Potentials and pitfalls of a play-based, multi component, family-oriented intervention for socially disadvantaged children: A cluster-randomised feasibility trial

There are numerous health promotion and prevention interventions targeting underserved children and families, yet few have proven effective. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of the family-oriented, multi-component, play-based intervention, the Family Rocket (directly translated from the Danish ‘’FamilieRaketten’), as well as the cluster-randomised trial design. The Family Rocket targets vulnerable families with children between the ages of three and 12 years of age and consists of weekly three-hour family-group sessions over the course of 20 weeks. The intervention is designed to support the parents in their parental competences, as well as stimulating the children’s literacy, emotional literacy, food literacy, and physical literacy through play-based activities. We used mixed methods to assess the intervention adaptation, expansion, acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality, integration, and conducted a quantitative limited-efficacy testing. The Family Rocket was found to have a high experienced intervention acceptability and demand amongst intervention facilitators and families, but the findings also suggested that the intervention and research design required significant amendments prior to a formal effect study. The study was supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (Grant ID #0072143)