Family Psychoeducation Program to Support Caregivers and Children/Adolescents with Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety and mood disorders represent two of the most common disorders experienced by children/adolescents. Untreated anxiety or mood disorders can put children and adolescents at risk for other conditions, like disruptive behavior and substance use disorders, that can have far-reaching consequences even after the mood or anxiety disorder is treated. For caregivers, providing care or raising a child or adolescent with a diagnosed mood or anxiety disorder can impact caregivers in various ways. The burden of care associated with providing care to a child or adolescent who carries a mood or anxiety disorder diagnosis includes fiscal responsibility, conflicts between family members, missed time at work, exhaustion, increased sadness, and limitations of personal freedom. The proposed program will integrate the ecological perspective, system theory, and the biopsychosocial framework to develop interventions that use cognitive-behavioral and family-systems based interventions to provide psychoeducation to caregivers and children or adolescents with a diagnosed mood or anxiety disorder. The proposed program offers practical strategies that use these multiple theories to provide a workbook that mental health professionals can use to engage, inform, and educate caregivers and children or adolescents with a diagnosed mood or anxiety disorder. The proposed program's likely outcomes include reducing anxiety and mood-related symptoms in children and adolescents, reduced caregiving burden, and increased service utilization to manage mood and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents.