Parenting Intervention for Parents with Psychosis in Adult mental health services (PIPPA)

We are currently looking for parents with psychosis to take part in a study aimed at reducing parenting stress and improving child behaviour through the use of a self-directed positive parenting programme called Triple P.

Why are we undertaking this study?

Around 2 in 100 people in the UK experience psychosis and the majority of these are parents. The stress of parenting can worsen psychotic symptoms and parents with psychosis need help early. Their children tend to do less well in life and are more likely to develop mental health problems themselves.

A self-directed parenting programme, called the Triple P positive parenting programme could be useful for parents with psychosis. Triple P has been found to reduce parenting stress and improve child behaviour.

Parents with psychosis have told us that they do not want parenting support from family services, because these services don’t understand the added burden that psychosis can bring. We are therefore conducting the PIPPA study and offering Triple P within adult mental health services.

What will this study involve?

We aim to recruit 75 parents with psychosis from services within the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. To be eligible, parents must be 18 or over, be under the care of an adult mental health team, and have a child aged between 2 and 12 years old. Participants will be allocated by chance, into one of two groups:

• Group 1
  Parents will receive their usual care and in addition, will be given access to the Triple P positive parenting programme, online or via a workbook. They will be given 15 weeks to complete the programme (50 parents will be placed in this group).
• Group 2
  Parents will receive their usual care from adult mental health services (25 parents will be placed in this group). Parents in this group will be given the Triple P workbook at the end of the study (approximately nine months after consent).

The activities in the programme focus on ‘positive parenting’ for example spending quality time with children; using good behaviour charts; planning activities to prevent problems and encouraging independence. The care coordinators of parents in this group will be asked to check in with parents to see how they are getting on with the programme.

We will collect information from all participants at the beginning of the study, as well as at four, six and nine months follow up. Some participants will be invited to take part in an interview about their experiences of the study. Some health professionals will also be invited to take part in an interview to explore their experiences of supporting parents.

More information

The PIPPA study is open for recruitment from March 2024 and is expected to run until September 2025.

For more information about the study, please view our participant information sheet.

Visit the Triple P website to learn more about their program.

Contact us

Please contact us if you would like more information or have further questions about the study.

Holly Reid (Project Manager)
Email: holly.reid@gmmh.nhs.uk or pippa@gmmh.nhs.uk

Lynsey Gregg (Chief investigator)
Email: lynsey.gregg@manchester.ac.uk or pippa@gmmh.nhs.uk

This study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).