Feasibility of a Co-designed Intervention to Promote Parental Empowerment for Children with Developmental...

This feasibility study co-designed and tested the demand, acceptability and implementation of a pilot intervention to increase social support, promote parental empowerment and increase access to care with families.

This study utilized principles of community based participatory research and human centered design. In partnership with two community organizations, a caregiver advisory council met for multiple co-creation sessions, and developed the pilot intervention. Participant attendance, pre- and post- surveys to measure satisfaction and knowledge uptake, and semi-structured interviews with participants were used to determine implementation, demand, and acceptability.

11 caregivers joined the advisory council and participated in 7 co-creation sessions. A three-pronged intervention was developed: a phone-based chat group; a toolkit and an accompanying workshop. 55 participants participated in the intervention at both partner sites. Parents and community service workers both reported feeling empowered to navigate services after participating in the workshop and utilizing the toolkit. The group chat was infrequently used but was felt to be a helpful tool to share additional resources and discuss specific topics.

A three-part intervention co-developed with parents to improve access to services, increase social support and promote empowerment was implemented successfully, with high acceptability and demand. Our study demonstrates the critical importance of working alongside communities to co-create interventions to best serve the specific community needs.