Scotland's Baby Box: parents' view on contents

1 Background and Objectives

1.1 Background

The Scottish Government piloted Scotland’s Baby Box scheme in Clackmannanshire and Orkney between January and March 2017. Qualitative research undertaken before ^[3] and after ^[4] the pilot found that parents considered the idea to be a good one and the contents to be of good quality and range. The scheme was rolled out to include all babies due in Scotland from 15 August 2017 onwards.

The Scottish Government required research to inform re‑procurement of the Baby Box contents for the period from November 2017 and commissioned Progressive Partnership to undertake this research. A wider evaluation will also be conducted to assess the longer term impacts of the scheme.

1.2 Research aims and objectives

The aim of the research was to inform decisions about which items to include in the box for the re-procurement by gathering parents’ views on the items and how they have used/will use them. Specific research questions required feedback in relation to:

• Each item currently included in the box and whether parents have used/will use them
• Quality and presentation of items, and of the box itself
• Alternative items to be included
• Views on the nature and level of information included (e.g. on safe sleeping and breastfeeding)
• Communications about the scheme
• Use of the Parent Club website.