Evaluating the Mentalization-based Treatment Lighthouse Parenting Programme: Protocol of a Feasibility and Acceptability Quasi-Experimental Study

Evaluating the Mentalization-based Treatment Lighthouse Parenting Programme: Protocol of a Feasibility and Acceptability Quasi-Experimental Study

The goal of this study is to learn whether it is practical and acceptable to deliver the Lighthouse Parenting Programme and to carry out the planned research procedures with caregivers involved with Child Protection Services. The study will also gather early information to help plan a future, larger evaluation study.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Is it possible to recruit caregivers involved with Child Protection Services into this type of study?
• Can the Lighthouse Parenting Programme be delivered as intended by trained facilitators?
• Are the questionnaires and assessment procedures suitable for caregivers and sensitive to change over time?
• Is the Lighthouse Parenting Programme acceptable to caregivers and facilitators?
• Is participation in the study acceptable to caregivers?

Researchers will compare caregivers who take part in the Lighthouse Parenting Programme with caregivers who receive usual services to see whether there are early signs of change in parenting- and child-related outcomes that can inform future research.

Participants will take part in the Lighthouse Parenting Programme, consisting of 20 weekly group sessions focused on enhancing caregivers' capacity to understand their own and their child's mental states (mentalization), or will receive the usual services and supports provided by Child Protection Services. Participants will also complete questionnaires and interviews about their own experiences, parenting, and their child's wellbeing at different points during the study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• - Adults (18 years old or older)
• - Caregiver of a child from 0 to 18 years of age
• - - Being referred for Child Protection Services
• - - Under a measure of Child Promotion and Protection at the family home
• - - Withholding parenting responsibilities over the target child/young person
• - - Never having attended the Lighthouse Parenting Programme

Exclusion Criteria:

• - -Foster parents
• - - -Perpetration of child sexual abuse
• - - -Severe learning disabilities
• - - -Being clinically counter-indicated for a group programme (e.g, Antissocial Personality Disorder)
• - - -The target child/young person is in out-of-home care