Children living with a parent with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) can struggle to make sense of and respond to parental behaviours. This difficulty may elevate their risk of distress and longer-term mental health difficulties. Despite this need, the authors note a scarcity of evidence-informed narrative resources tailored to support children in families affected by parental CPTSD. The project aimed to develop a free bibliotherapy e-storybook to provide age-appropriate language and narrative frameworks to help children and families understand and discuss experiences associated with parental CPTSD.
The e-storybook was developed through a co-creation approach. More than 30 participants contributed to the creation process; contributors included individuals with lived experience, service providers, clinicians, and an international interdisciplinary research team. The collaborative model integrated perspectives from affected communities and multiple professional stakeholders to ensure the resource was relevant and targeted to the needs of children and families impacted by parental CPTSD.
A draft version of the e-storybook was released to obtain public feedback. Responses to the draft informed iterative refinement of content and presentation. The authors report that public feedback was incorporated into further development, indicating an emphasis on responsiveness to community and stakeholder input during the production process.
To evaluate acceptability and perceived usefulness, the authors conducted a cross-sectional online survey of additional community members and partners. Twenty-two participants completed the evaluation, which comprised closed-ended questions and six open-ended items. The survey collected quantitative and qualitative impressions of the e-storybook from people beyond the original co-creation group to broaden input on the resource's likely utility in community and service settings.
Findings from the development process and the cross-sectional survey indicated that the co-creation approach was effective in producing a targeted and relevant resource for children. Survey respondents and contributors perceived the e-storybook as a useful bibliotherapy tool to support child and family outcomes. It was also seen as a practical resource to facilitate meaningful conversations within families about experiences related to parental CPTSD. The authors emphasise that narrative-based, co-created bibliotherapy can provide children and families with language to articulate their experiences and foster protective coping strategies.
The plain language summary provided by the authors highlights several practical points: co-created bibliotherapy can support families affected by parental CPTSD; these resources can be framed around protective factors by fostering coping strategies; and such interventions are cost-effective, relevant, and practical. Narrative approaches were specifically noted as offering children and families words and story structures to describe and discuss living with parental CPTSD.
Clinical implications described in the report include the potential for a freely available e-storybook to be used by clinicians, service providers, educators, and families as an adjunctive tool to support conversation, understanding, and resilience-building in children exposed to parental CPTSD-related behaviours. The co-creation process itself is presented as a model for developing targeted resources that reflect lived experience and professional expertise.
The article reports the development and preliminary assessment of the e-storybook. Specific methodological details beyond those summarised—such as participant demographics for the co-creation group, the full content of survey instruments, quantitative survey results, or long-term outcome data—were not reported in the abstract. The work appears in Eur J Psychotraumatol (2026 Dec;17[1]:2732729), DOI 10.1080/20008066.2026.2732729, and is indexed with PMID 42845104.
The authors list keywords and MeSH terms that reflect the study focus, including Bibliotherapy, Child, Coping Skills, Child of Impaired Parents, and Adaptation, Psychological. Target populations noted include first responder and military families among broader affected groups.
Based on co-creation input, public feedback, and a cross-sectional survey of 22 additional participants, the e-storybook was perceived as a relevant and useful bibliotherapy resource to support children and families affected by parental CPTSD and to facilitate family conversations about lived experiences. The authors position co-created narrative resources as cost-effective, practical interventions that use protective-factor frameworks to foster coping and understanding. Further details and outcome data beyond the abstract are not reported in the source provided.