Parent Intervention for Psychiatrically-Hospitalized Youth

The present study is a pilot parent coaching intervention (PI). The investigators will enroll N = 40 pairs of youth and parents enrolled in an adolescent psychiatric inpatient program. This program, called the Stanford at Mills-Peninsula Hospital (STAM), is jointly run by Stanford and Mills-Peninsula Hospital. All research procedures will be conducted by Stanford faculty and staff. Parents and youth who provide informed consent will be randomly assigned to receive the PI + standard Inpatient treatment or standard inpatient treatment only. Parents assigned to the PI + inpatient treatment will be offered 4 sessions of DBT-based parenting interventions which include safety planning, behavioral parenting interventions, and support for care linkage. Youth will participate in study assessments only and will not receive additional treatment as part of the study (i.e., they will receive treatment as usual). Study participation is optional and will not impact the family's ability to participate in the inpatient treatment. Youth will stay admitted to the inpatient program as part of standard clinical practices, regardless of whether or not they choose to participate in the study. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, 3-month follow-up, 6 month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up. Both parents will be encouraged to take part in the intervention, however; the participation of only one parent will be required. The intervention will consist of 4 individual parent sessions, to be completed within one month of youth discharge from the hospital or of care linkage whichever coms first. Sessions will be 60 to 90 minutes in length and will be offered weekly. Therapists may see parents more than once a week if needed, as long as the total number of sessions does not exceed 4. Sessions will focus on safety planning and care linkage, Parent skills building, parent conflict resolution, and parent self-care using adolescent DBT handouts.

Inclusion criteria

are:

• youth is currently hospitalized on the Stanford unit at Mills Peninsula Medical Center, on the Inpatient Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, for suicidal ideation and/or a suicide attempt.
• youth is between the ages of 12-18 (18 year-old youth must still be in high school and living at home with parents for the duration of the study)
• at least one parent/guardian is willing to participate in the study intervention
• youth and parent speak English well enough to complete study treatment and assessments in English

Exclusion criteria

are:

• the youth or parent has a psychiatric or medical condition that would interfere with their ability to participate in study assessments and/or treatment (such as acute psychosis, neurological impairment, malnutrition due to anorexia)