Teen Triple P trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Building Positive Relationships with your Teen: Evaluating the Teen Triple P programme
IRAS ID
324435
Contact name
Kylie Gray
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Warwick
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN72900402
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
Many UK families with young people at the edge of care experience multiple and long-standing difficulties, including mental ill-health, violence, substance misuse, and relationship and behavioural difficulties. Young people are more at risk of entering the out-of-home care system when experiencing social disadvantage, maltreatment, parental substance misuse, or maternal depression. Drivers of adolescent out of home placements are associated with family stress and breakdown, and adolescent behavioural problems.
Standard Teen Triple P (Teen Triple P) is a parent skills training programme. Teen Triple P works with parents to help them find different ways to look after a young person in the family and improve family life. This can include dealing with challenges differently or taking on different positive approaches to supporting the young person.
We want to find whether this treatment (Teen Triple P) works by running a clinical trial. Some families will receive Teen Triple P plus the routine support that they would normally get. Other families will only get the routine support that is currently offered. We will decide who gets which treatment at random, which is like flipping a coin.
In order to work out whether Teen Triple P is helpful, our trial has two parts. In the first part, we will run what is called a ‘pilot’, this tests whether the trial can be run. If we find that this is the case, we will then move to do the second part, which is continuing with the main trial by inviting more parents/carers and young people to take part.
All of the parents/carers and young people who take part will be asked to complete some measures of things that may change because of taking part in Teen Triple P. We are particularly interested in whether problem behaviours change over the course of the trial. We will also ask about their background, their general well-being, relationships within the household and with peers, and any antisocial behaviours. We will also interview some of the parents/carers and young people receiving Teen Triple P, and the professionals that deliver the Teen Triple P programme. We will also ask them about their experiences of taking part in the trial.Lay summary of study results:
This study explored whether the Teen Triple P parenting programme can help parents of teenagers (ages 11 to 15) who are at risk of their children being placed in care. The programme is designed to teach parents strategies to manage their teenager’s difficult behaviours, encourage healthy development, and improve their relationship with their child.
The trial involved across six sites the UK (Birmingham, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Gloucestershire, Wirral and London Borough of Merton). Families were randomly chosen to either receive Teen Triple P alongside support as usual, or just receive support as usual. Parents receiving Teen Triple P took part in 10 one-to-one sessions over 10 weeks, delivered by social care workers.
The aim of the study was to see if Teen Triple P would lead to fewer behaviour problems in teenagers, as reported by the parents. The main measure we used to test this was called the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. It was difficult to recruit families for this study, and our final number of participants was 32 parents (from 24 families). This number was smaller than we planned and means that we cannot say if Teen Triple P has an impact on behavioural problems in teenagers in this population.
We also interviewed with parents, young people and staff at the sites involved with the study (including the workers who delivered Teen Triple P) to understand how they felt about being part of the study and how they felt about Teen Triple P. Most parents felt positively about the impact of the programme on their families - this included feeling more confident in their parenting, and being able to cope better with parenting stress.. Staff at sites shared some of the challenges of being part of the study and delivering Teen Triple P, as well as some positive outcomes for families, including improved communication and better relationships.
This study highlighted the difficulties in engaging families who are at risk of their children being placed in care in research - this may influence how future research in this area is done.REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0435
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion