Feasibility of Primary Care Family-Centered Mental Health Treatment Engagement Intervention

Abstract

Adolescent mental health has become a national crisis. Screening and referral in primary care have become a norm but do not guarantee engagement in services. As an adjunct to current screening practices, our team developed the Parent Engagement and Motivation Method (PEMM), which uses family systems and social psychology principles in an 8-step, structured approach. Parents and adolescents are brought to a shared understanding of the problem and motivated to overcome barriers to treatment engagement. We describe PEMM and demonstrate initial acceptability and feasibility from surveys completed by primary care providers who received training in this approach.