Adapting a Family Strengthening Intervention (FSI) to Improve Early Childhood Development (ECD) Outcomes
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Sponsor
- Boston College
- Enrollment
- 55
- Primary Endpoint
- Change: Ages and Stages Questionnaire
Study Overview
Brief Summary
Study activities were carried out to adapt and test a family-strengthening intervention to improve child development outcomes among families facing adversity in Rwanda.
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 Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Na
- Intervention Model
- Single Group
- Primary Purpose
- Treatment
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 6 Months to 36 Months (Child)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
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
Arms & Interventions
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."
Intervention: FSI ECD (Other)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Change: Ages and Stages Questionnaire
Time Frame: 12 months/18 months
Child development
Secondary Outcomes
- Change: Locally Derived Scale(12 months/18 months)
- Change: Hopkins Symptoms CheckList(12 months/18 months)
- Change: Rwanda Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis and Nutrition Survey(12 months/18 months)
- Change: MICS-5(12 months/18 months)
Investigators
Theresa Betancourt
Salem Professor in Global Practice
Boston College