Peer Review History
| Original SubmissionMay 22, 2023 |
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PONE-D-23-15381Study protocol for a systems evaluation of an infant mental health service: integration of ‘Little Minds Matter’ into the early years system.PLOS ONE Dear Dr. Ellwood, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please submit your revised manuscript by Sep 01 2023 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:
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Kind regards, Veincent Christian Pepito Academic Editor PLOS ONE Journal requirements: When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements. 1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and Additional Editor Comments: Dear Author, thanks for your submission. It looks promising; however, I would like to clarify a few things: 1. I want you to clarify what specific type of "evaluation" you are carrying out. Is it an impact evaluation? Is it a process evaluation? This is to manage expectations for the reader. 2. I want you to give more details about what the intervention is by actually showing its theory of change (i.e., from inputs to process, to output, to outcome, and to impact), instead of just its parts. It would also be helpful what specific parts or aspects of the ToC will you be actually evaluating (which will answer Comment 1). 3. One of the objectives is to assess whether LMM increased knowledge and understanding of IMH (Line 144-145). However, I do not actually see what specific methodology you will use to answer this objective and how you will attribute any change in knowledge to the LMM program instead of other externalities. 4. On a more general note, I would appreciate it if you could specify how you would answer each of the objectives you have listed in Lines 134-145. Who are the respondents, what is the evaluation design used, what frameworks should be used, what analysis methods should be used, etc. I think you will also be using an implementation research framework to answer the facilitators and barriers objective, I surmise? 5. It is exemplary that you want to document how the embedding of the LMM affected the status quo. I want you to scale this up by also describing any assessments of unintended consequences that you would be doing on top of what has been described. Minor comments: 1. Do not confuse efficacy with effectiveness. 2. Fix referencing. Please also see the comments of the reviewers and see to it that these are addressed so that we can publish your protocol soon. Thank you. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] Reviewers' comments: Reviewer's Responses to Questions Comments to the Author 1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions? The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field. Reviewer #1: Partly Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses? The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory. Reviewer #1: Partly Reviewer #2: Partly ********** 3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable? Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible. Reviewer #1: No Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete? The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English? PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here. Reviewer #1: No Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 6. Review Comments to the Author Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics. You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters) Reviewer #1: Here are some of my comments and questions related to the manuscript: Introduction: - The aim of the study states: “To describe the evaluation of LMM intervention using a systems evaluation approach”. Are there specific objectives to the study? In line 131, the authors have explained that it will look into how the system has changed over time and the dynamic relationship of the changes. Lines 136 onwards also lists study objectives. Clarify the general and specific objectives of the study and include these in the introduction. - The introduction describes the significance of the infant mental health and the program. Since the main objective of the proposal is to evaluate, improve this section with additional literature on the systems based approach to evaluation to help readers better understand the purpose of the protocol. Methodology: - Provide an illustration of the conceptual framework of the systems approach to evaluation - It was difficult to follow what the research group’s methodology is for the data collection. Could this be better supported through a straightforward summary or perhaps illustrated through a diagram? Also the differentiation of the participant groups through a table that summarizes the data to be obtained, data collection tool to be used, type of analysis, etc. - Outline potential assumptions and describe process more systematically to allow readers, policy-makers and other researchers to understand and even replicate the proposed approach to evaluation Study setting and The intervention - Since this is a program that is already running, how long has it been running? - How is the service availed within the study setting? Development of a system map - What is the basis of the system map? Is there a guiding framework being followed particularly the 3 categories for eh core objectives that services remit? Participants - Clarify the inclusion criteria (Line 177). Line 189 describes targeting staff working as team lead or in managerial levels. This and other inclusion criteria may be most helpful in understanding the process if it were included in the eligibility list describing the participants. - The number of respondents for the groups are different. Describe the basis of the sampling. Data collection / analysis - Since the group will not be stopping based on data saturation, how will the research team ensure that adequate information has already been gathered? - The limitation on the pre-intervention context should be supported by secondary literature review. Conclusion states that the study will evaluate whether a services has become embedded and influences a system. Which areas of the protocol will be answering this objective? Improve language and grammar of the manuscript to provide a clearer and cohesive narration of the project. Reviewer #2: - Congratulations on the conceptualization and implementation of the Little Minds Matter Program!! Early childhood matters! - Before embedding the Little Minds Matter in early years system, its validity as an effective intervention in improving infant mental has to be established. Please provide more information on this, i.e. initial outcomes studies on improvement of parent-infant relationships, etc. after completing the program. - Line 169. Would it be possible to include recipients of the program as another stakeholder group as it is noted that those interviewed are all service providers - Line 222. On the contrary, wouldn't it be beneficial for Group 3 to review the service map to see how LMM relates to the other services in the early years system to decrease the chances of it duplicating existing services and also to see how it can work synergistically with other programs? - Line 295. I am not clear about what your parameters are about LMM being "embedded" and "influencing" the system ********** 7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy. Reviewer #1: Yes: Angel Belle Dy Reviewer #2: No ********** [NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.] While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step. |
| Revision 1 |
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Study protocol for a systems evaluation of an infant mental health service: integration of ‘Little Minds Matter’ into the early years system. PONE-D-23-15381R1 Dear Dr. Ellwood, We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements. Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication. An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. Kind regards, Veincent Christian Pepito Academic Editor PLOS ONE Additional Editor Comments (optional): Congratulations on your work! Few comments on your final draft: 1. Emphasize that this is a process evaluation (not process of evaluation) to manage expectations 2. Review capitalization, grammar, and ensure that the font size, fonts are uniform throughout the manuscript to avoid typesetting errors. Reviewers' comments: Reviewer's Responses to Questions Comments to the Author 1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions? The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses? The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable? Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete? The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English? PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 6. Review Comments to the Author Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics. You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters) Reviewer #1: Thank you for the meticulous work and considerations in revising your manuscript. It has gained a lot more clarity, and I have no further comments. Reviewer #2: This is a much-improved protocol. It is easier to understand and more cohesive. Congratulations! Table 1 is a welcome addition as it showed how the objectives will be collected and analyzed. I suggest you use the active form of sentences for your final draft (ex. Line 325, etc) Line 329- indicate how the participant will be selected from the group so as to assure non-biased selection Line 336 - "We will not employ restrictions on coding, such as stopping analysis in response to data saturation because of the variety of professionals and services interviewed..." - please clarify what you mean by not stopping analysis when you have reached data saturation, this might mean redundant results or a lengthy discussion about similar themes. ********** 7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy. Reviewer #1: Yes: Angel Belle C. Dy Reviewer #2: Yes: Lourdes Bernadette Sumpaico-Tanchanco ********** |
| Formally Accepted |
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PONE-D-23-15381R1 Study protocol for a systems evaluation of an infant mental health service: integration of ‘Little Minds Matter’ into the early years system Dear Dr. Blower: I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org. If we can help with anything else, please email us at customercare@plos.org. Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access. Kind regards, PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff on behalf of Mr Veincent Christian Pepito Academic Editor PLOS ONE |
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