Watch Me Play: A feasibility study of a remotely-delivered intervention to promote mental health resilience for children

Completed Project

This project has now been completed. The linked publication can be viewed here:

Legacy Content

This project or publication was produced before or during the merger of What Works for Children’s Social Care (WWCSC) and the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF).

Watch Me Play: A feasibility study of a remotely-delivered intervention to promote mental health resilience for children

Summary

Watch Me Play (WMP) is an early intervention programme for parents/caregivers with babies or young children, and aims to protect children’s mental health by enhancing child development and caregiver-child relationships.

Who, what, why and how?

WMP involves a parent/caregiver watching the child play and talking to their child about their play for a period of up to 20 minutes (one session). Some longer sessions will be facilitated by a trained practitioner who will join the parent/caregiver in watching the child or baby either in-person or online (using secure video conferencing software), and talking to the child about their play, providing prompts to the parent/caregiver where necessary.

The Centre for Trials Research (CTR) Cardiff University and Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust are conducting a feasibility study of this intervention to better understand how parents/caregivers engage with WMP, and to support the development of a future pilot randomised controlled trial investigating evidence of promise. In this study, forty parents/caregivers with children aged 0 to 8 years will be recruited from early years and children services across the UK and offered WMP.

Research Questions

Research questions will be split into four areas:

  1. Evidence of feasibility: investigating recruitment and retention of families, recruitment and training of WMP facilitators, fidelity, challenges in delivery and implementation, as well as potential harms. This will be the primary objective
  2. Evidence of promise: investigating the intervention receipt and hypothesised mechanisms of action, as well as parent/caregiver and delivery staff experience of WMP
  3. Readiness for trial: investigating if it’s possible to evaluate WMP, what treatment as usual looks like, how WMP is delivered in comparison, what is the most appropriate comparator, and what is the most appropriate primary outcome for a future efficacy/effectiveness trial
  4. Cost: looking at intervention costs and the feasibility of collecting health economic data in a future definitive effectiveness trial.
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Evaluation Protocol

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Cost ratings:

Rated 1: Set up and delivery is low cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of less than £100.

Rated 2: Set up and delivery is medium-low cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £100–£499.

Rated 3: Set up and delivery is medium cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £500–£999.

Rated 4: Set up and delivery is medium-high cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £1,000–£2,000.

Rating 5: Set up and delivery is high cost. Equivalent to an estimated unit cost of more than £2,000.

Set up and delivery cost is not applicable, not available, or has not been calculated.

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Child Outcomes:

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Supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.

Preventing child maltreatment: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.

Enhancing school achievement & employment: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.

Preventing crime, violence and antisocial behaviour: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.

Preventing substance abuse: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.

Preventing risky sexual behaviour & teen pregnancy: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.

Preventing obesity and promoting healthy physical development: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.

Evidence ratings:

Rated 2: Has preliminary evidence of improving a child outcome from a quantitative impact study, but there is not yet evidence of causal impact.

Rated 2+: Meets the level 2 rating and the best available evidence is based on a study which is more rigorous than a level 2 standard but does not meet the level 3 standard.

Rated 3: Has evidence of a short-term positive impact from at least one rigorous study.

Rated 3+: Meets the level 3 rating and has evidence from other studies with a comparison group at level 2 or higher.

Rated 4: Has evidence of a long-term positive impact through at least two rigorous studies.

Rated 4+: Meets the level 4 rating and has at least a third study contributing to the Level 4 rating, with at least one of the studies conducted independently of the intervention provider.

Rating has a *: The evidence base includes mixed findings i.e., studies suggesting positive impact alongside studies, which on balance, indicate no effect or negative impact.

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