Optimising Online Support and Intervention for child anxiety (OSI): qualitative interview study

Child anxiety problems are among the most prevalent mental health difficulties worldwide. Anxiety problems have a particularly early age of onset (i.e., 5.5 years) and persist into adulthood if left untreated. Few families access support for their child’s anxiety problems, but digital treatments such as Online Support and Intervention for child anxiety (OSI), bring potential to increase access. OSI is a therapist-guided parent-led programme in which parents learn CBT techniques and implement them at home with their child. Several large trials have shown OSI to be clinically and cost effective, plus acceptable to families and clinicians, but little is known about which families benefit less and how to optimise the intervention. Recent quantitative studies have identified factors linked to poorer outcomes, such as the child’s primary anxiety problem and parent-clinician alliance. The present study aims to qualitatively explore why and how these factors may influence outcomes, by conducting semi-structed, individual interviews with both clinicians and parents.