The Playful Learning in Infancy Program (PLIP)

The Playful Learning in Infancy Program (PLIP): A Pilot Feasibility Study of an Universal Educational Parenting Program Using a Parallel Group Design

In the Playful Learning in Infancy Program, parents receive research-based educational guidance on playful interactions with their infants aged 0-1 year. They learn to recognize their infants' cues indicating readiness to engage in play and they are introduced to specific, developmentally appropriate activities for interactive engagement. The guidance is delivered to parents during routine home visits by public health visitors.

The aims of the Playful Learning in Infancy Program are to 1) promote playful interactions between infants and parents, parental attitudes towards play, and infant socioemotional development; 2) enhance the language and knowledge of playful learning in infancy among frontline staff; and 3) evaluate the Playful Learning in Infancy Program for potential testing in a future large-scale RCT study.

Evaluation is based on a parallel group study design, with half of the participants receiving care as usual and half of the participants receiving care as usual along with the Playful Learning in Infancy Program.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Parent-Child Relations; Infant Development
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Postnatal care as usual; Behavioral: Playful Learning in Infancy Program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 2327
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Mette S. Væver, PhD; Phone Number: +45 35324906; Email: mette.vaever@psy.ku.dk
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Maja Nyström-Hansen, PhD; Phone Number: +45 35336499; Email: mnh@psy.ku.dk

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Copenhagen, Denmark, 1353
    • Recruiting
    • Center for Early Interventions and Family Studies, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen
    • Contact: Mette S. Væver, PhD; Phone Number: +45 35324906; Email: mette.vaever@psy.ku.dk
    • Contact: Maja Nyström-Hansen, PhD; Phone Number: +4535336499; Email: mnh@psy.ku.dk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Residence address in the Danish municipalities of Hvidovre or Billund
• Residence address with child or legal custody of the child
• Child is between 1-7 months old
• Understands Danish or English

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parental age under the age of 18 when the child is born
• Multiple pregnancy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Care As Usual; Postnatal care as usual	Behavioral: Postnatal care as usual; In accordance with Danish national guidelines, health visitors visit families during the infants first year of life, where they weigh and measure the infant. Further, they offer individual guidance and support regarding for instance feeding, sleeping, how to stimulate the infant, and the developmental stages that the infant goes through.
Experimental: Playful Learning in Infancy Program; Playful Learning in Infancy Program plus postnatal care as usual	Behavioral: Playful Learning in Infancy Program; Research-based knowledge on play with babies delivered to the parents systematically by public health visitors based on a manual, activity cards, and video clips at four time points from 0 to 12 months postpartum.; Other Names: Leg og samspil; Playful Interactions

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parental Playful interactions	Playful interactions are assessed using The Parent Play Questionnaire (PPQ) by Ahmadzadeh et al. (2020), which assesses the frequency of parent-child play and screen use.	T2 (infant age 3-3.5 months), T3 (infant age 7-7.5 months), and T4 (infant age 10-10.5 months)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parental Stress	Maternal and paternal parenting stress is assessed via self-report using the Parenting Stress Index™, Third Edition Short Form (PSI-3-SF; Abidin, 1995).	T3 (infant age 7-7.5 months)
Infant Socio-emotional Development	Infant socio-emotional development is assessed via parental report using the Ages & Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE-2; Squires, Bricker, & Twombly, 2015).	T5 (infant age 11-11.5 months)
Infant Level of Play	We have developed questions for the parents to report on the child's level of play, based on Belsky, J., & Most, R. K. (1981).	T4 (infant age 10-10.5 months)
Parental Mind-Mindedness	Parental mind-mindedness is assessed using a written response to the first question from the "Describe your child" interview (Meins et al., 1998). Mind-mindedness is coded according to the criteria specified in the mind-mindedness coding manual (Meins & Fernyhough, 2015).	T5 (infant age 11-11.5 months)
Parental Attachment Style	Parents' attachment style is assessed using the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised-Short Form (ECR-RS) questionnaire (Fraley et al., 2000).	T1/Enrollment (4 weeks - 8 months)
Parental Mental Well-Being	Parental mental well-being is assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale - (S)WEMWBS (Tennant et al., 2007).	T1/Enrollment (4 weeks - 8 months) and T5 (infant age 11-11.5 months)
Infant Screen Time	The infant's screen time is assessed using quantitative questions developed for the project and administered to parents.	T2 (infant age 3-3.5 months), T3 (infant age 7-7.5 months), and T4 (infant age 10-10.5 months)
Questions developed for the study regarding Parental Involvement	Questions developed for the study regarding the parent's involvement in the child's life and daily activities.	T2 (infant age 3-3.5 months), T3 (infant age 7-7.5 months), and T4 (infant age 10-10.5 months)
Questions developed for the study regarding Parental Knowledge of Play	Questions developed for the study for parents in the intervention group regarding knowledge of play.	T2 (infant age 3-3.5 months), T3 (infant age 7-7.5 months), and T4 (infant age 10-10.5 months)
Parental Experience of the PLIP	Qualitative interviews with a subsample of parents.	Immediately after the intervention
Health Visitors' Experience of the PLIP	Qualitative interviews with a subsample of health visitors.	Immediately after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Copenhagen
• Collaborators: LEGO Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mette S. Væver, University of Copenhagen

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 20, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 3, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 8, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 26, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 20, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Prevention; Infant; Socioemotional; Parental competence; Universal intervention; Playful Learning; Public health visitors
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Therapeutics; Patient Care; Health Services; Health Care Facilities Workforce and Services; Community Health Services; Maternal Health Services; Perinatal Care; Postnatal Care
• Other Study ID Numbers: 514-0335/23-2000

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No