Evaluation of a Group-based Parenting Intervention for Early Childhood Development

January 2, 2024 updated by: Joshua Jeong, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)
This implementation research study aims to evaluate the impact and implementation of a group-based parenting program for improving early child development and caregiver outcomes. This study is enrolling primary caregivers with children 0 to 24 months of age to promote caregiver knowledge and skills about nurturing care for young children and support caregiver psychosocial wellbeing. Parenting groups will leverage existing community group networks and be facilitated by trained volunteers for 20 total sessions (groups will meet twice a month for 10 months). ChildFund Kenya and its community partners will implement the program in Busia and Homabay counties. The research study design will involve a cluster-randomized controlled trial and a qualitative implementation evaluation. This research is being led by Emory University with funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

This research has two study components and aims. First, a cluster-randomized controlled trial will be used to quantitatively estimate the effectiveness of the parenting program on early child development and caregiver outcomes. For the research study sample, villages in Busia and Homabay counties were randomly selected and randomly assigned in each county to either the intervention or waitlist control group. Villages in the intervention group will receive the parenting program first, while villages in the control group will receive the program after the completion of the research study. In total, 64 villages have been selected into this study. Then in each village, 10 primary caregivers with children 0-24 months of age will be enrolled into the study for a total of 640 caregiver-child dyads. A caregiver survey and observational assessment of early child development skills will be administered to study participants at baseline and endline to evaluate changes in outcomes between groups over time. Second, and following the completion of the program, qualitative in-depth interviews will be conducted with participants and various stakeholders (e.g., program participants, parenting group facilitators, community health volunteers, ChildFund program staff) to understand their roles and experiences with the parenting program as well as the challenges and successes to inform future implementation. This qualitative implementation evaluation will seek to identify the barriers and facilitators to program impact, quality delivery, scale-up, and sustainability.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
620

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • Kenya
      • Nairobi, Kenya
        • B&M Consult

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • primary caregiver of a child aged 0-24 months at the time of enrollment
  • the household resides within the geographic boundary of the village that was sampled into the research study
  • primary caregiver provides informed consent for themselves and their child to participate

Exclusion Criteria:

  • none

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Parenting Program
This community-based group parenting program aims improve caregiver knowledge, attitudes, and practices on nurturing care to ultimate improve early childhood development. A secondary aim of the program is to support caregiver psychosocial wellbeing. The curriculum covers various topics relating to responsive caregiving, early learning, child protection, maternal and child health and nutrition, and caregiver mental health. Intervention will be delivered through existing community group networks. Each parenting group will comprise of 10 caregivers that will be facilitated by trained volunteers.
Behavioral: Parenting program
Villages in the intervention group will receive the parenting program. The parenting program consists of 20 total sessions, whereby groups will meet twice a month for 10 months.
No Intervention: Waitlist-Control
Villages in the control group will not immediately receive the parenting program. Instead, they will receive whatever standard of care services are delivered at the community-level (e.g., routine services from community health volunteers that are primarily focused on maternal and child health and nutrition). After endline data collection is completed for the trial, then villages in the control group will receive the parenting program.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Child development
Time Frame: 10 months
Child development measured using the Global Scales of Early Development - Long Form (GSED-LF). GSED-LF is based on direct administration by a research assistant. GSED-LF provides one score for the overall development of children 0-36 months of age. GSED scores will be age-standardized to a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. Higher scores will indicate improved early developmental skills.
10 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Child socioemotional development
Time Frame: 10 months
Child socioemotional development based on observational rating by a research assistant using an adapted version of the Wolke Scales (e.g., child affect, vocalization, cooperation with the research assistant). An average score will be calculated across the items with higher scores indicating more positive child behaviors.
10 months
Attitudes towards parenting
Time Frame: 10 months
Primary caregivers will report the extent to which they agree with various statements about parental roles and engagement in nurturing care practices. A total score will be calculated with higher scores indicating more supportive parenting attitudes.
10 months
Caregiving environment
Time Frame: 10 months
Caregiving environment will be assessed using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment for infants and toddlers aged 0 to 3 years (HOME-IT). It combines caregiver-reported items and observations of parenting behaviors to assess early learning opportunities at home and responsive caregiving behaviors of primary caregiver with the child. A total score will be calculated with higher scores indicate more responsive caregiving and enriched home learning environments.
10 months
Caregiver stimulation practices
Time Frame: 10 months
Caregiver stimulation practices reported by primary caregiver about their engagement in early learning activities with the child (e.g. singing, telling stories). Activities adapted from the Family Care Indicators. A total score will be calculated with higher scores indicating more engagement in stimulation activities.
10 months
Caregiver disciplinary practices
Time Frame: 10 months
Caregiver disciplinary practices reported by primary caregivers in terms of harsh punishment (e.g., shook the child, shouted at child) and positive disciplinary practices (e.g., explained why the behavior was wrong) used towards the child. Items adapted from Child Discipline Module of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. Separate indicators will be created for use of any harsh disciplinary practices or any positive disciplinary practices.
10 months
Infant and young child feeding practices
Time Frame: 10 months
Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices including caregiver-reported breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding practices and child dietary diversity score (number of food groups the child consumed in previous 24 hours) based on WHO guidelines.
10 months
Parenting stress
Time Frame: 10 months
Parenting distress reported by the primary caregiver using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, Parental Distress subscale. Higher total scores indicate greater parenting distress.
10 months
Depressive symptoms
Time Frame: 10 months
Depressive symptoms reported by the primary caregiver using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-10 items (CESD-10). Caregivers report on the frequency of depressive symptoms in the previous week. Items are summed to create an overall depression score, with higher scoring indicating greater depressive symptoms.
10 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
ChildFund Kenya
B&M Consult

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Joshua Jeong, ScD, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
November 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
October 30, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
December 2, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 2, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
December 11, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
January 3, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 2, 2024

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • ISERC/JOOTRH/736/23

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

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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