Efficacy of Emotion-Focused Parenting Programs for Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms: A Randomized Clinical Study.

Objective: Emotion-Focused Skills Training (EFST) is a 12-week parental program based on Emotion-Focused Therapy, developed to improve children and adolescents' mental health problems.

Methods: In a randomized clinical dismantling study, including parents of 236 children and adolescents (ages 6-13, M 8.9, 60.6% boys, 95.8% Caucasian) with externalizing and/or internalizing problems within clinical range, we examined the efficacy of two versions of EFST: one condition (n = 120) involving emotionally evocative techniques and two-chair interventions, and one condition (n = 116) involving didactic teaching of emotion skills. Both groups received a 2-day group training and 6 hours of individual supervision. Outcomes were parent- and teacher-reported symptoms at baseline, posttreatment, and 4-, 8-, and 12-month follow-up. Analyses were conducted using multilevel growth curve modeling and Bayesian post hoc analysis.

Results: EFST showed efficacy in reducing parent-reported externalizing ( = -1.72, < .001, = 1.0) and internalizing ( = -1.71, < .001, = 0.9) symptoms, and teacher-reported externalizing ( = -.96, < .001, = 0.4), but not internalizing ( = -.13, > .05, = 0.2) symptoms. Multilevel analyses showed nonsignificant differences between conditions (all 's > .05), although a Bayesian longitudinal sensitivity analysis indicated a better outcome for the condition.

Conclusion: EFST showed efficacy in symptom reduction for children and adolescents with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Outcomes were maintained over 12 months for both conditions, supporting EFST as a transdiagnostic parental approach for early intervention.