Nick Axford, Gisella Hanley, Rebecca Summers, Kristin Liabo, Amy Bond, Eleanor F Bryant, Georgia Smith, Rachel Silcock, Vashti Berry
The adverse effects on parent and child outcomes of poverty and stressors associated with low income are well established. With notable exceptions, however, the potential role of frontline services in improving family financial well-being is underexplored. This article outlines how patient and public involvement (PPI) was initiated early on in research on financial well-being support (FWbS). It illustrates how research can build on and integrate what parents say about services and how to research them. The involvement work was undertaken in one city in part to inform the adaptation of an income maximisation service to be delivered in local children's centres. Parents were involved using two approaches: open events with 'silent conversations', and individual conversations. Parents were invited to comment on four issues: which families should receive FWbS; how to make FWbS accessible; the process of delivering FWbS; and the nature or content of FWbS. The article describes how we approached parents via existing services, how conversations were facilitated and how parents' views informed the immediate service redesign and new research on FWbS to improve parent and child outcomes. It also identifies learning, for instance on engaging people not involved in services, involving people throughout a project and offering training and support for researchers and service providers around how to involve people with lived experience of poverty in respectful and meaningful ways.