The Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities parenting Project

Plain English summary of protocol

Background and study aims
Good parenting is known to be of critical importance in creating positive outcomes for children’s psychological, physical, educational and social functioning. In particular, a large body of research has demonstrated that child outcomes can be significantly improved by teaching parents how to reinforce and model positive behaviours, attitudes and emotional responses. However, well-validated programmes that teach these key parenting skills may not be available in all areas, and not all parents who start a course will finish it. The families who are the hardest to reach are often socially disadvantaged, marginalised and isolated. In order to increase access to effective help for local families, staff in South London and Maudsley (SLaM) NHS Foundation Trust have developed a new model for empowering, training and supporting parents to provide high-quality parenting courses in their own communities. Based in Southwark, the Empowering Parents and Empowering Communities (EPEC) programme has proven to be a cost-effective and accessible method for helping parents whose children are experiencing behavioural difficulties. The programme involves training parents to run parenting groups that use evidence-based techniques recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). The main aim of this research project is to measure and decide the usefulness of EPEC in providing support to families, improving child behaviour and parenting skills, and decreasing parenting stress.

Who can participate?
Parents who live in the London Borough of Southwark will be invited to participate through posters in local schools and children’s centres, word of mouth and outreach.
To be take part you:
• must have experienced some difficulties in managing your child’s behaviour
• must have a child aged between 2 and 11 years old who does not have a developmental delay
• must live with your child
• be able to read and write English
• be able to attend regular weekly parenting groups

What does the study involve?
The parenting groups (EPEC) have been shown to help a small number of mothers and fathers feel less stressed and more confident as parents and improve difficult child behaviours. We now want to look at the usefulness of EPEC with a larger group of local families.
We will ask you to fill in some questionnaires about you and your child. These include questions about the types of problems that your child is having and questions about how you feel as a parent. We will ask you to fill out the questionnaires twice: once at the start of the project and again about 8 weeks later.
Then there are three possible options:
1. You will have the opportunity to attend a weekly group programme at a local school or community centre and start quite soon.
2. You will have the opportunity to attend a weekly group programme at a local school or community centre. Some parents will be able to start the programme soon but others some will need to start in about 10 weeks. The decision about who will start sooner will be decided randomly by a computer, and everyone will have the same 50:50 chance. No matter when you start the EPEC programme you should receive exactly the same quality of help.
3. You will not be required to attend a weekly group programme but will have the opportunity to attend if you would like to at a later date.

Each group runs for 2 hours per week and there will 8 meetings in total. You will be able to learn about different parenting approaches and discuss them in a supportive and friendly environment with 2 group leaders and 5-13 other parents. The exact number will depend on how many parents choose to join in your area. The groups allow parents to share useful ideas about how to manage child behaviour. They can also be used to discuss common causes of stress and how parenting may be affected. Parents may be asked to do activities at home so they can practise what has been discussed in the groups.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Participants will have the opportunity to develop new ways to manage their children’s behaviour, become more confident as parents, become less stressed and meet other parents in your area
Some participants might feel upset while discussing parenting and their children but group leaders are trained to provide effective practical and emotional support. Participants may be provided with information about other help as needed. Filling out the questionnaires might be difficult for some parents if they have English as a second language or difficulties reading and writing. The questionnaires are not expected to upset participants but the topics of parenting skills and child behaviour problems might be sensitive for some parents. The researcher will be there while you are filling out the questionnaires in case you need any help or are feeling upset.

Where is the study run from?
The programme will be run in various schools and community centres around Southwark.

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
Parents will be enrolled in the study from January 2010 until October 2010.

Who is funding the study?
Guy's and St Thomas' Charity and the London Borough of Southwark.

Who is the main contact?
Dr Crispin Day
crispin.day@kcl.ac.uk

Contact information

Study information

Eligibility

Locations

Countries of recruitment

• United Kingdom
• England

Study participating centre

Results and Publications

Study outputs

Editorial Notes

14/11/2022: Internal review.