Protocol for the Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial of Being a Parent- Enjoying Family Life (BAP-EFL): A peer-led group intervention for parents and caregivers with significant emotional and interpersonal difficulties

Abstract

Group-format parenting interventions are well-established at reducing challenging child behavior and risk for psychopathology. However, there is significantly less evidence about the performance of these interventions for parents with significant emotional and interpersonal difficulties, including personality disorder. This protocol presents the rationale and design of a two-arm parallel group feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial and nested process evaluation of Being a Parent (BaP)- Enjoying Family Life, a novel peer-led intervention. The trial compares BaP-Enjoying Family Life to the well-established Empowering Parents Empowering Communities-Being a Parent (EPEC-Being a Parent) in a sample of parents who experience significant emotional and interpersonal difficulties and who are concerned about their child's, aged 2–11 years, behavior. 72 parents will be recruited and randomised to receive either BaP-Enjoying Family Life or EPEC-Being a Parent group-format interventions. The primary aim of this study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of BaP-Enjoying Family Life and the proposed trial methods. Secondary clinical outcomes include child behavioral difficulties, parenting, parental reflective function, parent wellbeing, satisfaction and self-efficacy. An observational assessment of parent and index child will also assess changes in the home environment. Outcome measures will be collected pre-intervention, post-intervention and at 6-month follow up. A parallel process evaluation will use qualitative data from interviews to assess parents' experience of the intervention delivery and trial methods. Findings will be evaluated against pre-determined feasibility criteria. The results will be used to determine the planning of a definitive clinical trial. The wider methodological and clinical implications are also discussed.