The Nurturing Programme is a 10-week parenting programme that improves the emotional health of both adults and children and strengthens family relationships.
The data analysed here came from 197 Nurturing Programme groups run in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2007 and 2015.
The report used a pre/post measures design, with parents completing the Warwick and Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) both at the beginning and end of the programme.
Comparison of child outcomes before and after the programme show a very significant reduction in child total difficulties with a reduction in conduct problems and hyperactivity identified as the biggest change. The proportion of children with clinical levels of difficulties also reduced significantly after attending the Nurturing Programme, from 43% to 28%.
Parent mental health also improved significantly after attending the programme, with parents typically starting from a much lower score than the general population, they moved up to a score that was only marginally (and not significantly) lower than the national norm.
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