The Relationships Matter 2019 conference was part of the movement that’s being created here in Hartlepool to recognise the importance of parental conflict and enable those working with families to be skilled and confident to deal with it. We are using national research and learning to inform our work and to inform our own local research then informing the national agenda. A great iterative process.
This post will share key national research which has most relevance to those with an interest in improving outcomes for adults and children by intervening to reduce the impact of parental conflict.
Reducing Parental Conflict Hub
The Reducing Parental Conflict Hub was developed by the Early Intervention Foundation. It brings together a varied and in depth selection of evidence, tools, case studies, animations and more! The hub is a really useful place to start for anyone with the aim of trying to understand what works in addressing parental conflict. It is packed with evidence and recommendations exploring what can be done to reduce parental conflict, both through direct intervention with parents and from a strategic perspective.
The great thing about the hub is it takes you through the journey of parental conflict as an issue, all the way through to how we can respond and evidence our impact by bringing you information on:
• The context of parental conflict
• Why parental conflict matters to outcomes for children
• How you can get started in addressing it
• What works in supporting parents to reduce conflict in their relationship
• How workers can be prepared to ask questions about relationships
• How we can evaluate our work with relationships to know if we’re making a difference
The hub will grow as more research and evidence is generated so it’s worth signing up to the EIF newsletter or following them on social media to find out when new content is added.
https://reducingparentalconflict.eif.org.uk/
The Knowledge Bank
The Knowledge Bank is an online library of up to date, published, and relevant research on couple and family relationships. It is curated by OnePlusOne with input from Relate, Marriage Care, and Tavistock Relationships. If you’re looking for a more in depth selection of research to further your understanding this is a useful resource. Evidence included in the knowledge bank must meet certain criteria around quality of research and robustness of findings so the research that does end up in the knowledge bank is always of a high standard.
http://knowledgebank.oneplusone.org.uk/
Putting National Evidence into Local Practice
National evidence and learning informs the work of the Healthy Relationships Partnership and enables us to produce materials specifically designed for practitioners in Hartlepool to be able to support parental relationships.
We’ve worked in partnership with Health Visitors to adapt evidence based tools for use in Hartlepool, resulting in a local version of the OnePlusOne resource ‘Me, You and Baby Too’. Our ‘Supporting Couple Relationships: Guidance for Practitioners’ and ‘Hartlepool Better Relationships, Better Parenting Toolkit’ are also full of tips and tools informed by national evidence.
