Background: There is a need for developmentally tailored intervention approaches that empower parents to respond to adolescent school refusal in the context of internalising disorders. Partners in Parenting Plus-Education (PiP-Ed+) is a manualised coach-assisted online parenting programme that has been co-designed with parents, youth and education-sector experts to fill this gap. It addresses multiple parenting factors associated with adolescent school refusal and internalising disorders.
Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and preliminary indications of efficacy of PiP-Ed+.
Method: An open-label, uncontrolled trial was conducted using a mixed-methods design. Participants were 14 Australian parents of adolescents (12-18 years) who had refused school in the context of internalising disorders.
Results: PiP-Ed+ was viewed as highly acceptable and feasible. Coaching sessions in particular were perceived as valuable and appropriate to the parents' level of need, although longer-term support was suggested to sustain progress. Between baseline and post-intervention, there were significant increases in parents' self-efficacy to respond to adolescent school refusal and internalising problems, and concordance with evidence-based parenting strategies to reduce adolescent anxiety and depression. Days of school refused and carer burden did not change.
Conclusions: Findings support the value of proceeding to evaluate the efficacy of PiP-Ed+ in a randomised-controlled trial. Results are interpreted in the context of study limitations.
Keywords: School refusal; adolescent; digital intervention; internalising disorders; parenting.
