• Public Health Nursing (HSE) Dublin West
• Archways/Blue Skies (ABC) Initiative (Clondalkin, Dublin)*
• The Genesis (ABC) Programme (Co. Louth)*
• Deansrath Family Resource Centre, Dublin
• The NI Clinical Trials Unit, Belfast

The key aims of the ENRICH research are to: (1) assess parent and child outcomes over time (e.g. parenting skills, child behaviour, parent-child relationships); (2) explore and identify facilitative/ inhibitive factors impacting programme implementation; and (3) assess the cost-effectiveness of the programmes. A core aspect of the research involves close collaboration between the research team based in Maynooth University, service providers and practitioners working in public health nursing, social care and community-based services, and parents and children living in disadvantaged communities across Dublin West, Kildare, West Wicklow and Co. Louth. We aim to reach a wide range of service providers in the public health, social care and community/voluntary sector, as well as academics and researchers across a number of disciplines and decision makers and policy makers in the field.

Broadly speaking, this research involves elements of three engaged research approaches including: (1) community-based research; (2) community-university partnerships; and (3) participatory action research. Thus, there was extensive collaboration and engagement between community partners and the research team in developing the research idea, informing the research design(s) and, in the case of the ChARM strand, helping to develop a new intervention/ programme for parents of children at risk of entering care. The research also involves regular liaison and stakeholder agreement on ongoing research developments and outputs and active participation in ‘sharing and learning’ workshops and other stakeholder events.

The research is being conducted in line with the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions and MRC guidance on the process evaluation of complex interventions.

Specific methods include:

• A multi-site community-based controlled trial.
• A small exploratory Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) (also community-based).
• Two process evaluations.
• Two economic appraisals.
• A separate Knowledge Translation (KT) strand (e.g. survey, series of one-to-one interviews and focus groups with a wide range of key stakeholders, design and development of a series of Implementation Guides for the Parent and Infant programme/ service, development of a digital dashboard, plus a range of other focused KT activities).

The outputs are as follows:

• A new service model co-developed by the research team and community-based stakeholders.
• Peer-reviewed journal articles (4 to date; 3 in submission; 6 in preparation).
• Research and technical reports (> 16 to date).
• Conference presentations, seminars, invited papers and keynotes (>30 to date).
• Six stakeholder workshops/ seminars.
• A Knowledge Translation workshop (April 2018).
• Project promotional materials.
• E-newsletter.
• Large number of quantitative and qualitative data sets (which could be usefully archived and made available for future analysis pending approval from the funders).
• Policy briefs (planned).
• A project webpage (see www.cmhcr.eu), social media (Twitter) and participation in relevant media activities (e.g. radio interviews).
• Protocols for the evaluation of wraparound-inspired prevention and early intervention programmes (developed in collaboration with community partners).
• Liaison and active dialogue throughout the research process to create and, in turn, promote engagement, recruitment and retention of parents from disadvantaged communities.
• New collaborations/ partnerships (e.g. with universities in the UK and community-based organisations).

The outcomes are as follows:

• To generate a better understanding of the needs of parents in the early years amongst relevant health and social care professionals and community-based organisations.
• To increase knowledge and understanding of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of new wraparound-inspired programmes for children and families in the earliest years (from birth to two years; part of the first 1000 days).
• To help improve developmental outcomes for children from birth to 11 years and family wellbeing (including strengthened parental competency) living in disadvantaged communities.
• To inform the on-the-ground practices of health and social care professionals and community-based organisations who work with vulnerable/potentially vulnerable families.
• To help influence thinking, behaviour and policy in relation to the implementation of evidence-based programmes in the early years.
• To promote the uptake of evidence-informed practice and build capacity in knowledge translation amongst researchers in the field.

• Health and Wellbeing
• Policy/ product development
• Professional services
• New knowledge
• Human Capacity/ capacity building