Research project detail
An Efficacy Trial of Wide Awake Parenting: A Program for the Management of Parental Fatigue
Wide Awake Parenting is a resource for parents developed by the Parenting Research Centre following earlier PRC investigations about the nature and impact of fatigue on parents’ wellbeing in the early years of parenting. The focus of Wide Awake Parenting is to assist parents to manage fatigue, and includes a range of strategies designed to support parents to look after themselves, use their energy efficiently, and to negotiate improved support when the demands of parenting are high. This project is a systematic trial of this parenting intervention to test whether the strategies included in Wide Awake Parenting are acceptable to parents and effective in promoting improved parental wellbeing, parental self-efficacy and competence, and optimal parenting experiences.
Rationale
Fatigue is a common, chronic and often severe health concern reported by parents following the birth of an infant, but also throughout the early years of parenting. Existing evidence indicates that fatigue is related to poorer mood in parents, including heightened depression and anxiety, poorer sense of competence, and a reduced capacity to engage in optimal parenting practices. A recent community survey of over 1300 Australian parents of children aged from birth to six years conducted by the PRC identified several potential risk factors for higher fatigue in parents, including worse social support and poorer self-care behaviours. On the basis of this and broader evidence, the Wide Awake Parenting Intervention was developed. Wide Awake Parenting is designed to offer to parents a range of strategies to assist with the management of fatigue. It includes support for parents to improve self-care behaviours, helpful cognitive strategies, negotiating support, and protecting some discretionary time for their own pursuits. This randomised controlled trial will systematically test the effectiveness of this intervention in a cohort of parents of infants in the first six months of life.
Method
In order to systematically test the effectiveness of the Wide Awake Parenting Intervention, the Parent Fatigue and Wellbeing team is conducting a randomised controlled trial, beginning in 2011. Participants are being recruited from a range of settings including Maternal and Child Health nurse newborn home visits, Maternal and Child Health centres, and a range of early parenting settings.
Participating parents will be assigned to either of two intervention arms, or to the control arm of the trial. Those in the professionally-led intervention arm will receive the Wide Awake Parenting Intervention, consisting of an initial home visit, four follow-up telephone support sessions, and the specifically developed written resource. Parents in the self-directed intervention group will receive the WAP written materials only, but no further contact about the intervention from the research team. Parents in the control arm will receive brief written information without the intervention strategies during the trial, but will have the option of receiving either form of the intervention once data collection is complete.
Once they have agreed to participate, parents will be assigned to either an intervention or control arm of the trial. Those in the intervention arm will receive the Wide Awake Parenting Intervention, consisting of an initial home visit, four follow-up telephone support sessions, and the specifically developed written resource. Those in the control arm will receive brief written information only without the intervention strategies during the trial, but will have the option of receiving the intervention once data collection is complete.
Data collection occurs at recruitment, in the fortnight following delivery of the intervention and three months after the intervention is completed for all participants. Information about a range of outcomes will be collected, and the intervention and control groups will be compared.
It is anticipated that for the intervention to be effective, those receiving the intervention will have improved wellbeing, improved parental sense of competence, and improved beliefs about their capacity to manage fatigue compared to those not receiving the Wide Awake Parenting Intervention.
Results
Project in progress
Research team
Parenting Research Centre
- Dr Amanda Cooklin
- Dr Rebecca Giallo
- Melissa Dunning
- Helen Graesser
- Monique Seymour
Contact
Dr Amanda Cooklin
E:
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P: +61 3 8660 3536
Funding
Victorian Government Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
Partners
Tweddle Early Parenting Centre
Ethics
Parenting Research Centre Human Research Ethics Committee
Reports/Publications
Cooklin, A. R., Giallo, R., Rose. N. (in press). Parental fatigue and parenting practices during early childhood: An Australian community survey. Child: Care, Health and Development.
