# Adapting and testing an adjunctive, digital single-session intervention to increase caregiver adoption of early childhood mental health preventive services

> **NIH NIH P50** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $182,408

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY — RESEARCH PROJECT 2 (RP2)
The American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed primary care-based screening of mental health risk in young
children as a key step toward improving youth mental health, but most early childhood mental health risks go
undetected and unaddressed. Even when they receive screening, only 10%-25% of young children identified as
“high risk” access mental health care. The availability of transdiagnostic decision tools for risk identification is a
major advance; however, increasing uptake of post-screening mental health resources will require a community-
partnered approach that centers families' needs, concerns, and experiences with mental health systems. Such
approaches must address caregiver preferences for certain types of support (e.g., for briefer, primary care-based
resources); address caregivers' beliefs and concerns that constrain help-seeking (e.g., beliefs that mental health
interventions will not help their child); and grant agency to caregivers navigating complex support systems. Given
the outsized impact of early prevention, there is a need for accessible adjunctive interventions that empower
caregivers to increase their likelihood of seeking recommended supports after a positive screening for mental
health risk at toddler pediatric well visits. Online single-session interventions (SSIs) have shown promise in
increasing caregiver receptivity to mental health intervention and increasing linkage to intervention. For example,
a digital (online) “growth mindset” SSI (GM-SSI, developed by Project Lead Schleider) teaching that emotions
are malleable has strengthened both child mental health and caregiver support-seeking across multiple trials.
Research Project 2 (RP2) of the Mental Health, Earlier (MHE) Center seeks to adapt an online, evidence-based
GM-SSI for caregivers of young children (ages 24-30 months) and test its potential to bridge the gap between
primary care-based mental health risk screening and families' access to child mental health support. When
integrated into the Center's Roll-Out Implementation Optimization design, it will bridge the Signature Project's
early identification decision tool and referral to the Family Checkup Online intervention. First, we will use human-
centered design methods to ensure the GM-SSI is developmentally and culturally informed for early childhood
primary care, via co-design with end-users (racially/ethnically minoritized caregivers) and key informants
(pediatricians, administrative staff). Second, via usability testing, we will collect pre-, post-, and follow-up data
on mechanisms (beliefs about mental health support; agency; hopelessness) and 3-month clinical outcomes
(child mental health support access) of the GM-SSI. Third, we will use these results and conduct a pilot trial
involving 30 primary care clinics and 350 caregivers of children screened as showing moderate-or-greater mental
health risk. We expect caregivers who receive the adapted SSI (vs. the c...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10843631
- **Project number:** 1P50MH132502-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Lee Schleider
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $182,408
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-12 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10843631

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10843631, Adapting and testing an adjunctive, digital single-session intervention to increase caregiver adoption of early childhood mental health preventive services (1P50MH132502-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10843631. Licensed CC0.

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