Peer-reviewed article
The Flourishing Child: Study Protocol for an Acceptability and Feasibility Trial of a Digital Early Childhood Flourishing Intervention.
Talati Z, Kennare J, Bear NL, Gibson LY, Power R et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study describes a plan to test whether a new digital intervention helps parents support their young children's wellbeing. The intervention includes an online questionnaire called the Flourishing Check and a Pathway Tool that connects parents to evidence-based programmes and resources. The study will involve 600 parents of children aged 0-5 years in a randomised design, with half receiving the full intervention and half receiving only the questionnaire. The researchers will measure whether parents find the intervention acceptable and practical to use, and whether it leads to improvements in parent and child outcomes.
Key points
- The intervention comprises two components: a Flourishing Check (online questionnaire) and a Pathway Tool (online directory of programmes and resources)
- Study design is a randomised feasibility trial with 600 parents of children aged 0-5 years
- Intervention group (n=400) receives both Flourishing Check and Pathway Tool; waitlist control (n=200) receives Flourishing Check only
- Acceptability and feasibility will be assessed using mixed-methods design including quantitative questionnaires and qualitative focus groups with a traffic light system to guide next steps
- Secondary aims include assessing changes in parent and child outcomes using mixed-effects regression models
Limitations
This is a study protocol describing planned methods rather than results, so it cannot tell us whether the intervention actually works or is acceptable to parents. The document provides no data on outcomes or participant feedback since the trial has not yet been conducted.
Abstract
Background Globally, rates of children with physical and mental health problems are increasing. Health issues in early childhood often persist into adulthood, highlighting the need to ensure children are supported to flourish from the start of life. Objectives This protocol describes methods used to test the acceptability and feasibility of a novel digital Flourishing Intervention (designed to empower parents and promote child wellbeing), comprising a Flourishing Check (a newly developed online questionnaire) and a Pathway Tool (an online directory of high-quality, evidence-based programmes and resources). Methods Using a randomised feasibility trial, participants (N = 600 parents of children aged 0-5 years) will complete the Flourishing Check. The intervention group (n = 400) will access the Flourishing Check and Pathway Tool, whereas a waitlist control group (n = 200) will access the Flourishing Check only. Results The primary aim is to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention through a mixed-methods design incorporating quantitative data from pre- and post-intervention questionnaires and qualitative data from focus groups. This will be assessed using a traffic light system, which will inform if and how to proceed to a future effectiveness trial. Secondary aims are to assess changes in parent and child outcomes. Primary outcomes will be assessed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Secondary outcomes will be analysed using mixed-effects regression models. Conclusions We anticipate that the Flourishing Intervention will be feasible and acceptable to parents. This trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12626000187347).
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Digital Flourishing Intervention comprising a Flourishing Check (online questionnaire) and a Pathway Tool (online directory of evidence-based programmes and resources) designed to empower parents and promote child wellbeing
- Population
- Parents of children aged 0-5 years (N=600, split into intervention n=400 and waitlist control n=200)
Key finding
Study is in protocol stage; no results reported