The development of a brief parenting intervention to improve children's understanding of emotions: A Delphi study

Abstract

Objectives: Early emerging emotional and behavioural problems can have a significant adverse impact on children's wellbeing, mental health and educational outcomes that can persist through adolescence and adulthood. A growing body of research highlights children's ability to recognise and understand emotions as a transdiagnostic intervention target. Interventions aimed at helping parents support this ability in their child could lead to benefits. Therefore, the current study aimed to systematically develop a brief parenting intervention to support children's emotional understanding. Design: We followed Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance for developing complex interventions and used the Delphi method to gather consensus on the content and delivery of the intervention. Methods: In Round 1, interviews were conducted with academics, clinicians, parents and child and family practitioners with relevant experience. Thematic analysis of interviews generated themes and subthemes which were used to create a survey. In Round 2, this survey was shared with participants and they rated how important different potential elements of the intervention were to include in the manual. Results: Round 1 interviews generated themes including practicalities, creating a safe group space and intervention content. In Round 2, all participants (response rate: 86.4%) were asked to complete the survey and results indicated all items achieved at least moderate consensus for inclusion. Conclusions: How results were used to inform the intervention is discussed and implications for clinical practice addressed. This research has informed the development of a new parenting intervention which will be further researched in a feasibility trial.