SFSC: Safer Lives Parenting programme
A 13-week parenting programme that aims to reduce children’s involvement in violence.
Evaluation type
Feasibility study
Related Project
Race Equality FoundationOrganisation name
Race Equality FoundationFunding round
A supportive homeFunding
£152,126Region
Select oneActivity Type
Parenting programmes
Setting
Home
Evaluator
University College London
Completed
October 2024What does this project involve?
SFSC: Safer Lives is a parenting programme that aims to reduce children’s involvement in violence. Adapted for this project from the more established Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) programme and delivered by the Race Equality Foundation (REF), SFSC: Safer Lives provides a six-day training programme to facilitators who then deliver weekly group sessions to 6-10 parents and carers. The programme is targeted at the parents and carers of 11-18 year olds who are in contact with Youth Offending Teams (YOTs).
Each session lasts 3 hours and are delivered over 13 weeks. Sessions focus on providing parents and carers with strategies to enhance relationships, manage behaviour, understand children’s development stages, meet children’s needs, and support parents and carers to understand their own ethnic culture and family context. Sessions also feature content focused on the drivers of children’s involvement in violence. In this project, two SFSC: Safer Lives programmes were delivered; one in Lambeth and Southwark, and one in Hackney.
Why did YEF fund this project?
There is strong evidence that parenting programmes can be effective at reducing behavioural difficulties, which are associated with later involvement in violence. However, there is a lack of research which directly measures the impact of parenting programmes on crime and violence. Based on the current evidence, our best estimate is that parenting programmes could lead to a small reduction in violent crime. However, we require more robust research to establish their impact on violence. YEF is, therefore, funding the evaluation of several parenting programmes, including SFSC: Safer Lives. SFSC: Safer Lives is an amended version of REF’s more established Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) parenting programme, and has been specifically adapted to focus on preventing involvement in violence.
YEF funded a feasibility study of SFSC: Safer Lives. It aimed to establish the optimal design (including methodology and measures) for a potential future impact evaluation. Specifically, it explored the feasibility of SFSC: Safer Lives, analysed which aspects of SFSC: Safer Lives may require refinement, developed and tested a recruitment and retention process, evaluated the feasibility of measuring behaviour and offending, examined overall reach, uptake, retention and acceptability of SFSC: Safer Lives, and produced a logic model for the programme.
The evaluation used a range of qualitative methods including focus groups with seven parents and carers and interviews with all three facilitators. The evaluation also analysed process data and children were asked to complete a questionnaire featuring potential outcome measures (including the International Self-Report Delinquency (ISRD-3) measure, and the Self-Report Early Delinquency (SRED) instrument). The evaluator employed a rapid cycle testing design, meeting regularly with the delivery team at REF to share data, and adapt the intervention. 12 parents and carers took part in the programme at this feasibility stage, and the study ran from August 2023 to June 2024.
Key conclusions
| During this project, the REF adapted the original SFSC programme to include content explicitly focused on the drivers of violence involving young people. Facilitators received an additional day of training on this content (in addition to 5-days SFSC training). |
| Twelve parents were recruited to SFSC:Safer Lives and two programmes were delivered (each to six parents/carers). This met the minimum acceptable target for reach (although the desired initial target was higher at 16-20). Challenges to recruitment included fewer referrals from YOTs, and a short recruitment timeframe. |
| Parents/carers attended an average of 7.5 sessions out of a possible 13 (54%) and out of a target of nine. Of the 12 parents who started SFSC:Safer Lives, seven attended eight or more sessions. Reasons for non-attendance often related to challenges in parents’/carers’ lives, such as shift work and working multiple roles. The non-attendance of parents may have impacted how quickly the groups were able to form bonds. |
| Facilitators reflected that parents/carers in both groups had complex needs. The immediate and acute challenges parents/carers are facing may pose challenges to completing the delivery of the curriculum. Parents/carers and facilitators perceived that the programme increased parents/carers’ knowledge of their children’s lives, and allowed them to feel supported and gain confidence in their parenting practices. They also perceived initial, early improvements in parent/carer-child relationships. |
| There were some initial data collection challenges when collecting baseline self-report data from young people. These included a lack of time between recruitment and delivery and limited access to mobile phones for some young people. Once engaged, the young people did complete most of the questionnaires; however, some of them questioned the acceptability of the self-report offending measures. Future research would need to assess the acceptability and appropriateness of other outcome measures relating to offending. |
What will YEF do next?
YEF is currently considering whether to proceed with further evaluation of SFSC:Safer Lives. It will consider the findings of this evaluation, in conjunction with the findings of a larger, impact evaluation of the universal SFSC programme on a range of children’s health outcomes (due to be published in 2025).