Evaluation of an Online Parenting Programme Based on ‘the Little Parent Handbook’: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial

Introduction: Whilst there are evidence based services for parents of children with identified behaviour problems, the demands on parents have increased and now many parents are seeking advice on managing common parenting challenges. In the UK health visitors and school nurses are spending more time supporting the families of children at significant risk of poor outcomes, reducing their ability to provide adequate support to all families. Although as yet limited in number, web-based programmes for behaviour change in general have achieved positive outcomes suggesting that technology can be an effective means of providing behaviour change advice and support. Online interventions could potentially allow parents to access support at home providing professionals with more time and resources to target clinical (or identified at-risk) populations with more individualised interventions.

The online parenting programme, based on ‘The Little Parent Handbook’, is a web-based intervention for parents of children aged 3-8 years who would like to learn more about positive parenting. The programme provides information and activities based on core social learning theory principles associated with positive parenting practices and good child outcomes. The study explores whether parents engage with the programme, report finding it useful and provides preliminary evidence of effectiveness in terms of increased positive parental practices in parents of children with a wide age range and varying behavioural patterns.

Methods and analysis: This was a pilot randomised controlled trial with intervention and wait-list control conditions. Parents were recruited via health visitors and school nurses and through the distribution of recruitment posters to local schools and nurseries. Parents were randomised on a 2:1 ratio to intervention or wait-list control conditions (stratified according to child gender and age). The primary outcome measure was positive parenting as measured by a behavioural observation of parent-child interactions using the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System. Secondary outcomes include parental report measures of child behaviour, self-reported parental sense of competence, parenting behaviour and parental mental health. Data was collected at baseline and three months later (post-intervention) for all participants and six months post-baseline for the intervention group only.

Results: Follow up data is currently being collected and will be completed by December 2016. The presentation will report the preliminary outcomes. ANCOVA will be the main statistical method used.