A/Professor Marie Yap
Associate Professor Marie Yap Head of Parenting and Youth Mental Health Research Group.
‘Co-designing a coach-supported, online parenting intervention for parents of children with emotionally-based school avoidance and evaluating it through a pilot randomised controlled trial’
Monash University, VIC
Awarded 2026
0-12 years Mental Health Research
“Emotionally-based school avoidance is a growing problem especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many children distressed and missing out on learning and friendships, and many parents feeling lost about how to help.”
Researcher Profile
Professor Marie Yap OAM is a psychologist and professor at Monash University. She is the founder of the award-winning Parenting Strategies Program, which translates research evidence into actionable parenting guidelines that underpin a suite of individually-tailored online parenting programs to prevent and reduce the impact of mental health problems in children and adolescents.
These online resources have formed the basis for parenting programs and resources in over 20 countries. Recognised by Expertscape as a World Expert in family relations and parenting, she has extensive experience developing and implementing online parenting programs that have improved parenting and child mental health outcomes.
Project Summary
Some children find it very difficult to go to school because of strong feelings they have about school, like anxiety or sadness. These difficulties are called emotionally-based school avoidance, or school avoidance for short. School avoidance can affect children’s learning, friendships and family life. Parents play an important role in helping their children overcome school avoidance, but parents often feel unsure about how best to do this.
This project will develop and test an online program called Partners in Parenting Kids-Education (PiP Kids-Ed). The program will provide parents with practical, evidence-based information, and personalised coaching support to help them help their children overcome school avoidance and improve their wellbeing.
The project aims to:
- Work together with parents and education experts to design an online program that gives parents the tools and confidence to support children who struggle with school avoidance.
- Test whether the program helps parents feel more confident, improves their child’s school attendance, and supports the family’s overall wellbeing.
- Find out whether parents find the program helpful, easy to use, and fits the needs of families.
Co-Investigators: Professor Wan Hua Sim, Emeritus Professor Anthony Jorm, A/Professor Glenn Melvin, Mairead Cardamone-Breen, Anna Smout, Gail McHardy and Derek McCormack .