Parents of children with developmental delays (DD) report elevated mental health difficulties compared to parents of children with typical development, which appear largely associated with child behavior problems. Latino parents of children with DD may experience heightened risk for poor mental health outcomes due additional stressors associated with minority status. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) appears to be efficacious for reducing parenting stress and improving wellbeing in families of children with DD; however, studies have rarely focused on families from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. The current study employed a mixed-methods, waitlist-control design to examine the efficacy of MBSR for improving parent and child outcomes in Latino and non-Latino families. Results indicate that MBSR is similarly efficacious for Latino and non-Latino families in improving parent mental health (parenting stress, depressive symptomatology, and life satisfaction) and reducing parent-reported child behavior problems. Qualitative analyses further highlight avenues for improving the efficacy of MBSR for Latino families by providing intervention directly in Spanish, rather than using translation services, for Spanish-speaking families. Findings reveal the efficacy of standard MSBR for Latino parents of children with DD and underscore the potential benefits of disseminating this practice to traditionally underrepresented families.

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Intraindividual change over time is commonly used to estimate treatment effectiveness. However, patients may not respond similarly to a scale after treatment, rendering pre–post change an unreliable metric. The current objective was to investigate longitudinal measurement invariance of the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale–7 among 4,323 patients completing a partial hospital program. We used confirmatory factor analysis to determine (1) factor structure at pretreatment and posttreatment and (2) longitudinal invariance, accounting for dependent observations, using both classical and approximate measurement invariance approaches. Results indicated a two-factor solution for both scales. Longitudinal invariance was not established for either scale, thus, using raw score differences from the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale–7 for measuring symptom change over time may be problematic. The most longitudinally consistent items captured somatic as opposed to affective/cognitive symptoms. We discuss the potential use of these measures for diagnostic screening and between-group comparisons and suggest alternative ways to monitor client progress over time. Limitations included a majority White sample and uniqueness of a partial hospital setting.

The current review examines conceptual and methodological issues related to the use of dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT-A) in treating youth who engage in deliberate self-harm. A comprehensive review of the literature identified six studies appropriate for the review. Results indicated several inconsistencies and limitations across studies including the mixing of various forms of self-harm; variations in diagnostic inclusion/exclusion criteria, insufficient use of standardized self-harm outcome measures, variable lengths and intensity of provided treatment, and inadequate attention paid to DBT adherence. Each of these areas is reviewed along with a discussion of ways to improve the quality of future research.