JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are strongly associated with mental disorders in young people. Parenting programs are available through community health settings, and can intervene with ACEs that are within a parent’s capacity to modify. Technology can minimise common barriers associated with engaging in face-to-face parenting programs. However, families experiencing adversity face unique barriers to engaging with technology-assisted parenting programs. Formative research using co-design methodology to provide a deep contextual understanding of these barriers can help overcome unique barriers and ensure these families can capitalise on the benefits of technology-assisted parenting programs.

Objective:

This study aimed to innovate the parenting support delivered by a community health and social service with technology, by adapting an existing, evidence-based technology-assisted parenting intervention.

Methods:

Staff (n = 3) participated in dialogues (n = 2) and co-design workshops (n = 8) exploring needs and preferences for a technology-assisted parenting intervention, and iteratively developing a prototype intervention (‘PaRK-Lite’). Parents (n = 3) received PaRK-Lite and participated in qualitative interviews to provide feedback on their experience and PaRK-Lite’s design.

Results:

PaRK-Lite’s hybrid design leverages simple and familiar modes of technology (podcasts) to deliver intervention content and embeds reflective practice into service provision (micro-coaching) to enhance parents’ empowerment and reduce service dependency. A training session, manuals, session plans and templates were also developed to support the delivery of micro-coaching. Feedback data from parents overall indicated that PaRK-Lite met their needs, suggesting service providers can play a key role in early phases of service innovation for parents.

Conclusions:

The co-designed technology-assisted parenting intervention aims to offer both parents and clinicians a novel and engaging resource for intervening with maladaptive parenting, contributing to efforts to respond to childhood adversity and improve child mental health. Future research in the field of human-computer interaction and health service design can consider our findings in creating engaging interventions that have a positive impact on the well-being of children and families.