Family Strengthening Intervention for Early Childhood Development (ECD) (FSIECD)

Adapting a Family Strengthening Intervention (FSI) to Improve Early Childhood Development (ECD) Outcomes

Study activities were carried out to adapt and test a family-strengthening intervention to improve child development outcomes among families facing adversity in Rwanda.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Child Development
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: FSI ECD

Detailed Description

Qualitative research from past studies was used to adapt an existing family-strengthening intervention for HIV-AIDS affected families to extremely vulnerable families with children 0-3 in order to improve early childhood development outcomes. This small scale pilot was carried out to test the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention for extremely vulnerable families with young children in Rwanda.

In the first 10 families the intervention consisted of 21 modules, in the second iteration of the study with an additional 10 families, the curriculum was summarized into 15 modules. Modules were delivered by trained bachelor-level interventionists/home-visiting coaches and were delivered to families one on one in their respective homes. Modules were delivered on a weekly to biweekly basis and were flexible to the families needs and other responsibilities.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 55
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 6 months to 3 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Potential participants must live in the study catchment area
• Caregiver(s) raising a child between 6 and 3 years old and Ubudehe 1 or 2 (Rwanda's poverty classification system)
• We will enroll both single and dual caregiver families to reflect population dynamics.
• Legal guardians may be aunts, uncles, grandparents, or foster parents

Exclusion Criteria:

• Potential participants that do not live in the study catchment area
• Do not have at least one child between the ages of 0 and 3 living in their household for whom they are the primary caregiver
• Are not classified as Ubudehe 1 or 2
• Have severe cognitive impairments which preclude their ability to speak to the research questions under study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: FSI ECD; Vulnerable Households (ubudehe 1 or 2) in the Government of Rwanda's poverty classification system, when categories ranged from 1 to 6; the system has since been restructured to have four categories only. Often a way to identify households for public works opportunities or other government assistance programs. For this arm, families had to be Ubudehe 1 or 2 and have a child aged 0-3 years. Households meeting these criteria in the catchment area(s) received the FSI ECD home-based parenting intervention from bachelor-level interventionists/"coaches."

Other: FSI ECD; The FSI ECD intervention was delivered in a structured curriculum format, covering a range of topics from health, water and sanitation, good hygiene, early stimulation, conflict resolution, to good communication. It was designed to improve vulnerable households home environment and engagement with their children in order to improve child development outcomes. The curriculum was delivered by bachelor-level trained staff with beneficiaries on an individual, one on one basis, using active coaching to promote child well being and behaviors with caregivers.; Other Names: Family Strengthening Intervention for ECD

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change: Ages and Stages Questionnaire	Child development	12 months/18 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change: Hopkins Symptoms CheckList	Caregiver Mental Health	12 months/18 months
Change: MICS-5	Water, Sanitation, and Hygeine	12 months/18 months
Change: Rwanda Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis and Nutrition Survey	Household Food Security	12 months/18 months
Change: Locally Derived Scale	Family Trust and Unity	12 months/18 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Boston College
• Collaborators: World Bank
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Theresa Betancourt, Sc.D, M.A., Boston College

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 16, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 3, 2017
• First Posted (Estimate): February 7, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 31, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 30, 2018
• Last Verified: May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: home visiting; ECD; parenting program
• Other Study ID Numbers: 15440_IVC