Clinical Round Table 16 - Therapist Perspectives on Caregiver Engagement: Barriers, Facilitators, and Solutions Across Diverse Intervention Settings and Developmental Stages

Effectively engaging caregivers in caregiver-mediated therapies is essential when delivering behavioral health interventions. Therapists working in publicly funded “usual care” settings experience unique challenges to engaging caregivers due to numerous systemic factors impacting families (e.g., economic disadvantage, health disparities, caregiver stress), yet little empirical research has centered these therapists’ experiences and insights. This panel addresses a critical training need by presenting novel qualitative research findings from a study of public mental health therapists working with diverse, multiply stressed caregivers in New York City, highlighting themes of perceived engagement barriers and therapist-recommended strategies to enhance caregiver engagement in child-focused treatments. Themes of engagement barriers include caregivers’ perceptual barriers to treatment engagement (e.g., beliefs about caregiver involvement), how caregivers’ own stress and mental health impacts clinical care, and workforce factors impacting care delivery (e.g., high therapist caseloads). Panelists will discuss the relevance of these findings to parenting interventions across varied formats (e.g., individual, group, in-person, telehealth) for youth and young adults, offering clinical insights into how to effectively help caregivers navigate their children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties across developmental stages, from problems of early childhood to emerging adulthood. Drawing on expertise in cognitive behavioral therapies, including Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), Launching Emerging Adults Program (LEAP), and behavioral parenting intervention groups, panelists will provide practical guidance for improving caregiver engagement across various clinical settings (e.g., diverse, low-income clinics, academic medical centers). Engagement strategies will build on empirical qualitative findings, including family advocacy, addressing caregiver beliefs, and flexible care delivery. Presenters will allow ample time for audience questions and appeal to both clinicians working with caregivers across various settings and researchers studying caregiver engagement.