A study in the UK, funded by What Works in Children’s Social Care and carried out by a team from Cardiff University, University College London and the Tavistock Centre, began in June 2022. The study aimed to investigate the feasibility of providing Watch Me Play! support for babies and children aged from 0 to eight years and their caregivers in early years and children’s services in the UK, and whether providing this support online helped to improve access for families.
The study was completed in March 2024. 20 families and 16 practitioners from seven services from across the UK took part in the study.
Semi-structured interview data indicate that the approach and the study processes were broadly acceptable, with both parents/carers and practitioners reporting positive experiences. Watch Me Play! was seen as a valuable and credible intervention: the model was found to be accessible and simple; initial doubts or worries diminished as sessions progressed and parents or carers saw positive outcomes. The one-to-one time and undivided attention facilitated by the intervention was valued by parents or carers and their children. For some parents and carers, Watch Me Play! was valued as it was the only kind of help or support that services were able to offer them.
Outcomes from engagement in Watch Me Play! reported by both parents or carers and practitioners included: improved relationships, reduced stress, improved social skills, imagination, speech and language, and a better understanding of the child’s perspective. Parents and carers also reported ongoing engagement with Watch Me Play!, using the approach with other children and embedding it in family routines. Their increased confidence and understanding of their child were beneficial for discussions with professionals. Online support was acceptable to some parents and carers who appreciated its accessibility and flexibility.
Training and supervision for practitioners provided through the study were seen as beneficial for professional development.
The acceptability of randomisation and the feasibility of recruitment across a wider range of early years and family services need to be investigated in a feasibility randomised controlled trial. A paper and a further study are in preparation.
You can read a longer summary of the final report here and the full report here.
Also in the UK, research projects are assessing the feasibility of providing and evaluating WMP online to families with a child with developmental delay under the age of seven, finding out about caregivers’ and professionals’ experiences of Watch Me Play! with young children with emerging neurodiverse development; and exploring parents’ experiences of the contribution of Watch Me Play! to assessment for autistic spectrum disorder or developmental disability
For more information on these projects, please contact .
In Italy, the Associazione Italiana di Psicotherapia Psicoanalitica (AIPPI) Milan training group has formed a research collaboration with colleagues in the Università Cattolica of Milan to evaluate Watch Me Play! training and therapeutic support. A jointly organized conference, ‘Tra dire e fare: giocare’, exploring theory and practice in Watch Me Play! took place in Milan in May 2022.
For more information on this project, please contact: or .
In Japan, Research funded by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Nippon Foundation to evaluate Watch Me Play! with children and carers in foster families and adoptive families and in children’s homes is under way at the Waseda University Research Institute for Children’s Social Care, Tokyo.
Measures used include the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale (Sparrow, Cicchetti & Saulnier, 2016); Being a Parent (Gibaud-Wallston & Wandersman, 1978); Parenting Stress Index Short Form (Abidin, 1990); Child-Parent Activity Index (Totsika, 2015).
A presentation on the research was given at a conference of the Japanese Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in 2022.
For more information on this project, please contact: .
Publications
Hunter, C. (in preparation) How do parents experience Watch Me Play! alongside the multi-disciplinary assessment of their under-five year old’s social communication difficulties? An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Koenig, A., Westlake, F., Abraham, T., Wakelyn, J., Scior, K., Lecchi, T., Scior, K. and Totsika, V., (submitted for publication) A feasibility study of Watch Me Play! for parents of young children with a developmental delay.
Randell, L., Nollett, C, Henley, J., Smallman, K., Johnson, S., Meister, McNamara, R, Wilkins, D., Segrott, J., Casbard, A., Wakelyn, J., McKay, K., Bordea, E., L. Totsika, V., Kennedy, E., (2024) Pilot and Feasibility Studies Watch Me Play!, Protocol for a feasibility study of a remotely-delivered intervention to promote mental health resilience for children (age 0-8) across UK Early Years and Children’s Services. https://pilotfeasibilitystudies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40814-024-01491-7
Wakelyn, J. (2019) ‘Developing an intervention for infants and young children in care: Watch Me Play!’ In: Supporting Vulnerable Babies and Young Children, edited by Wendy Bunston and Sarah Jones (Jessica Kingsley).
Wakelyn, J. (2020) Therapeutic Approaches with Babies and Young Children in Care: Observation and Attention (Karnac/Routledge). ISBN 978-1-782-20438-1
