Engagement of parents in child-focused interventions

Background: Parent engagement in interventions for their children is considered necessary to the success of many allied health services. Currently, however, the concept of engagement is poorly defined and minimally understood. While literature on engagement is emerging, a coordinated overview of the topic from related disciplines is notably absent. Without this, it is difficult to translate insights of parent engagement into practical strategies for clinicians. The aim of this review is to systematically search the literature to identify factors relevant to parent engagement in child-focused interventions. Methods/Design: This review will follow a systematised literature review procedure, with a focus on comprehensive searching as well as application of quality appraisal and analysis steps. A search of five electronic databases will be undertaken, alongside citation tracking and hand searching of literature. Articles will be screened for relevance in a two-stage process (exclusion by title/abstract and exclusion at full text review), aligned with inclusion and exclusion criteria consistent with the review question. Included literature will be assessed for quality using a tool relevant to the study methods (quantitative or qualitative). Data analysis will include narrative synthesis for quantitative studies, and thematic synthesis for qualitative studies. Discussion: This review will explore literature on parent engagement across related child-focused interventions, to better define the concept of engagement and identify factors which contribute to parents being engaged in the treatment of their children. This information may guide further research on engagement of parents, and support practitioners working to develop interventions that maximally engage parents for optimal child outcomes.