant project activities are completed. All results are reported at a group level.