Children’s participation in the development and evaluation of parent-led interventions for children’s mental health: a scoping review and consultation with children

Abstract Parent-led interventions are used to address child mental health, but it is unclear whether, or how, children have been involved in their development and evaluation. This review describes methods used to involve children (5–12 years), summarising outcomes and reflections and provides recommendations for best practice and further research. Searches were conducted in five databases in October 2023 and March 2025. Searches of key organisation websites, Google searching, and requests for articles via social media were also conducted. Eligible studies involved children (5–12 years) in the development and/or evaluation of parent-led interventions aimed at preventing or treating child mental health problems delivered in any setting. Study findings were combined using narrative synthesis and shared with children in participatory focus groups (17 children aged 8–11 years, 70.6% male). Review and focus group findings were combined into practice recommendations. From 9,647 studies retrieved, 16 were included. Most were evaluation studies ( n = 12) involving children via self-reported outcome measures. Four studies involved children in development, with methodologies including workshops, interviews and feasibility testing. Reporting of outcomes from the co-design process was limited but revealed the importance of creative, art-based parent-mediated activities and rewards for progress. Early involvement in intervention design, use of interactive child-specific co-design workshops, and involvement of children with lived experience are recommended. While involving children may require increased planning and time, benefits include increased acceptance, credibility, parental engagement and feasibility. Future research should include greater detail on codesign methods and effectiveness, to enable more extensive understanding of best practice.