Impact of a Parenting Program in Liberia to Improve Parenting, Education, and Health Outcomes for Children in Liberia

January 22, 2016 updated by: International Rescue Committee

Impact Evaluation of a Parenting Program to Improve Parenting, Education, and Health Outcomes for Young Children in Liberia

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of an intervention to improve parenting practices, pre-academic and developmental skills, and use of mosquito nets for children in kindergarten in Liberia. A rigorous impact evaluation using a randomized, waitlist controlled design will be conducted to measure the impact of the intervention on three primary outcomes: positive parenting skills, children's cognitive and educational skills, and malaria knowledge and prevention behaviors.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

270

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • Liberia
    • Lofa County
      • Voinjama, Lofa County, Liberia
        • International Rescue Committee

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Parents or primary caregivers (age 18 or above) of children ages 3-7 enrolled in kindergarten
  • Resident in one of five study sites

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Severe cognitive disability of caregiver affecting ability to provide informed consent

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: "Parents Make the Difference"
Caregivers are enrolled in the 10-session Parents Make the Difference intervention.
Behavioral: Parents Make the Difference
The intervention, entitled "Parents Make the Difference," will include 10 sessions. Parents will attend in a group, and sessions will include didactic information, guided discussion, and modeling and practice of new skills. All sessions focus on positive parenting skills, with specific skills across three domains that have strong links to child outcomes: (a) positive, non-physical behavior management strategies, (b) strategies for promoting children's early learning, and (c) strategies, primarily use of bed nets, for preventing malaria in children.
Other: Waitlist Control
Caregivers assigned to the control group received the 10-session Parents Make the Difference intervention after the study was completed.
Behavioral: Parents Make the Difference
The intervention, entitled "Parents Make the Difference," will include 10 sessions. Parents will attend in a group, and sessions will include didactic information, guided discussion, and modeling and practice of new skills. All sessions focus on positive parenting skills, with specific skills across three domains that have strong links to child outcomes: (a) positive, non-physical behavior management strategies, (b) strategies for promoting children's early learning, and (c) strategies, primarily use of bed nets, for preventing malaria in children.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Parenting Behavior Assessment (adapted from multiple scales for this context)
Time Frame: 1 month
This is a caregiver-report survey measures including items on various parenting practices, including: caregiver-child communication; discipline and behavior management practices; caregiver-child affection and shared activities; caregiver involvement in child's school and educational activities. These items will yield several subscores for these different domains. Some items may also be analyzed as single items, as they measure specific and important outcomes (e.g., use of a harsh discipline strategy)
1 month
Parenting Self-Efficacy and Beliefs Assessment (adapted from other scales for this context; includes unique items developed for this context)
Time Frame: 1 month
These items assess parents' confidence in their parenting abilities and their beliefs about caregiving practices. This measure will yield separate scores for self-efficacy and beliefs about caregiving practices. Some items may also be analyzed as single items, as they measure specific and important outcomes (e.g., parents' belief about an aspect of harsh discipline)
1 month
Child Behavior Assessment (items adapted from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire)
Time Frame: 1 month
This tool assess children's behaviors and emotional well-being in the domains of hyperactivity, anger, aggression, mood, and peer relationships. They will be analyzed as an overall score, and single items may be analyzed for certain behaviors or indicators of emotional well-being.
1 month
Parent-Child Interaction Observation
Time Frame: 1 month
Caregivers and children in the study will be asked to engage in a play interaction for five minutes, and their verbal interactions will be audio-recorded. Recordings will be coded for specific behaviors. The coding system is adapted from the Dyadic Parent Child Interaction Coding System.
1 month
Child Cognitive / Pre-Academic Abilities and Emotional Well-being
Time Frame: 1 month
Children will be administered activity-based items to assess a range of cognitive and learning skills, including verbal and language skills (as measured by several activities), numeracy, and pattern recognition. Items will be combined into composite scores but may also be analyzed separately to measure outcomes on specific abilities (e.g., counting). Children will also be asked five questions related to their emotional well-being adapted from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. These items will be analyzed as a sum score, and individual items may be analyzed for specific indicators of emotional well-being.
1 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Mosquito net usage
Time Frame: 1 month
A survey will be used to assess mosquito net usage by household members. Items will be analyzed separately to assess discrete behaviors (e.g., whether child him/herself slept under the net; whether any adult(s) slept under the net)
1 month

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

International Rescue Committee

Collaborators

Duke University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Eve Puffer, PhD, Duke University
  • Principal Investigator: Rhea Chase, PhD, Duke University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

August 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 8, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 8, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

April 11, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 25, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 22, 2016

Last Verified

January 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 5108

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

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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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