Helping Families: Evaluation of a new parenting programme
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feasibility study of a psychoeducational parenting intervention for families with parental personality disorders and child mental health needs
IRAS ID
167427
Contact name
Crispin Day
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
South London and the Maudsely NHS Foundation Trust
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN14573230
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
This research will test a new psychological treatment that spans two important fields in mental health: adult personality disorders and child emotional/behavioural disorders. “Personality disorder” refers to long-term problems that some people have in managing their feelings and relationships with others. Such difficulties affect 4% of all adults in the UK and 40% of adults in mental health services.
Emotional and behavioural disorders affect 1 in 10 children. These problems are more likely to occur when a parent has a personality disorder. This is because personality difficulties can make it harder for a parent to provide the consistent care and nurture required for healthy child development. Having a child with emotional and behavioural difficulties is also stressful in itself, and can worsen parental mental health.
Our study focuses on psychoeducation, a widely used approach in healthcare that teaches service users and carers about health conditions and ways of managing symptoms and impacts. A new psychoeducational parenting programme has been designed specifically for parents with personality disorders. The programme involves working with parents over 16 weekly sessions to set individualised parenting goals; provide relevant information about personality traits and implications for child-rearing; and develop positive parenting skills.
We aim to test the programme in a case series with 12 parents whose children also have mental health needs. Consenting parents will fill out questionnaires to measure their own mental health and parenting, as well as the mental health of their children. Parents will also be interviewed about the experience of treatment. Additional interviews will be carried out with NHS staff to learn more about the process of identifying suitable parents. Results will show whether the identification process and treatment are practical, acceptable and effective. We can then decide whether these should be modified prior to a larger study.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0079
Date of REC Opinion
8 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion