Foster carers’ experiences of DDP (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Foster carers’ experiences of dyadic developmental psychotherapy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
IRAS ID
327496
Contact name
Amy Murphy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Staffordshire University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 22 days
Research summary
Many looked-after children (LAC) experience harmful or inconsistent care in their early caregiver relationships which impacts their ability to regulate their emotions and behaviours, their core sense of self, their ability to relate to others and their cognitive functioning (Cook et al., 2005), increasing their likelihood of experiencing mental health difficulties (Meltzer et al., 2003).
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) was therefore developed to meet the complex needs of LAC. DDP aims to strengthen the relationship between the child and their caregiver, to allow the child to feel safe enough to engage in experiences that alter how they view themselves, others, and the world (Hughes, 2004 & 2017), to improve wellbeing and outcomes. The presence and participation of the child’s caregiver is therefore a fundamental aspect of DDP.
Though research has explored adoptive parents' experience of DDP (Hewitt et al, 2018; Wingfield & Gurney-Smith, 2018), foster carers' experiences have not yet been explored despite LAC being most frequently cared for within foster placements. This study, therefore, aims to further understand foster carers' experiences of DDP.
To achieve this aim, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with non-kinship foster carers who have engaged in at least 20 face-to-face sessions of DDP with a trained clinician. Such participants will be identified by clinicians from participating NHS sites, the DDP Network and identified Facebook groups.
Interviews will last approximately an hour and participants will be asked about their experience of participating in DDP as a foster carer, as well as demographic information. Interviews will take place either via Microsoft Teams or face-to-face at trust locations if appropriate and preferred. Data from these interviews will then be transcribed by the researcher and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/YH/0220
Date of REC Opinion
19 Oct 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion