Exploring the Role of Parental Self-Efficacy and Engagement in a Web-Based Parenting Intervention to Improve Risk and Protective Factors for Adolescent Internalising Disorders

This thesis examined how interventions targeting parents might work to improve adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms. We did so through a randomised controlled trial of a parenting intervention designed to prevent adolescent depression and anxiety disorders. Specifically, we: 1) created a scale of parental self-efficacy; 2) examined how improvements in parenting behaviours and parental self-efficacy might explain the effect of the intervention on adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms; and 3) examined how engagement in various intervention components could predict outcomes of the intervention. This thesis informed theory and provided insights to future program developers.