{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T16:23:26Z","timestamp":1788279806080,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,23]],"date-time":"2025-09-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758585600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS), awarded from Bangor University andsupported by the European Social Fund (ESF) the Children\u2019s Early Intervention Trust Charity Ltd.","award":["BUK 2135"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BUK 2135"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Based on years of work from high-income countries, the Parenting for Lifelong Health programme for parents of Young Children (PLH-YC) was developed by the first and last authors, as a freely available low-cost programme for low-income families in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The initial group-based 12-session programme has since been delivered, adapted, and evaluated across many LMICs and now has a significant body of evidence. Over the last 10 years, early intervention services in the UK have been considerably reduced whilst, exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19, service demands have grown. This paper describes a feasibility trial of the 12-session PLH-YC programme in Wales to explore whether it could recruit and retain parents, and demonstrate improvements in parenting skills and reductions in child behaviour problems. Methods: Two small pre\u2013post trials were conducted in socially disadvantaged communities in Wales, and they were delivered by local parenting practitioners. Of the 20 parents recruited across 3 groups, 17 provided pre- and post-course data and 10 completed qualitative interviews. Results: Retention was good (85%) with mean attendance of 8.7 sessions, and parental and facilitator feedback reported high levels of satisfaction with the programme, with the only recommendation being to make the programme longer and for facilitators to be given more time. Results showed significant benefits to parent-reported parenting practices, child behaviour, and parental mental wellbeing. Conclusions: These preliminary results justify work to develop a rigorous evaluation to establish whether PLH-YC could have a place among parenting-support programmes in the UK.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children12101280","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,23]],"date-time":"2025-09-23T14:32:53Z","timestamp":1758637973000},"page":"1280","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Delivering the Parenting for Lifelong Health Programme with Parents of Young Children in Wales"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2562-8104","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Judy","family":"Hutchings","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, Brigantia Building, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2AS, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Jones","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Barnardo\u2019s, Caban Bach, Meirion Terrace, Blaenau Ffestiniog LL41 3UA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9211-0829","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anwen","family":"Jones","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, Brigantia Building, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2AS, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8581-8669","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Margiad","family":"Williams","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Educational Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2PZ, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jamie","family":"Lachman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Barnett House, 32-37 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2ER, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"929","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.1995.tb01342.x","article-title":"The development of offending and antisocial behaviour from childhood: Key findings from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development","volume":"36","author":"Farrington","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e512","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(17)30103-1","article-title":"Pathways between childhood trauma, intimate partner violence, and harsh parenting: Findings from the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific","volume":"5","author":"Fulu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet Glob. Health"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"531","DOI":"10.1017\/S0954579498001734","article-title":"Variables that initiate and maintain an early-onset trajectory for juvenile offending","volume":"10","author":"Patterson","year":"1998","journal-title":"Dev. Psychopathol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"679","DOI":"10.1007\/s00127-015-1048-8","article-title":"The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: Overview of the first 40 years, with an eye to the future","volume":"50","author":"Poulton","year":"2015","journal-title":"Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e20154079","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.2015-4079","article-title":"Global prevalence of past-year violence against children: A systematic review and minimum estimates","volume":"137","author":"Hillis","year":"2016","journal-title":"Pediatrics"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"678","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.39126.620799.55","article-title":"Parenting Intervention in Sure Start Services for Children at Risk of Developing Conduct Disorder: Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial","volume":"334","author":"Hutchings","year":"2007","journal-title":"Br. Med. J."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hutchings, J., Williams, M.E., and Leijten, P. (2023). Attachment, behavior problems and interventions. Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2.","DOI":"10.3389\/frcha.2023.1156407"},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"(2025, August 01). Blueprint Programmes. Available online: https:\/\/www.blueprintsprograms.org\/."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cbpra.2012.02.005","article-title":"Constance \u201cConnie\u201d Hanf (1917\u20132002): The mentor and the model","volume":"20","author":"Reitman","year":"2013","journal-title":"Cogn. Behav. Pract."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1108\/17466660200700012","article-title":"Early prevention of conduct disorder: How and why did the North and Mid Wales Sure Start study work?","volume":"2","author":"Hutchings","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Child. Serv."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"829","DOI":"10.1093\/pubmed\/fdad069","article-title":"Is parental unemployment associated with increased risk of adverse childhood experiences? A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"45","author":"Judd","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"749","DOI":"10.1080\/15374416.2015.1015134","article-title":"Transporting evidence-based parenting programs for child problem behavior (age 3\u201310) between countries: Systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"45","author":"Gardner","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"121","article-title":"A social learning approach, Volume 3: Coercive family process (Vol. 3)","volume":"15","author":"Patterson","year":"1982","journal-title":"Behav. Ther."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"526","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-006X.49.4.526","article-title":"Effects of knowledge of social learning principles on enhancing treatment outcome and generalization in a parent training program","volume":"49","author":"McMahon","year":"1981","journal-title":"J. Consult. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Bandura, A., and Walters, R.H. (1977). Social Learning Theory, Prentice Hall."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"503","DOI":"10.1111\/jcpp.13129","article-title":"Parenting for Lifelong Health for Young Children: A randomized controlled trial of a parenting program in South Africa to prevent harsh parenting and child conduct problems","volume":"61","author":"Ward","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shenderovich, Y., Lachman, J.M., Ward, C.L., Wessels, I., Gardner, F., Tomlinson, M., Oliver, D., Janowski, R., Martin, M., and Okop, K. (2021). The Science of Scale for Violence Prevention: (2021) A New Agenda for Family Strengthening in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Front. Public Health, 9.","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2021.581440"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Barry, M.M., Clarke, A.M., Petersen, I., and Jenkins, A.R. (2019). Implementing the Parenting for Lifelong Health programmes: Lessons learned from low-resource settings. Implementing Mental Health Promotion, Springer. [2nd ed.]. Available online: https:\/\/www.springer.com\/in\/book\/9783030234546.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-23455-3"},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"(2025, August 01). World Health Organisation. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/teams\/social-determinants-of-health\/parenting-for-lifelong-health."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1202","DOI":"10.1111\/famp.12625","article-title":"A South-to-South Cultural Adaptation of an Evidence-Based Parenting Program for Families in the Philippines","volume":"60","author":"Mamaug","year":"2021","journal-title":"Fam. Process."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"McCoy, A., Lachman, J.M., Ward, C.L., Tapanya, S., Poomchaichote, T., Kelly, J., Mukaka, M., Cheah, P.Y., and Gardner, F. (2021). Feasibility pilot of an adapted parenting program embedded within the Thai public health system. BMC Public Health, 21.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-021-11081-4"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alampay, L.P., Lachman, J.M., Landoy, B.V., Madrid, B.J., Ward, C.L., Hutchings, J., Alinea, M.C.D., and Gardner, F. (2018). Preventing child maltreatment in low-and middle-income countries: Parenting for Lifelong Health in the Philippines. Developmental Science and Sustainable Development Goals for Children and Youth, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-96592-5_15"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e089983","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2024-089983","article-title":"Health impacts of the Sure Start programme on disadvantaged children in the UK: A systematic review","volume":"15","author":"Hayre","year":"2025","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Payne, J. (2024). The Short- and Medium-Term Impacts of Sure Start on Educational Outcomes. IFS (IFS Report R307), The Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available online: https:\/\/www.nuffieldfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/The-short-and-medium-term-impacts-of-Sure-Start-on-educational-outcomes.pdf."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Barnardos (2025, July 19). More Children at Risk as Councils Forced to Halve Spending on Early Support, Available online: https:\/\/www.barnardos.org.uk\/news\/more-children-risk-councils-forced-halve-spending-early-support?utm_source.com."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Centre for Young Lives (2025, July 15). New FOI Data Reveals Funding Cuts to Family Hubs and Children\u2019s Centres could Put Government\u2019s Opportunity Mission at Risk [Press Release]. Available online: https:\/\/www.centreforyounglives.org.uk\/news-centre\/new-foi-data-reveals-funding-cuts-to-family-hubs-and-childrens-centres-could-put-governments-opportunity-mission-at-risk?utm_source.com."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"907","DOI":"10.1080\/03004279.2021.1921822","article-title":"Children\u2019s changing behaviours and routines, challenges and opportunities for parents during the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"50","author":"Gelir","year":"2022","journal-title":"Education 3-13"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"K\u00e4stner, A., Ernst, V.S., Hoffmann, W., and Franze, M. (2023). Changes in social behavioral developmental risks in preschool children after the first COVID-19 wave: A prospective longitudinal cohort study. Sci. Rep., 13.","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-023-32877-x"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"(2025, July 01). Parenting for Lifelong Health Resources. Available online: https:\/\/parentingforlifelonghealth.canto.com\/v\/PLHProducts\/landing?viewIndex=1."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"236","DOI":"10.1007\/s10567-016-0210-5","article-title":"Distilling common history and practice elements to inform dissemination: Hanf-model BPT programs as an example","volume":"19","author":"Kaehler","year":"2016","journal-title":"Clin. Child Fam. Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"137","DOI":"10.1037\/1040-3590.5.2.137","article-title":"The parenting scale: A measure of dysfunctional parenting in discipline situations","volume":"5","author":"Arnold","year":"1993","journal-title":"Psychol. Assess."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"581","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x","article-title":"The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: A research note","volume":"38","author":"Goodman","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Goldberg, D.P. (1978). Manual of the General Health Questionnaire, NFER Publishing."},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Archer, R.P. (2006). The parenting stress index. Forensic Uses Clin. Assess. Instrum, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Clarke, V., and Braun, V. (2014). Thematic analysis. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4614-5583-7_311"},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"UNICEF (2014). Ending Violence Against Children: Six Strategies for Action, United Nations Children\u2019s Fund. Programme Division. United Nations. Open Working Group proposal for Sustainable Development Goals."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"WHO (2016). INSPIRE: Seven Strategies for Ending Violence Against Children, World Health Organisation. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/violence_injury_prevention\/violence\/inspire\/en\/."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"Smith, G., Sylva, K., Smith, T., Sammons, P., Omonigho, A., and Stop Start (2025, July 01). Survival, Decline or Closure. Available online: https:\/\/www.suttontrust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/StopStart-FINAL.pdf."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"823","DOI":"10.1007\/s11121-024-01682-x","article-title":"Parenting for lifelong health for young children in Montenegro: Preliminary outcomes, dissemination, and broader embedding of the program","volume":"25","author":"Hutchings","year":"2024","journal-title":"Prev. Sci."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2136","DOI":"10.1007\/s10826-017-0741-5","article-title":"The multidimensional assessment of parenting scale (MAPS): Development and psychometric properties","volume":"26","author":"Parent","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Child Fam. Stud."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tustin, D. (2024). Psycho-Legal Concepts for Parenting in Child Custody and Child Protection, Springer Nature.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-97-6144-9"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"795","DOI":"10.4236\/psych.2012.329120","article-title":"Improvements in maternal depression as a mediator of child behaviour change","volume":"3","author":"Hutchings","year":"2012","journal-title":"Psychology"}],"container-title":["Children"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9067\/12\/10\/1280\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T18:47:46Z","timestamp":1760035666000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9067\/12\/10\/1280"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,23]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10]]}},"alternative-id":["children12101280"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/children12101280","relation":{},"ISSN":["2227-9067"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2227-9067","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,23]]}}}