Table 2.

Summary of all included interventions

Intervention	Number of papers included (Report ID)	Study ID	Evaluation method	Country	PMI	Aim	Child diagnosis/symptoms	Who delivers intervention	Setting of intervention	Group or individual	Length of intervention	Manualised	Intervention components
													Parent-only	Child-only	Whole-family
Adolescent coping with Stress Course—adapted	1 (200)	30	Quantitative	USA	Depression	Adolescents taught cognitive restructuring techniques, to identify and challenge irrational unrealistic or overly negative thoughts, with a special focus on beliefs related to having a depressed parent	Yes	Therapists (Masters level)	Outpatients	Group	15 sessions	Yes	3 sessions	15 sessions	–
CBT with mother–child interaction (CBT-MCI)	1 (71)	19	Quantitative	UK	Anxiety disorders	Designed to target potentially anxiogenic maternal parenting behaviours. Specifically, it aims to enhance maternal autonomy promoting cognitions and behaviours and reduce potentially anxiogenic behaviours	Yes	Qualified clinical psychologists or cognitive–behaviour therapists	Outpatients	Individual	8 weeks	Yes	8 sessions	8 sessions	2 sessions
Enhanced CBT intervention	1 (213)	44	Qualitative	Australia	Anxiety disorders	Aims to make systemically informed enhancements to address identified bidirectional maintenance factors of anxiety-related parenting behaviours and cognitions, delivered alongside concurrent treatment of child anxiety disorder via a parallel child-focussed manual	Yes	Clinical psychologist	Community	Individual	10 weeks	YES	10 sessions	10 sessions	–
Coping and Promoting Strength (CAPS)	5 (8, 20, 34, 70, 132)	8, 9	Quantitative	USA	Anxiety disorders	Targets theory-based modifiable child and parent risk factors such as child social avoidance/withdrawal, maladaptive cognitions, and deficits in problem-solving, skills, and anxiety-enhancing parenting behaviours	No	Trained therapists	Community	Individual	6–8 weeks, plus 3 monthly booster sessions	Yes	2 sessions	–	6 sessions
Ecologically based family therapy (EBFT)	5 (11, 19, 31, 48, 21)	11, 12	Quantitative	USA	Substance misuse	Family systems therapy that targets specific dysfunctional interactions linked to the development of problem behaviours	No	Trained therapists	Home-based, office-based	Individual	not specified	Yes	–	–	12 sessions
Entwicklungsförderung in Familien: Eltern- und Kinder-Training in emotional belasteten Familien (EFFEKT-E)	1 (118)	24	Quantitative	Germany	Depression	Trains parenting behaviour and children’s social competence to prevent general child behavioural problems	No	Professionals	In-patient	Individual	3 weeks	Yes	6 sessions	5 sessions	1 session
Family Competence Programme (FCP), an adaptation of the Strengthening Families Programme	1 (143)	26	Quantitative	Spain	Substance misuse	Multi-component programme that aims to reduce the influence of risk factors associated with alcohol and drug use while increasing children’s resilience by reinforcing the main protective factors	No	Trained therapists	Outpatients	Individual	14 weeks	Yes	14 sessions parallel	14 sessions parallel	After each session
Family-focused treatment	3 (6, 94, 202)	33, 36	Quantitative	USA	Bipolar disorder	The goals are to assist youth and family members to recognise and intervene early with symptoms of mood episodes and enhance intrafamilial communication and problem-solving	Yes	Trained professionals	Community	Individual	12 sessions, 4 months	Yes	–	–	12 sessions
Family Friendly Programme (FFP)	1 (212)	35	Quantitative	Iran	Anxiety Disorders	Aims to reduce anxiety symptoms in parents and children. The goal of this program is to create confident parents who know how to build confidence in their child and how to calm the child in times of turmoil and fear	Yes	Trained professionals	Outpatients	Individual	11 weeks	Yes	–	–	11 sessions
Family Group Cognitive-Behavioural	10 (16, 18, 29, 72, 82, 138, 116, 105, 122, 201)	13, 14	Both	USA, Germany	Depression	Aims to prevent MDD and internalizing and externalising symptoms in high-risk youth	No	Clinical social workers and Clinical psychology graduate students	Community	Group	6 months	Yes	12 sessions parallel	12 sessions parallel	As part of each session, plus 2 booster sessions
Family Talk Intervention	13 (1, 2, 93, 119, 123, 148, 162, 177, 178, 179, 180, 186, 206)	1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 37, 43	Both	Sweden, USA, Greece, Germany, Finland, Ireland	Psychosis, affective disorders, depression	Aims to provide information about the parent’s mental illness, reduce the child’s feelings of guilt, and support the child’s relationships within and outside the family	No	Trained professionals	Outpatients	Individual	6 sessions, over 6–9 months	Yes	4 sessions	1 session	1 session
Family Talk Intervention (Group Version)	1 (73)	2	Quantitative	Germany	Depression	Aims to help family members make sense of parental depression through improved communication and deeper understanding of mental illness and its impact on family members	No	Trained mental health professionals	Community	Group	3 months	Yes	2 sessions	5 sessions	1 session for each family
Focus on Families	2 (173, 176)	28	Quantitative	USA	Substance misuse	The programme addressed risk factors for relapse among opiate addicts and risk and protective factors for drug abuse among their children	No	Trained Social workers	Community	Group	9 months	No	20 sessions	–	12 sessions
Fortalezas Familiares (Family Strengths), adapted from KFS	1 (91)	21	Quantitative	USA	Depression	Aims to enhance the resources families must cope with maternal depression by improving communication and families’ understanding of depression and negative family interactions, building parenting competence and confidence, and promoting children’s positive coping strategies and efficacy	No	Professional psychologist and a community mental health professional	Community	Group	12 weeks, plus 2 booster sessions	Yes	–	–	12 sessions, plus 2 booster sessions
Kanu Intervention	1 (26)	15	Quantitative	Germany	Depression	Designed to address several psychosocial challenges related to parental mental illness, such as impaired parent–child interactions, maladaptive social and communication skills, adverse parenting behaviour, and low social support	No	Trained clinicians from both child and adult services (i.e., psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers)	Mixed	Group and individual components	6 months, 10 sessions	Yes	10 sessions	10 sessions	10 sessions
Keeping Families Stronger Intervention (KFS)	1 (109)	23	Quantitative	USA	Depression	Targets the family’s understanding about depression, communication patterns, parenting skills and confidence, positive family experiences and family cohesion, as well as children’s coping skills	No	Mental health clinicians	Outpatients	Group	4 months	Yes	10 sessions	10 sessions	Activity prior to each session, plus 2 booster sessions
KidsTime	2 (59, 214)	40	Qualitative	UK	Multiple	Overall purpose is to reduce the likelihood of children of parents with mental illnesses developing emotional difficulties later on in life	No	Mental health and social care professionals	Community	Group	Open-ended	Yes	Open-ended	Open-ended	Open-ended
Mobile-enhanced family-focused therapy (FFT)	1 (5)	7	Quantitative	USA	Bipolar disorder	Use a mobile app to encourage learning and implementation of family-focused therapy skills as well as facilitate information exchange between clinicians, teens and families in family-focused therapy using an interactive mobile app	Yes	Trained clinicians	Community and Online (App)	Individual	4 months	Yes	–	–	12 sessions
Moving Parents and Children Together Programme (M-PACT)	1 (79)	41	Qualitative	UK	Substance misuse	The content is focused on improving relationships between parents and children, such as exploring communication, parenting and asking families to develop a toolbox of strategies and activities to draw upon (as individuals and as families) in difficult times	No	Trained facilitators	Community	Group	8 weeks	Yes	–	–	8 sessions, plus 2 reunion sessions
Multi Family Therapy	2 (205, 211)	34	Quantitative	China	Depression	The intervention targeted theory-driven modifiable child and parent anxiety risk factors through the acquisition of CBT skills. Children are taught to reduce anxiety by practising relaxation strategies, behavioural exposure, cognitive restructuring, and problem-solving. Parents were taught to reduce anxiety-promoting parenting behaviours	No	Mental health social workers	Community	Group	3 months, 42 contact hours	No	–	–	4-day programme, plus 2 half day reunions
Multisystemic Therapy-Building Stronger Families Programme (MST-BFP)	2 (92, 208)	31, 32	Quantitative	USA	Substance misuse	An integrated treatment model designed to comprehensively address co-occurring parental substance abuse and child maltreatment among families involved in the child welfare system and to overcome barriers to service access and treatment coordination for this population	No	Therapists	Community	Group and individual components	6–9 months	Yes	Individualised activity	Individualised activity	Individualised activity
Parent-Adolescent CBT (PA-CBT) protocol	1 (62)	17	Quantitative	USA	Depression	Aims to teach both the parent and the adolescent problem-solving in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)	Yes	Therapists (Masters and PhD Level)	Outpatients	Individual	24 weeks	Yes	18 sessions in parallel	18 sessions in parallel	Number unspecified
Prevention Intervention Programme (PIP), adapted from Family Talk Intervention	1 (135)	25	Both	USA	Depression	Designed to enhance strength and resilience in children and young people whose parents have depression	No	Professionals	Outpatients	Individual	3–7 months	Yes	4 sessions	1 session	1 session
Project Hope	1 (101)	22	Quantitative	USA	Depression, substance misuse	The goal is to prevent adolescent depression and substance use, as well as their co-occurrence, by strengthening parenting and family relationships and enhancing youth resilience	No	Professionals	Outpatients	Individual	10 sessions	Yes	3 sessions	1 session	5 sessions
Strength to Strength, adapted from Family Talk Intervention	1 (164)	29	Quantitative	UK	Depression	Seeks to maximise the resilience of children at high risk of developing subsequent mental health difficulties	No	Mental health professionals	Community	Group	6 months	Yes	Not specified	Not specified	Not specified
Strong African American Families (SAAF) programme	1 (146)	27	Quantitative	USA	Depression	Programme targets regulated-communicative parenting including consistent discipline, parental monitoring, and open communication. The programme targets youth intrapersonal factors including academic competence, social competence and self-regulation	No	Trained facilitators	Community	Individual	7 weeks	No	7 sessions in parallel	7 sessions in parallel	Within each of the 7 sessions
Supporting Kids and Their Environment (SKATE)	1 (67)	18	Quantitative	Australia	Substance misuse	The overall aim of the intervention was to reduce behavioural problems and improve family functioning by promoting optimal development of children who have a substance dependent parent	No	Trained group facilitators	Community	Group	8 weeks	Yes	–	8 sessions	Homework task each week
The Family Model	1 (15)	38	Qualitative	Australia	Multiple	The aim of the conversation between clinician and family members is to develop a shared understanding about the impact of symptoms and associated responses	No	Trained Psychiatrist	Outpatients	Individual	One-off	Yes	–	–	1 session
The Renascent Children’s Programme	1 (45)	16	Quantitative	Canada	Substance misuse	The overaching goals are to create a safe environment for children to learn about addiction and how it impacts their family, help foster coping skills, and increase emotional and psychological well-being through peer-support	No	Trained professionals	Community	Group	4 days	Yes	Activities over 4 days in parallel	Activities over 4 days in parallel	Crossover activities over 4 days
Young Smiles	1 (10)	10	Both	UK	Multiple	Aims to improve the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents living with serious parental mental illness	No	Trained Practitioners	Community	Group	8 weeks	Yes	5 sessions	8 sessions	–

PMI parent mental illness