Effect of Primary care Online Emotion-regulation Treatment (POET): A brief intervention targeting adolescents aged 12-17 within first-line mental health care

Mental health problems in youth is causing incalculable suffering in youth and families.

Existing treatments in Primary Care are not fully addressing these problems because they focus on a subset of mental health problems; are limited in efficacy, and are not provided to most youth in need.

Transdiagnostic online treatments addressing mechanisms underlying mental health problems, such as emotion regulation, have been called for.

We will include 388 participants aged 12-17-years and their parents in a RCT comparing a 6-week Primary care Online Emotion-regulation Treatment (POET) to a 6-week active Supportive Treatment (ST) during 2023-2025, at several Primary Care clinics across Sweden.

Both interventions will be delivered in blended format combining online therapist-supported treatment modules with a video-link session.

Findings from our pilot RCT (N=30) demonstrated that the study procedures and treatment protocols are feasible and that POET is promising.

The primary study aims are to examine the effects of POET vs ST at post-treatment, 3-, and 12-month follow-up on mental health problems, emotion regulation, and to test whether changes in emotion regulation mediates reduction in mental health problems.

The broad long-term goal is to examine cost-effectiveness, for whom the treatment is efficacious, and to show how a brief treatment provided in youth in a Primary Care setting may have a positive impact on the trajectory into young adulthood.