emotion-focused therapy on mental health outcomes in children and adolescents: a scoping review

Context: this study aimed to identify and describe research on interventions based on emotion-focused therapy (eft) for children and adolescents. evidence acquisition: we conducted a comprehensive search across six databases: scopus, web of science (core collection), pubmed/medline, embase, google scholar, and psycinfo (via ebsco). the search strategy was tailored to each database, and studies published up to december 2024 were included. results: in the initial search, 2,803 articles were identified, from which 217 duplicate articles were removed. after screening, 14 studies remained for review based on our inclusion criteria. the types of studies varied and included clinical trials, descriptive studies, qualitative research, and mixed-methods approaches. the interventions addressed various components of eft and employed diverse implementation strategies such as family therapy, group therapy, sessions for parents and caregivers, and workshops for parents and caregivers. the primary outcomes studied were eating disorders, along with a range of mental health issues and behavioral-emotional problems in children and adolescents. overall, these interventions demonstrated positive effects on mental health outcomes in the target population. conclusions: the findings suggest that eft has been effectively utilized in various formats with children and adolescents — primarily through family therapy. these interventions warrant further investigation across different populations of children and adolescents to enhance understanding and application.