A Systematic Review of Parents' Mental Health Literacy Programs: Examining Program Effectiveness and Parent Satisfaction.

Abstract

Current estimates suggest that nearly one in five youth in the United States have a clinically significant mental health problem. Many of these youth do not receive services, and if they do, they are often not evidence-based treatments. Parents are critical to the utilization of psychological services for youth; they are typically considered the gatekeepers to mental health services and frequently initiate help-seeking on behalf of their youth. Research has demonstrated that parents do not have sufficient knowledge and skills needed to handle youth mental health problems (i.e., mental health literacy), which likely contributes to the youth treatment disparity. To address this, the current systematic review explored global mental health literacy programs for parents to examine program effectiveness and parent satisfaction with programs. Nine programs were identified and described in terms of structure, content, and delivery method. Several programs demonstrated improvement in at least one component of parents' mental health literacy. Additionally, when assessed, parent satisfaction was generally positive, though areas for improvement were noted (e.g., program content lacked specificity, need for more practical parenting skills). Overall, findings have meaningful implications for future research and program development.