Harmonising outcome measurement for child focused domestic abuse interventions. Reflections on the development and implementation of a core outcome set

There is appetite in the UK to better measure the impact of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) interventions on children. The spread of outcomes-based commissioning means outcome measurement is no longer just the territory of academic researchers but is now firmly within the purview of practitioners and policy makers. However, outcomes measured in trials only partially represent the views of those delivering and using services with respect to how success should be defined and captured. Even within trials there is huge inconsistency in the definition and measurement of important endpoints. This yields a body of evidence that is difficult to make sense of, defeating the ends for which it was produced – to improve the response to children and families who have experienced abuse. Development of Core Outcome Sets (COS) is seen as a solution to this problem, by establishing consensus across key stakeholder groups regarding a minimum standard for outcome measurement in trials, and increasingly in service delivery contexts. To date COS development has addressed outcomes relating to health conditions or interventions, with limited application to public health challenges. We reflect on our efforts to develop a COS to evaluate psychosocial interventions for children and families experiencing DVA. We highlight the value of COS development as a mechanism for improving evidence quality and the response to families experiencing abuse. Finally, we make recommendations to researchers and COS guideline developers to support this broader application of COS methodology.

Contributors

Emma Howarth, Gene Feder, Christine Barter and Claire Powell

Publication

Journal: Frontiers in Psychiatry
Volume: 15
Issue:
Pages: -
Year: 2024
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1296437

Further Study Information

Current Stage: Completed
Date:
Funding source(s): The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research benefits from and contributes to the NIHR Children and Families Policy Research Unit (PR-PRU-1217-21301) but was not commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme. The COS study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme. The review of practice-based tools was funded by the Home Office.

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Method(s)

- Literature review

Linked Studies

• Adapting a consensus process for survivors of domestic abuse and child maltreatment: a brief report about adopting a trauma-informed approach in multistakeholder workshops
• Developing Core Outcome Sets for psycho-social interventions to improve outcomes for children with experience, or at risk, of maltreatment or domestic abuse
• Child and family-focused interventions for child maltreatment and domestic abuse: development of core outcome sets
• The Importance of Grey and Qualitative Literature in Developing Domestic Violence and Abuse and Child Maltreatment Core Outcome Sets: A Brief Report
• Developing outcome measures: Domestic Abuse Core Outcomes Set (DVA-COS)

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