NEW: The Kinship Care Practice Guide translates the strongest evidence into actionable recommendations. Find out more.
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NEW: The Kinship Care Practice Guide translates the strongest evidence into actionable recommendations. Find out more.
These protocols summarise plans for a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) of Bounce Back 4 Kids (BB4K), a therapeutically-informed group recovery programme for children aged 3-11 and their non-perpetrating parent who has experienced domestic abuse, where the parent is not living with or in a relationship with the perpetrating partner, and not receiving other domestic abuse support.
This evaluation is part of the Domestic Abuse Evaluation Accelerator Fund, which seeks to build the evidence base around what works to tackle domestic abuse. A portion of the funding for these programmes was provided via the Evaluation Accelerator Fund run by the Evaluation Task Force, a joint Cabinet Office-HM Treasury unit providing specialist support to ensure evidence and evaluation sits at the heart of spending decisions. The findings from these evaluations will lay the foundations for the REACH Plan (Researching Effective Approaches for Children), a landmark five-year plan to find out what works to prevent domestic abuse and support child victims.
BB4K was developed by Parents and Children Together (PACT), and has been delivered in the South-East of England since 2010. The primary aim of BB4K is to improve outcomes for children and their non-perpetrating parent, helping them to recover from the impact of domestic abuse, and equipping them with the knowledge, confidence, and tools needed to develop relationships which keep them safe.
Each BB4K group supports eight pairs of parents and children, and includes eight weekly themed sessions (1:1 sessions for 3-5 year olds). Each parental session takes place simultaneously with the child’s session, which facilitates parents’ support for their child through their recovery journey. Themes of the sessions include:
We have commissioned IFF Research to conduct a pilot RCT of BB4K, consisting of an impact evaluation, an implementation and process evaluation, and a cost evaluation. The study will investigate whether there are signs of promise the BB4K is having a positive effect on outcomes, how the programme is being delivered, and whether the pilot RCT methodology is suitable for evaluating BB4K and similar interventions.
The impact evaluation will investigate whether there are signs of promise that the intervention is having an impact on outcomes of interest, and will explore the viability of a full-scale evaluation. This component of the research will investigate the difference in outcomes between parent-child dyads who receive BB4K compared to a waitlist control group, according to the following outcomes:
The implementation and process evaluation (IPE) will assess delivery during the rollout of BB4K across the sites , providing a complimentary understanding and explanation for any identified treatment effects, or lack thereof. The IPE will also identify key barriers and facilitators to successful delivery, and improve understanding of the model.
The cost evaluation will aim to understand the additional costs, and, where possible, the benefits of the programme compared to if it was not delivered.
