The Supporting Wellness through Integrated Family Training (SWIFT) project aims to understand and identify an optimal delivery system for ParentText.
To meet this aim, the project will address the following core objectives:
- To use a randomised encouragement design to assess whether encouragement (versus very low-cost advertisement) significantly improves take-up of and engagement with ParentText
- To test the sexual violence prevention module of ParentText in an RCT. A pilot study will be carried out in one clinic in Wolseley, with this followed by a full RCT in six clinics in the districts of Ceres and Delft.
Phase 1 (2023–2024) of the study involved intensive stakeholder engagement within health and social development sectors, focusing on intervention scope and practical implementation considerations. In 2024, the SWIFT team commenced Phase 2, making significant progress in preparations for the pilot study set to launch in the first quarter of 2025.
The study
Phase 1 (2023–2024) of the study involved intensive stakeholder engagement within health and social development sectors, focusing on intervention scope and practical implementation considerations. In 2024, the SWIFT team commenced Phase 2, making significant progress in preparations for the pilot study set to launch in the first quarter of 2025.
The team have made good progress with the design of their planned study, finalising a trial design that supports SWIFT’s aim to embed their intervention within service delivery systems in Ceres and Delft. The study will employ a randomised encouragement trial design (RET), a form of RCT design where the treatment is made available to the entire population, but randomised encouragement is given to some users. In the case of SWIFT, all interested caregivers can access the ParentText intervention, but a randomly selected sample will receive additional encouragement to access it and take it up, likely from clinic nurses in chosen testing sites.
Phase 2 of the study has run in parallel with, and continues to be shaped by connections formed during stakeholder engagements that began in Phase 1. Overall, phase 1 engagements have been invaluable to understand how the SWIFT study can be established to enable the intervention to have the best chance of long-term sustainability and scalability.
The intervention
Based on engagement data and learnings gained from other studies in the broader GPI, the SWIFT intervention will implement the 5-Day ParentText user experience programme. SWIFT’s intervention will occur in parallel to a large-scale RCT – led by the ParentText Optimisation in South Africa team – to evaluate the programme’s effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. The adaptation of the full ParentText programme arose from findings of an Optimisation Trial (conducted in South Africa, 2023) that highlighted a participant drop off period around the 8 to 10-day mark in a full 10-week programme. Following positive results from the testing of a 5-Day user experience in Mexico, the SWIFT team decided to incorporate this version into their intervention. In addition, use of the programme supports cost-effectiveness and an increased possibility for uptake by government departments during upscaling. The content of the 5-Day programme focuses on increasing the frequency of positive parent-child interactions. Further, at the end of each day’s content, parents are offered a playful parenting activity that they can engage in with their child.
The SWIFT team have made several adaptations to tailor the ParentText programme for the study’s implementation context.
Study significance and impact
This intervention has the potential to reach all parents everywhere. It will also provide insights into how the 5-Day ParentText user experience programme can be implemented sustainably and at scale. The results of our study will have applicability far beyond PLH: they will provide guidance to all other service systems that offer low-cost digital programmes with in-built referral triggers and pathways.
