Effects of interventions for parent/caregiver alcohol use on children: A scoping review

Abstract

Children of parents with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) face increased risk for a wide variety of negative outcomes. Effective interventions have been developed to prevent and treat AUDs and associated problems, but little is known about whether and how much such interventions reduce risk for the children of parents who receive them. A scoping review was conducted to identify and characterize the available published research literature that has examined this question.

The PubMed (MEDLINE) database was searched on March 21st, 2022 using a combination of keyword and MeSH search terms. The search returned 2,519 total records. Each record was screened by two team members with discrepancies resolved by consensus. Eligibility criteria included randomized controlled trials with an appropriate control condition that reported at least one outcome from a sample of children whose parent(s) or primary caregiver(s) received an intervention intended to reduce or prevent alcohol use and/or an alcohol-related behavioral health (BH) concern.

Twenty-six studies were identified, reporting 28 eligible intervention-control group comparisons. All reports (n = 102) from eligible studies were coded to extract key features of the interventions, comparison conditions, samples, moderators, mediators, and outcomes examined, as well as study findings regarding intervention effects on child outcomes.

Collectively, findings indicate that a diverse array of published studies have reported effects of alcohol-related parent-focused BH interventions on children. However, most studies examined multifocal interventions that simultaneously targeted parent BH problems and other risk factors known to influence child outcomes (e.g., parenting behavior), without experimentally isolating the effects of intervention elements targeting parent BH. A minority of studies examined potential mediators and/or moderators of intervention effects on child outcomes. Several domains of theoretically-relevant mediators and moderators were not examined by any studies. More research is needed to expand understanding of the effects of alcohol-related parent-focused BH interventions on children.