The development of a brief parenting intervention to improve children's understanding of emotions: A Delphi study

Lavender, Sarah, Hobson, Chris and Waters, Cerith ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7049-9906 2026. The development of a brief parenting intervention to improve children's understanding of emotions: A Delphi study. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice 10.1111/papt.70043

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Abstract

Objectives: Early emerging emotional and behavioural problems can have a significant adverse impact on children's wellbeing, mental health and educational outcomes that can persist through adolescence and adulthood. A growing body of research highlights children's ability to recognise and understand emotions as a transdiagnostic intervention target. Interventions aimed at helping parents support this ability in their child could lead to benefits. Therefore, the current study aimed to systematically develop a brief parenting intervention to support children's emotional understanding. Design: We followed Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance for developing complex interventions and used the Delphi method to gather consensus on the content and delivery of the intervention. Methods: In Round 1, interviews were conducted with academics, clinicians, parents and child and family practitioners with relevant experience. Thematic analysis of interviews generated themes and subthemes which were used to create a survey. In Round 2, this survey was shared with participants and they rated how important different potential elements of the intervention were to include in the manual. Results: Round 1 interviews generated themes including practicalities, creating a safe group space and intervention content. In Round 2, all participants (response rate: 86.4%) were asked to complete the survey and results indicated all items achieved at least moderate consensus for inclusion. Conclusions: How results were used to inform the intervention is discussed and implications for clinical practice addressed. This research has informed the development of a new parenting intervention which will be further researched in a feasibility trial.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1476-0835
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 February 2026
Date of Acceptance:	21 January 2026
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2026 10:16
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184965

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