Emotion Coaching
A 12 session group-based parenting programme targeted at mothers who have been exposed to domestic abuse.
Evaluation type
Feasibility study
Funding round
A supportive homeActivity Type
Domestic abuse
Setting
Home
Evaluator
Cordis Bright
Completed
January 2025| Project | Funding | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Solace Women’s Aid | £246,170 | Select one |
What does this project involve?
Emotion Coaching is a parenting programme that aims to reduce children’s externalising behaviours (behavioural difficulties), while improving children and parents’ emotion regulation and mental health. Targeted at mothers and children (aged 6-14) who have been exposed to domestic abuse, twelve group sessions are delivered weekly, each lasting for two hours. A combination of discussions, role play, case studies and presentations are used. Originally developed by Dr Lynn Katz at the University of Washington for delivery in the United States, Emotion Coaching was adapted for this project by Solace Women’s Aid for delivery in their UK domestic abuse refuges. Emotion Coaching was delivered to mothers and children living across five refuges in Bexley, Enfield and Islington.
Why did YEF fund this project?
As the YEF Toolkit explains, there is good evidence that parenting programmes can reduce behavioural difficulties and good reason to believe that this should lead to reductions in violence. YEF is also aware of the potential link between being exposed to domestic violence and later involvement in violence. It is also important that parenting programmes are accessible and meaningful for children and families from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. YEF, therefore, funded a feasibility study to extend the evidence base in these areas.
YEF funded a feasibility study of Emotion Coaching which aimed to assess the feasibility of running the Emotion Coaching programme in a UK refuge setting; test a newly developed Theory of Change (and whether Emotion Coaching could plausibly improve children’s behavioural difficulties, emotion regulation and other outcomes); and explore whether an experimental or quasi-experimental methodology for an impact evaluation of Emotion Coaching is realistic.
The feasibility study used a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, including analysis of monitoring data on participant characteristics, activity, dosage and outcome measures (including the Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory (ECBI) that measures children’s disruptive behaviour), alongside analysis of qualitative data from workshop observations and session fidelity forms. Interviews were also conducted with ten mothers, eight children, twelve stakeholders involved in programme delivery, and four external violence against women and girls (VAWG) stakeholders.
15 mothers and 15 children took part in the programme at this feasibility stage. Of these 30 participants, 37% identified as Asian or Asian British, 27% as White, and the remaining 36% from other minority ethnic backgrounds (including Black or Black British, Gypsy/Romany/Irish Traveller, Mixed, Arab, or other minority ethnic groups). The study ran from February to August 2024.
Key conclusions
| Recruitment for the Emotion Coaching programme was successful, with 15 mother–child pairs recruited, representing 100% of the eligible participants. Recruitment was inclusive, with 73% of participants from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic backgrounds and almost one-third having interpreter needs. However, the number of eligible participants was lower than anticipated, partly due to a higher than average number of families leaving refuges in the months before recruitment and children in Solace Women’s Aid refuges typically being younger than six (the minimum age for participation). |
| The programme was delivered with generally high fidelity to the original model. All 12 sessions were delivered across three participating boroughs as planned. Mothers completed an average of 85% of sessions; however, only three mothers completed all 12 sessions. |
| Participating mothers expressed high levels of satisfaction with Emotion Coaching. Mothers also perceived a positive difference in their children’s emotion regulation skills, as well as improvements in their own emotion regulation and confidence in their parenting. |
| The ECBI scales used to measure child externalising behaviours showed inconsistent completion rates. Interviews with mothers suggest that the language and formatting of the tool may have made completing it confusing. Reliability challenges with the ECBI and Parent Sense of Competence (PSOC) scales mean that future impact evaluation should consider using alternative outcome measures. |
| Solace Women’s Aid staff and external stakeholders support the use of robust methods to evaluate impact. However, a future impact evaluation would face significant challenges, including scaling up the programme to achieve a suitably large sample size. |
What will YEF do next?
YEF is currently considering whether to proceed with further evaluation of Emotion Coaching.