6 - (IOP 31) Examining Community Parent Perspectives on Youth Mental Health EBS Through the Theory of Planned Behavior: Results from a National Study

Although substantial evidence supports the effectiveness of Evidence-Based Services (EBS) for mental health problems, implementation of such treatment approaches in public mental health settings remains low, especially among underserved communities. Growing interest in understanding consumer perspectives has emerged, particularly in the dissemination and implementation of EBS for youth mental health concerns (Hamilton et al., 2020). The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) is a classic framework for predicting consumer behavior and has been shown to explain various health behaviors, including parent-for-child decisions (Hamilton et al., 2020). Drawing from this theory to better understand consumers’ behavior in the public health system, Choy and Nakamura (2023) developed the Parent Engagement in Evidence-Based Services, 39-item version (PEEBS-39R) parent-report questionnaire to assess parent consumer EBS intentions. The current study had three aims: (a) evaluate the PEEBS‐39R’s purported five‐factor structure in a diverse, national parent sample via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), (b) examine internal consistency, and (c) assess convergent validity with constructs such as parental treatment motivation.

Using a North American parent sample (N = 407; 55% female, 44% male), we first tested Choy and Nakamura’s (2023) five-factor structure: Evidence-Informed Action(EIA), Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC), Subjective Norms (SN), Perceived Treatment Barriers (PTB), Knowledge(KN). Result yielded a moderate fit (χ² (692) =2583.201, p <.001; CFI = .806; TLI = .792; RMSEA = .082; SRMR = .103). Accordingly, we examined a wide array of additional models, including combinations of samples with Choy and Nakamura’s (2023) original predominantly Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) participants, restricting samples to only those parents who received treatments, and factor structures varying their focus on TPB constructs. Additional CFA results achieved good fits for models that emphasized core TPB domains (e.g., (χ² (249) =467.641, p <.001; CFI = .962; TLI = .958; RMSEA = .047; SRMR = .077). Regarding the second aim, McDonald’s Omega results indicate good reliability for overall (ωt = .90) and most scales (e.g., ωt = .87 for EIA scale). Concerning the third aim, most correlations aligned with hypotheses. For example, SN positively correlates with Readiness to Change Scale of the Parent Motivation Inventory (PMI), r = 0.407, p < 0.001, supporting convergent validity. Overall, our presentation aims to further the field’s understanding of parent consumers’ perspectives on youth mental health EBS and the relationships between key constructs in this area. Clinical and research implications, as well as future areas of study, will also be discussed.