Promoting the mental health of children with anxious parents: a qualitative investigation of parents’ views and needs
Promoting the mental health of children with anxious parents: a qualitative investigation of parents’ views and needs
Objective: parental anxiety is highly prevalent and is a known risk factor for mental health difficulties in children. Providing targeted support to anxious parents can represent an effective way to reduce the intergenerational transmission of mental ill-health. This study aimed to qualitatively explore what parents who have accessed an NHS talking therapy service for anxiety need from a service aimed at supporting them in minimising the potential negative impacts of parental anxiety on their preschool-aged children.
Methods: semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 UK-based parents and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Results: four themes were generated to summarise participants’ views: "There's just not enough support" highlighted the current lack, in England, of a service that supports anxious parents in preventing their children's mental ill-health; “It's not easy to find your way to help” explored existing and potential barriers to service access; “It's a balance” collected the characteristics of an accessible and usable service to support parents in supporting their children; and “Advertise it well” focused on strategies to facilitate promotion and access to the service. The overarching theme, “We just need more support for parents. Full stop.”, captured the urgent need for more support for anxious parents and for action to prevent child mental ill-health.
Conclusions: findings provide insights on characteristics of an adequate prevention service to promote the mental health of children with anxious parents, and can help direct future research, clinical, and policy efforts towards the development of accessible and acceptable prevention programmes.
Anxiety, Child development, Intergenerational transmission, Mental health, PPI, Parents, prevention
Zecchinato, Francesca
5b3ba252-c3ed-4a67-9839-22dec7676335
Kreppner, Jana
6a5f447e-1cfe-4654-95b4-e6f89b0275d6
Bullard, Peter
20369d04-88c8-4ddf-b8ea-60989c296ca4
Kumar, Manos
02a019a7-c150-463a-a1d9-6b5a24751fd6
Painter, Sophie
49d30bc3-9af7-4b2e-a1dd-9d0862c311fe
Lawrence, Pete
0d45e107-38ef-4932-aec1-504573de01ef
19 July 2025
Zecchinato, Francesca
5b3ba252-c3ed-4a67-9839-22dec7676335
Kreppner, Jana
6a5f447e-1cfe-4654-95b4-e6f89b0275d6
Bullard, Peter
20369d04-88c8-4ddf-b8ea-60989c296ca4
Kumar, Manos
02a019a7-c150-463a-a1d9-6b5a24751fd6
Painter, Sophie
49d30bc3-9af7-4b2e-a1dd-9d0862c311fe
Lawrence, Pete
0d45e107-38ef-4932-aec1-504573de01ef
Zecchinato, Francesca, Kreppner, Jana, Bullard, Peter, Kumar, Manos, Painter, Sophie and Lawrence, Pete
(2025)
Promoting the mental health of children with anxious parents: a qualitative investigation of parents’ views and needs.
Mental Health & Prevention, 39, [200439].
(doi:10.1016/j.mhp.2025.200439).
Abstract
Objective: parental anxiety is highly prevalent and is a known risk factor for mental health difficulties in children. Providing targeted support to anxious parents can represent an effective way to reduce the intergenerational transmission of mental ill-health. This study aimed to qualitatively explore what parents who have accessed an NHS talking therapy service for anxiety need from a service aimed at supporting them in minimising the potential negative impacts of parental anxiety on their preschool-aged children.
Methods: semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 UK-based parents and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Results: four themes were generated to summarise participants’ views: "There's just not enough support" highlighted the current lack, in England, of a service that supports anxious parents in preventing their children's mental ill-health; “It's not easy to find your way to help” explored existing and potential barriers to service access; “It's a balance” collected the characteristics of an accessible and usable service to support parents in supporting their children; and “Advertise it well” focused on strategies to facilitate promotion and access to the service. The overarching theme, “We just need more support for parents. Full stop.”, captured the urgent need for more support for anxious parents and for action to prevent child mental ill-health.
Conclusions: findings provide insights on characteristics of an adequate prevention service to promote the mental health of children with anxious parents, and can help direct future research, clinical, and policy efforts towards the development of accessible and acceptable prevention programmes.
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Accepted/In Press date: 9 July 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 10 July 2025
Published date: 19 July 2025
Keywords:
Anxiety, Child development, Intergenerational transmission, Mental health, PPI, Parents, prevention
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 507765
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507765
PURE UUID: e274e103-596f-4a0a-a99c-1fd95d17020b
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Date deposited: 06 Jan 2026 12:21
Last modified: 08 Jan 2026 03:27
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Contributors
Author:
Francesca Zecchinato
Author:
Jana Kreppner
Author:
Peter Bullard
Author:
Manos Kumar
Author:
Sophie Painter
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