Full Scale Evaluation of Victim Support's WeMatter Service

Background Domestic abuse is estimated to affect one in five children and has been shown to negatively impact children’s emotions (Calder & Regan, 2008), behaviours, and social and physical health outcomes (Children’s Commissioner, 2018; Hughes et al., 2017; Kitzmann et al., 2003). However, research has shown that timely support for children and young people (CYP) who are victim-survivors of domestic abuse can mitigate or avert these negative outcomes (Mullender et al., 2002). Despite this, a recent report found that only 29% of parent victim-survivors in England and Wales who wanted support for their children were able to access it (Domestic Abuse Commissioner, 2022). Therefore, there is a need to improve the provision and access to support for CYP victims. To do this, we must first address a major barrier to improving services: that we have very little evidence about which services improve outcomes for children who have experienced domestic abuse. Intervention WeMatter is a digital, group-based support service for children and young people (CYP) between the ages of 8 and 17 who have been affected by domestic abuse, but are not classified as at high risk of harm and are not currently experiencing harm or living with the alleged perpetrator. It is run by the charity Victim Support, which designed the service based on the Rockpool CYP Domestic Abuse Recovery Toolkit. The service lasts 12 weeks in total, comprising of an introductory 1:1 session, ten weekly online group sessions, and a final 1:1 session. The group sessions incorporate activities, games, and discussions that use simple cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and allow CYP to support each other. CYP can join from school or home, whichever is their preferred setting. Digital delivery means CYP can engage with peers who have been through similar experiences, but who they are unlikely to know in real life. It also means that the service can easily be offered nationally, since facilitators can deliver the sessions remotely to CYP from different local areas in the same sessions. Aims The evaluation will consist of an impact evaluation (IE) of the effects of WeMatter on CYP mental wellbeing and feelings of being supported, an implementation and process evaluation (IPE) to assess how and whether WeMatter works as intended, and a cost evaluation. The IE will address the following research questions: • Primary research question: What is the short-term impact of WeMatter on the mental wellbeing of participating CYP, compared to a no-intervention (waitlist) control? • Secondary research question: What is the short-term impact of WeMatter on participating CYP’s feelings of being supported, compared to a no-intervention (waitlist) control? The overarching aims of the IPE for this project are: • To assess the extent to which WeMatter was implemented as planned, identify any variations, and when and why they took place. • To explore the experience of WeMatter from the perspective of those receiving the intervention (CYP and their parents/carers) and of those involved in delivering it in schools (this will vary across schools but will likely be pastoral care or safeguarding leads) and referring CYP to WeMatter such as local authority stakeholders with a view to identifying the facilitators and barriers to effective delivery. • Where possible, to also explore whether Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (EDIE) characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, disability and diagnosed/undiagnosed extra needs) of CYP shaped their perceptions and experience of the intervention. • To qualitatively assess the mechanisms of change as captured in the ToC. • To qualitatively assess the extent to which WeMatter was perceived to achieve the targeted outcomes, both in the short term and the longer-term. The aim of the cost evaluation will be to provide an analysis of: • the total cost of running WeMatter for a year • the average cost per CYP accepted to receive WeMatter, i.e. CYP who are referred to WeMatter, who are deemed eligible to receive the service, and whose needs assessment suggests WeMatter is an appropriate intervention for them • costs of introducing WeMatter to a new local authority (start-up costs) • estimated values of the prerequisites for running WeMatter Methods The IE will be a two-armed, partially nested randomised controlled trial (RCT). We will randomise participating CYP one by one upon entry into the trial, by assigning them to an ordered list of pre-randomised participant IDs. Those in the treatment arm will start WeMatter immediately. CYP randomised to the waitlist control arm will not start WeMatter until after they have finished taking part in the trial. The primary outcome will be CYP mental wellbeing, measured using the Stirling Children’s Wellbeing Scale (Stirling Scale). The secondary outcome will be feelings of being supported, measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). We will collect the primary and secondary outcome measures from all CYP at two time points: a baseline data collection call planned as soon as possible after parents/carers give consent to participate in the evaluation , and an endline data collection call planned to take place 14 weeks after randomisation. We will randomise CYP once we have collected their baseline data. For the IPE, we will use a combination of administrative data supplied by Victim Support, qualitative interviews and observations of WeMatter group sessions. We will carry out fieldwork with a sample of service recipient CYP and parents/carers, the Victim Support delivery team, participating schools, and local authorities/referral organisations. To assess the costs of delivering WeMatter, we will collect data from Victim Support on the prerequisites and start-up costs, as well as the recurring costs for running the service. We will also conduct interviews with Victim Support staff to supplement the cost data. Ethical approval was obtained from Verian’s Research Ethics Committee on 30th January 2026. The ethics reference is 26/B001/01. Timeline Recruitment will begin in February 2026. Victim Support will deliver WeMatter for the evaluation between February 2026 and June 2027. Victim Support may continue to deliver WeMatter past June 2027 for CYP in the waitlist control arm. Between February 2026 and June 2027, Victim Support will recruit CYP to the trial, collect consent from a safe parent/carer, and collect participant information (e.g., CYP characteristics, parent/carer contact information, CYP attendance to WeMatter sessions). During this period, Verian will collect evaluation data. This will include collecting baseline and endline outcome measures from CYP, conducting interviews with CYP, parents/carers, Victim Support staff, and referral agencies, and collecting cost data from Victim Support. During the fieldwork period, the evaluation team will meet with Foundations and Victim Support monthly to review of the evaluation approach. The evaluation team will deliver the interim evaluation report in December 2026 and the final evaluation report in October 2027. The evaluation team will upload the analysis code and pseudonymised data on GitHub and Foundations’ data archive from October 2027.