Increasing evidence highlights the effectiveness of early intervention and prevention parenting interventions for improving the mental health and wellbeing of parents and children in the earliest years. However, these are often complex, difficult to implement effectively and fail to reach the most vulnerable families. Accessible, evidence-based and practical information on the effectiveness of early intervention and prevention services and the “how to” of programme implementation is vital to decision makers who wish to recommend, adopt, and/or embed services/interventions to support/help families.
The overarching aim of this multi-strand project is to promote and accelerate the impact of the emerging findings from a large evaluation of a new ‘wraparound-inspired’ Parent and Infant (PIN) intervention involving a range of health and well-being supports for parents and infants (aged 0-2). Specifically, we will: (1) generate awareness of the research findings amongst those working with, and shaping policy for, parents and infants; and (2) promote the use/uptake of evidence when developing and implementing family-focused services and supports.
We will work closely and collaboratively with knowledge users (e.g. practitioners/service providers, decision/policy makers, and parents) to develop a small number of novel information/communication tools, implement mutual learning events involving discrete knowledge user groups, and harness social (and traditional) media and online platforms. This work will provide important insights into the “how and why” of early parenting supports/interventions, whilst also identifying what knowledge users want/need to know about developing and delivering early parenting interventions and how researchers can best impart knowledge to maximise the impact of their work.
