Well-being package for foster carers and teachers of looked-after children aged 8 to 11 years: the STrAWB feasibility RCT

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children in care are at elevated risk of mental health issues and poorer well-being, and social care and health services are under pressure to meet their needs. The Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being programme is a recent approach to training and assessment designed to bring together foster carers and designated teachers to identify and meet the well-being needs of primary school-aged children in care, across the home and school contexts.

OBJECTIVES: This feasibility randomised controlled trial addressed key questions concerning the acceptability of the Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being intervention (including training, assessments, clinical review and feedback) and the feasibility of the research design for a larger randomised controlled trial (including recruitment, randomisation and outcome measures).

DESIGN: This was a two-arm randomised controlled trial (Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being intervention vs. control group), with two points of data collection (baseline and 12-month follow-up) for our primary and secondary outcomes.

SETTING: The study focused on looked-after children from four local authorities in southern England. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, both the research and intervention activities were undertaken online with participants.

PARTICIPANTS: Looked-after children aged 8-11 years were recruited from the participating local authorities, along with their foster/kinship carers and designated teachers. Carers for all children in the authorities meeting inclusion criteria were initially invited to participate. The original target sample size was 70 children, with 35 receiving the Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being intervention and 35 in the control group. However, only 21 looked-after children were successfully recruited and randomised.

INTERVENTIONS: Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being is an integrated approach that combines training on mental health, well-being and resilience for foster carers and designated teachers; a multi-informant assessment package; review of assessments by mental health experts; and feedback to enable key adults to respond to identified needs and strengths. COVID-19 adaptations enabled all key elements to be delivered remotely.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Two multi-informant primary outcome measures were included as possible candidates for a larger randomised controlled trial: the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Paediatric Quality of Life Scale. A further multi-informant secondary outcome measure was also included: the Behavioural and Emotional Rating Scale.

RESULTS: Feasibility was not demonstrated, as recruitment was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and further attrition occurred over the extended project duration. For the small number who completed the Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being package, key elements of the intervention were acceptable to participants. In addition, beyond issues with recruitment and retention, key aspects of the randomised controlled trial design, including randomisation, were acceptable.

LIMITATIONS: It is impossible to distinguish precisely between impacts of COVID-19 and broader challenges with securing the capacity and stability needed to deliver and evaluate the Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: Key elements of the Shared Training and Assessment for Well-Being intervention and randomised controlled trial process were acceptable, but the overall randomised controlled trial research design was not feasible in this study. The project was heavily compromised by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on foster carers, schools, local services and children.

FUTURE WORK: Potential strategies are suggested to address challenges with evaluating integrated training and assessment approaches aimed at key adults supporting looked-after children.

FUNDING: This synopsis presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme as award number NIHR127799.

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