The STEPS App
What is STEPS (Structured E-Parenting Support)?
The primary research question for the OPTIMA Trial is whether the STEPS app can reduce the severity of children’s oppositional and defiant behaviour, as rated by parents. There were also several secondary and exploratory outcomes. These included whether STEPS could reduce other ADHD-related symptoms in children and whether the app had an effect on parents’ emotional wellbeing and the parent-child relationship. Importantly, the trial also looked at whether STEPS would be a cost- effective intervention.
Development of the App
Families waiting for a clinical assessment for their child are enduring long wait times with little or no support, often making the problems they are facing worse. STEPS is intended to provide a low-cost, flexible to solution to families at this challenging time. The app is inspired by the New Forest Parenting Programme – a face-to-face parent training programme which has been shown to have a short-term positive impact on child outcomes. The STEPS app does not replace clinical support but gives parents access to additional help while they are waiting for assessment.
We conducted a small usability study of STEPS in advance of the full randomised control trial. Parents described the app as easy to navigate and use and as having an attractive combination of colours and visual design. They described the content as useful, pitched at the right level, and sensitively presented. You can read more about the usability study in this paper.
Structure and Content
STEPS features eight modules that parents can move through at their own pace and in their own time. It takes about 20 minutes to complete each module, and more content is unlocked as you move throughout the app. Most of the content is delivered via bite-sized videos and audio clips, narrated by a buddy (a parent played by an actor).
The app also includes downloadable resources and space to record personal
reflections. Parents can favourite any content in the app to refer to later.
Our parent panel helped us to develop a short animation about the STEPS app
which can be watched by clicking here. To read more about why and how the
animation was developed with our parent panel, you can also read the blog post
here.
Parents' feedback
Testimonials and parents’ feedback about the STEPS app
