A Feasibility Evaluation of the Incredible Years (R) School Readiness Parenting Programme

Parental involvement in their children’s education, including activities undertaken by parents at home and through strong links with their children’s schools, contributes to children’s academic attainment. This study examined whether it was feasible for school-based staff to deliver the Incredible Years® School Readiness parent programme (IY-SR) in schools, its acceptability to parents and teachers, its impact on home-school relationships, and preliminary programme impact. Thirty-two parents with a child in a nursery or reception class were recruited from eight schools. Group leaders and parents gave positive feedback about the programme and parental attendance on the programme was high. There were also significant increases in parents’ use of praise and children’s positive responses. This is the first study to demonstrate the feasibility of engaging schools to deliver the IY-SR programme as a means of promoting home-school relationships and providing parents with the skills to coach their children’s school readiness skills

Incredible Years parenting programme: cost-effectiveness and implementation

Purpose – There is growing interest in the economic evaluation of public health prevention initiatives and increasing government awareness of the societal costs of conduct disorder in early childhood. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cost-effectiveness of the Incredible Years (IY) BASIC parenting programme compared with a six-month waiting list control. Design/methodology/approach – Cost-effectiveness analysis alongside a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of a group-parenting programme. The primary outcome measure was the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a measure of child behaviour. Findings – The IY programme was found to have a high probability of being cost-effective, shifting an additional 23 per cent of children from above the clinical concern to below the cut-off on the SDQ compared to the control group, at a cost ranging from £1612-£2418 per child, depending on the number of children in the group. Originality/value – The positive findings of this study have led to ongoing implementation of the IY programme and is therefore an example of commitment to evidence-based service provision and investment in prevention initiatives

The feasibility of an objective measure of the parent-child relationship in health visiting practice : assessment of the Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale

Background: Positive parent infant relationships are key to achieving long term child outcomes. Identifying parents who may need support is difficult because of a lack of robust assessment tools. Working in partnership with health services we piloted the Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale (MPAS) in a deprived, multi-ethnic urban community in Bradford, UK. The pilot aimed to assess the clinical utility of MPAS to identify need for support: Was it administered to a representative group of women? Is MPAS valid for this population? Methods: Data were linked to a cohort study in the pilot area (Born in Bradford’s Better Start - BiBBS). Chi Square tests assessed sample representativeness (age, ethnicity, parity, English language, education, deprivation). Exploratory factor analysis explored MPAS’ validity. Results: 563 women in BiBBS were eligible, 210 (37%) completed MPAS.  No differences were found between completers and non-completers, suggestive of a representative sample. In total, 336 women (including a number of women living in the service area who had not participated in BiBBS) completed MPAS in the pilot.  MPAS had ceiling effects and a satisfactory factor structure could not be identified, indicating poor psychometric properties. Conclusions: Health visitors were successful in administering MPAS to a representative sample, but the lack of psychometric robustness indicates that MPAS is unsuitable for routine use in this setting. A gap for such a measure remains

Psychometric Properties of Child (0-5 Years) Outcome Measures as used in Randomized Controlled Trials of Parent Programs: A Systematic Review.

This systematic review is one of the three which sought to identify measures commonly implemented in parenting program research, and to assess the level of psychometric evidence available for their use with this age group. This review focuses specifically on measures of child social-emotional and behavioral outcomes. Two separate searches of the same databases were conducted; firstly to identify eligible instruments, and secondly to identify studies reporting on the psychometric properties of the identified measures. Five commercial platforms hosting 19 electronic databases were searched from their inception to conducted search dates. Twenty-four measures were identified from Search 1: a systematic search of randomized controlled trial evaluations of parenting programs. For Search 2, inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied to 21,329 articles that described the development and/or validation of the 24 measures identified in Search 1. Thirty articles met the inclusion criteria. resulting in 11 parent report questionnaires and three developmental assessment measures for review. Data were extracted and synthesized to describe the methodological quality of each article using the COSMIN checklist alongside the overall quality rating of the psychometric property reported for each measure. Measure reliability was categorized into four domains (internal consistency, test-re-test, inter-rater, and intra-rater). Measure validity was categorized into four domains (content, structural, convergent/divergent, and discriminant). Results indicated that supporting evidence for included measures is weak. Further work is required to improve the evidence base for those measures designed to assess children's social-emotional and behavioral development in this age group. PROSPERO Registration number: CRD42016039600

A quasi-experimental effectiveness evaluation of the ’Incredible Years Toddler’ parenting programme on children’s development aged 5 : A study protocol

Child behavioural and mental health problems have become a public health crisis. The consequences of poor mental health in childhood have large economic costs and consequences for the individual, their families, and for society. Early intervention through parenting programmes can reduce the onset of poor mental health in childhood, hence evaluating the effectiveness of parenting programmes is critical. The ‘Incredible Years Toddler’ parent programme is an education and training intervention designed to enhance the social and emotional wellbeing of children aged 1–3 years. Whilst previous studies show Incredible Years Toddler to provide promising effects on child outcomes in the short term, the research samples have lacked ethnic diversity and representation from socioeconomically deprived families. This quasi-experimental study is registered on ISRCTN (ISRCTN49991769). We will investigate the effectiveness of Incredible Years Toddler being delivered in three neighbourhoods in inner city Bradford, England. These neighbourhoods contain a socially and ethnically diverse population with 84% living in the poorest decile for England and Wales. Parents with a child aged 1–3 years old who are enrolled in Born in Bradford’s Better Start interventional family cohort study are eligible for this study. Intervention participants will be matched to a demographically comparable control group using propensity score matching. This study will use retrospective and prospective data from participants who attended Incredible Years groups between September 2018 and April 2024. The required minimum sample is n = 1336 (ratio 1:3) to detect a small effect (odds = 1.5, d = .20) on the Early Years Foundation Stage profile total score at age 5; a measure of early child development that is routinely collected by teachers. We will also establish whether these effects are moderated by child age at entry to intervention, programme delivery mode, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. We will also estimate the cost of the intervention and conduct a cost-consequence analysis

Is it feasible to nest a Trial within a Cohort Study (TwiCS) to evaluate an early years parenting programme? : A Born in Bradford’s Better Start study protocol

Background Evaluating the effectiveness of early years parenting interventions provides evidence to improve the development and wellbeing of children. This protocol paper describes a study to explore the feasibility of evaluating the Incredible Years Toddler early life intervention programme, which is offered to parents of 1–3-year-olds via the Better Start Bradford programme. The study aims to use a Trial Within a Cohort Study (TwiCS) design that randomly selects individuals participating in a cohort to be offered an intervention. The TwiCS information and consent process is person-centred and aims to replicate real world practice whereby only those who are offered the intervention are given information about the intervention. The cohort is the Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) cohort, an interventional birth cohort recruiting expectant parents in three areas of Bradford, UK. The study will assess the feasibility of TwiCS procedures, staged consent, and intervention take-up. Methods We will conduct a feasibility TwiCS to test study procedures. We aim to establish: (1) whether TWiCS methodology can be implemented to create control and intervention arms, while documenting any incidences of contamination within the cohort; (2) whether satisfactory rates of intervention uptake are achieved among participants allocated to the intervention; and (3) whether satisfactory rates of retention of participants in the intervention can be achieved. A RAG rating system has been applied to support the feasibility assessment of each objective: to be rated red (not achieved), amber (partly achieved) and green (achieved). Eligible participants in the BiBBS cohort will be individually randomised 1:1 to the intervention or control arms, with stratification by child age (1 or 2-years-old at the time of randomisation) and ethnicity (White British, South Asian, or other). BiBBS researchers will seek consent from participants randomised to the intervention to pass their contact details onto Incredible Years’ delivery agents. Discussion This feasibility study will inform the utility of the TwiCs approach within an experimental birth cohort to evaluate interventions for infants, toddlers, and their families. Trial registration The study was prospectively registered on ISRCTN (ISRCTN16150114)