Promoting mental health and well‐being among adolescent young carers in Europe: a randomized controlled trial protocol

It is estimated that 4–8% of youth in Europe carry out substantial care for a familymember or significant other. To prevent adverse psychosocial outcomes in young carers (YCs),primary prevention resilience building interventions have been recommended. We describe thestudy protocol of an international randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an innovative group interventiondesigned to promote the mental health and well‐being of adolescent YCs (AYCs) aged15–17. The RCT will be conducted in six European countries in the context of the Horizon 2020European funded research and innovation project “Psychosocial support for promoting mentalhealth and well‐being among adolescent young caregivers in Europe” (“ME‐WE”). The ME‐WEintervention is based on Hayes and Ciarrochi’s psychoeducational model for adolescents and willconsist of seven 2‐h sessions in a group format, aimed to help AYCs build psychological flexibilityand live according to their values. The control group will be a waitlist. Primary and secondaryoutcomes and control variables will be measured at baseline (T0), post‐intervention (T1) and 3months follow‐up (T2). The COVID‐19 pandemic has made amendments necessary to the originalstudy protocol methodology, which we describe in detail. This study will contribute to building anevidence‐based manualized program that educators and health and social care professionals canuse to support AYCs in their transition to adulthood. From a research perspective, the outcomes ofthis study will contribute to evidence‐based practices in primary prevention of psychosocial difficultiesin AYCs and will gather novel knowledge on the effectiveness of Hayes and Ciarrochi’smodel for use with middle adolescents with caring responsibilities. The trial has been preregistered (registration number: NCT04114864).