Identifying Parenting Strategies to Support Young People with Trauma-Related Anxiety and Depression: A Delphi Consensus Study

Trauma exposure is common in young people and is associated with anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties. Parents play an important role in supporting their child's recovery following a potentially traumatic event, yet evidence-based guidance for trauma-informed parenting remains limited. This study used a Delphi methodology to establish expert consensus on parenting strategies for young people aged 5-18 years experiencing anxiety and depressive symptoms following a traumatic event. A panel of 38 predominantly Australian clinicians and researchers with expertise in trauma, youth mental health, and parenting rated 166 candidate strategies across three survey rounds for their importance in supporting young people's post-trauma mental health. Ninety-four strategies (56.6%) achieved expert consensus, defined as endorsement by 90% or more of the panel, and were consolidated into freely available parenting guidelines. Endorsed strategies emphasised stabilisation and emotional safety prior to trauma-focused engagement, child-led pacing, emotional validation, and parental self-regulation. Resilience-promoting and prescriptive strategies were consistently rejected, reflecting expert preference for responsive over directive approaches. The expert panel primarily comprised professionals from Western countries, which may limit the applicability of the strategies across culturally diverse contexts. To our knowledge, this is the first study to establish expert consensus on parenting strategies specifically for young people experiencing trauma-related anxiety and depression. The pattern of endorsement and rejection reveals key principles for parent-led post-trauma support and offers a foundation for developing and evaluating low-intensity parenting interventions.