title: Effectiveness of online versus live multi-family psychoeducation group therapy for children and adolescents with mood or anxiety disorders: a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  [1] To highlight the effectiveness of multi-family psychoeducation group therapy (MFPGT) in children with mood or anxiety disorders; [2] to measure change in knowledge and awareness of mood and anxiety disorders in families and children; and [3] to compare the relative effectiveness of online compared to live MFPGT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included families of children (12 years or younger) referred with a mood or anxiety disorder to the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Queen's University (n=16) who were on a waitlist to see a psychiatrist. Change was measured through questionnaires for all parents before and after the program. Using SPSS v22, comparisons between the online (n=6) and live (n=10) groups were made using the Mann-Whitney U test and within group comparisons were made using Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The online and live education groups showed similar overall improvements in knowledge acquisition and expressed emotion in participating families. However, statistical significance must be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Online MFPGT may be an effective way to increase knowledge, provide resources and support and build on skills thus giving individuals more control and confidence when dealing with a mood or anxiety disorder while on a waitlist. MFPGT showed equal efficacy in live and online groups, indicating that the online program has the potential to be a more convenient and accessible program for families. More research is needed with a greater sample size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON,Canada.
authors.forename: Iman
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sapru
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Hotel Dieu Hospital (Queen's University), 166 Brock St., Kingston, ON K7L 2Y6,Canada, Phone: +(613) 544 3400 ext. 2508, Fax: +613 544 7623.
authors.forename: Sarosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khalid-Khan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine Office of Faculty Development, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC,Canada.
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Nazanin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Archana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Kingston General Hospital, Kingston, Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Chloe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Gbolahan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Odejayi
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: Olivia G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Calancie
keywords: adolescence; children; mood and anxiety; online; psychoeducation