Study Protocol for a Research and Development Project: Optimizing a Unified Parent Training Intervention to Prevent Child Mental Health Problems and Neglect

This protocol describes a research and development (R&D) project aimed at optimizing a targeted, preventive, efficacious, and tailored intervention called Supportive Parents – Coping Kids (SPARCK). Combining recent developments in basic and intervention research, the goal of this project is to develop, test and optimize a unified parent training intervention targeting children who display externalizing and internalizing symptoms and parents who are at risk of exhibiting maladaptive or neglectful parenting behaviors. We plan to utilize various design-based research methodologies to investigate what works for whom in which context, points which are essential to the innovation process, by employing a mixed methods research design and an iterative optimization process of testing and refinement. Furthermore, we introduce a cocreation process for SPARCK to involve relevant stakeholders working in Norwegian frontline services for children and their families to ensure that the intervention adheres to the needs and constraints encountered by these stakeholders and thereby promote the scalability and sustainable implementation of SPARCK. In this paper, we present the theoretical and methodological background of this approach to R&D in the field of mental health prevention as well as the operationalization of innovative methodology in the current project. This R&D approach aims to produce new knowledge concerning individual change mechanisms in parent training interventions and stakeholder feedback pertaining to intervention components and implementation strategies, all of which are imperative for the iterative SPARCK design process. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The project is approved by: Regional Comittees for Medical Research Ethics South East Norway and Norwegian Centre for Research Data I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes This is a study protocol for intervention development, no data is used in the article