KESS2 Scholarship: Development and evaluation of a universal web-based parenting programme

This scholarship is co-funded by KESS 2 East and Flintshire Local Authority and is linked to the University Centre’s work on disseminating and evaluating parenting programmes. Until recently the focus has primarily been on targeting parents of children with identifiable difficulties but more recent work at the Centre included the development and evaluation of a COPING (the COnfident Parent INternet Guide) web-based parenting programme. COPING includes didactic material, video examples, quizzes and practical assignments. Whilst the COPING programme has shown promise it drew on earlier work with targeted families and needs adaptation and further trialling as a universal programme with the focus on everyday parenting challenges.

Working with Flintshire, phase one involves establishing the current concerns of parents via survey and focus group methods and adaptation of the content of the COPING programme to incorporate coverage of common parenting concerns (for example around screen time, sleep routines, diet and exercise).

Phase two will undertake a three-arm RCT trial of the adapted COPING programme with, and without, additional support via weekly phone calls, to establish which parents benefit from programme access alone and which benefit from access plus phone contact. The comparator would be the web-based Solihull programme that Flintshire is currently introducing.
Parents will be recruited via preschool programmes including Flying Start, the Childcare Officer and primary schools. Pre- and post-intervention measures will be collected on parenting competence, parental mental wellbeing, parenting challenges and parent reported daily hassles and a measure of child linguistic competency.

The plan :
Year 1 the PhD student would:
i) Undertake a review of the literature on universal parenting programmes and evidence for web-based support.
ii) Undertake a survey of parents of 2 – 6 year olds to establish the most common challenges.
iii) Incorporate findings into the development of additional resource material for the COPING programme.

Year 2
i) Pilot the new programme with 20 people.
ii) Undertake any further programme adaptation based on feedback.
iii) Run a randomised controlled trial with three conditions with 150 participants in total (50 in each condition - access to the COPING programme, access to the COPING programme with additional practitioner support and access to the Solihull approach web-based programme).

Year 3
i) Analyse and write up the results of the trial.
ii) Submit papers for publication and complete and submit the thesis.

The successful candidate will join a team that includes three other PhD students, two Masters students and three research staff.

For further information on this project contact Judy Hutchings ([Email Address Removed]) or Margiad Williams ([Email Address Removed]).
To apply :
Please send a CV and covering letter to Judy Hutchings ([Email Address Removed]) and cc to Penny Dowdney ([Email Address Removed]).
Project ID: BUK2E041