Innovations in practice: empowering parents, empowering communities: a pilot evaluation of a peer-led parenting programme

Background: Efficacious parenting interventions are under-utilised in mainstream services. Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC) aims to increase community access to effective parenting support through a peer-led manualised intervention. Method: Training outcomes, clinical effectiveness and acceptability of EPEC were evaluated using a pre-post cohort design. Data were collected from trained peer facilitators (n=31) and parenting group participants (n=73). Results: Peer facilitators demonstrated significantly increased knowledge of and confidence in delivering parenting groups. Parents attending groups reported improvements in child behaviour and parenting stress, and high satisfaction. Conclusions: Early evidence suggests that EPEC may be an effective and acceptable service model in socially disadvantaged communities.