Citation

Garstang J, Watson D, Pease A, Ellis C, Blair PS, Fleming P. Child Care Health Dev. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/cch.12875

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This paper reports part of a wider systematic review commissioned by the English National Safeguarding Panel on Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI). The wider review covered three areas: interventions to improve safer sleep practices in high-risk families, interventions to improve engagement with services, and decision making by parents at high risk of SUDI about infant sleep environments. Here we report the qualitative and quantitative studies reviewed under the engagement strand. Parental engagement is understood to be a multidimensional task for health and social care professionals comprising attitudinal, relational, and behavioural components.

METHODS: Following a PROSPERO registered systematic review synthesising the three strands outlined, twenty-eight papers were found to be relevant in the review of interventions to improve engagement with services in families with children at risk of significant harm through abuse or neglect. No studies were found that specifically focused on engagement of families at high risk for SUDI, so these wider engagement studies were included.

RESULTS: The different types of intervention reported in the included studies are described under two broad themes: Enablers (including parental motivation and working with families) and Barriers. Given the focus in the studies on interventions that support parental engagement the Enablers theme is more extensive than the Barriers reported although all studies noted well understood barriers. The evidence underpinning these interventions and approaches are reviewed in this paper.

CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that effective engagement is facilitated by experienced professionals given time to develop supportive non-judgemental relationships with families in their homes, working long-term, linking with communities and other services. Whilst these conclusions have been drawn from wider studies aimed at reducing child maltreatment, we emphasise lessons to be drawn for SUDI prevention work with families with children at risk of significant harm.

Language: en

Keywords

Child protection; Engagement; Sudden Infant Death Syndrome; Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy