Davis, P.E. orcid.org/0000-0002-0043-9991, Reason, M. orcid.org/0000-0003-0536-4236 and Thain, M. (2024) My favourite part was learning different ways to play: qualitatively evaluating a socially prescribed creative play programme. Public Health, 230. pp. 1-5. ISSN 0033-3506
Abstract
Objectives
Social prescription is classically thought of as an initiative for older people. This qualitative study aimed to evaluate the first socially prescribed creative play programme for families of 0-3-year-old children in the UK, examining the experience of the parents throughout the stages of the programme.
Study design
The evaluation ran longitudinally over 5 weeks using interviews, field notes, and questionnaire data.
Methods
The evaluation was carried out over 5 weeks in 2022 using intervention leaders' and researcher's field notes, nine parent semi-structured interviews, and 17 parent questionnaires on their experiences. Data were analysed using inductive interpretive thematic analysis.
Results
After analysis of the corpus of data, three themes that interacted with each other were identified: Support Systems that Parents Trust, Calming in Chaos, and Practical Parenting Utility. Parents said that they were more likely to sign up for the programme when they trusted the recommender and the organisation running the programme. They found the socially prescribed group more relaxed and calm than other groups, and their daily lives. The knowledge about health behaviours and modelling of play were the main take-home skills reported.
Conclusion
In order for parents to be receptive to practical parenting knowledge the SP aimed to foster, parents must first establish trust in a calming atmosphere. Social links and child development were the key factors parents identified linking to well-being. This research could inform public health policy on social prescription for families.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Play intervention; Social prescribing; Parent play; Play in infancy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Arts Council England No ext ref |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 11 Mar 2024 11:25 |
Last Modified: | 11 Mar 2024 15:24 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.01.032 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:210087 |