The transition to adolescence is a challenging period accompanied by increased mental health risks. Parents contribute substantially to to the way adolescents regulate their thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Warm and responsive parenting, a stable family climate and the direct and indirect use of specific strategies, are all associated with positive outcomes in adolescent mental health.
Interventions for young people with psychological complaints should therefore always involve parents, and empower them to install improvement at an early stage. However, not enough adolescents struggling with psychological difficulties, nor their parents, find their way to health care. Minimal but effective interventions can turn the tide and reach more adolescents. This is only possible by working on transdiagnostic mechanisms, and by reducing barriers towards health care as much as possible.
This is the first project to investigate the effectiveness of an e-health early intervention, where parents, at home and at their own pace, gain insight into the importance of an adequate parenting style, a positive family climate and a communication style based on emotional coaching,to improve well-being of their children. This intervention is imbedded in the school context, whereby school counselors have an active role, to reach as many adolescents as possible in their own environment.