Evaluation
We are committed to research into the effectiveness of our three programmes. We work with Clinical Psychologists and research experts to ensure rigorous evaluation and continuous measurement of our impact.
Parental confidence and wellbeing
At Kids Matter, we are keen to ensure that mums, dads and carers finish our programme more confident in their parenting and are able to improve their own wellbeing, as we know both of these factors are key to bringing about change in family functioning, parent-child relationships and consequently child behaviour.
We measure our impact both qualitatively (through stories and quotes from mums, dads and carers) and quantitatively, through two standardised measures: TOPSE and WEMWBS.
TOPSE
We use the TOPSE (Tool of Parental Self Efficacy, Bloomfield and Kendall (2007)) to measure parental self-efficacy. The graph shows that mums, dads and carers who attend a Kids Matter group improve across all eight aspects of parental self-efficacy.
Parents rate themselves already fairly high on the scale, which could be due to a variety of reasons, and yet improvement is still made and maintained.
The biggest impact is in the areas of ‘discipline and boundaries’, ‘pressures of parenting’ and ‘control’. Finding this level of improvement in mums, dads and carers three months after the intervention shows the long-term impact the programme has for the families we work with.
WEMWBS
We use the WEMWBS to measure parental wellbeing. The graph shows that the wellbeing of mums, dads and carers goes from below the national average to above the national average after attending our six-week programme. Importantly, this improved wellbeing stays that way three months later.
My Parenting Journey
My Parenting Journey is an internal Kids Matter questionnaire to assess parental satisfaction with the programme, completed in the final week (Session 6). The items on this questionnaire can be split into four categories:
Yes/no statements
“I found coming to the group has helped me”
99.53% agreed
“I would recommend going to a Kids Matter group to a friend”
98.6% agreed
0-10 scale measuring
“I feel my hopes for doing this programme have been met”
Mean score: 9.10 (SD:1.27) (min: 4, max: 10)
List of positive outcomes about the programme
Participants check the ones which apply to them (14 possible items)
Min agreement: 20.35%; Max agreement: 61.95%
List of negative outcomes about the programme
Participants check the ones which apply to them (2 items)
4.42% of participants had checked each negative statement.
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Our programmes
All parents need support but our peer-led and accessible programmes have been written for families facing disadvantages, in the community or in prison.
The vision
Our vision is to see every child in need raised in a strong family, where no child is written off simply because of the circumstances they are in.
Get involved
We have an ambitious vision to see every child in need raised in a strong family and we need your help to reduce the impact of poverty on children.