Integration of Household-Based Interventions With Early Childhood Programming: A Randomized Controlled Trial in the Philippines
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 尚未招募
- 发起方
- 入组人数
- 700
- 主要终点
- Children's early numeracy competency at post-intervention and 12 months
研究概览
简要总结
This study evaluates the integration of two complementary poverty alleviation programs: Compassion International's (CI) child-focused Survival and Early Childhood Program with International Care Ministries' (ICM) household-level Transform + Family Academy intervention. CI's program provides holistic child development through health support, educational programming, social development, and spiritual formation via local church partners for children aged 3-5 years. ICM's Transform + Family Academy combines a 15-week household intervention targeting health education, livelihood training, and values formation with an 8-week early childhood education component delivered through home visits.
The primary aim of this research is to assess whether integrating household-level interventions with child-focused programming enhances early numeracy and literacy outcomes among children aged 3-5 living in extreme poverty in Western and Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The study also examines the intervention's impact on children's nutritional status and household financial resilience, including savings behaviors and access to social safety nets.
The investigators hypothesize that addressing household-level constraints including caregiver capacity, health, and economic challenges will enhance children's academic and nutritional outcomes alongside household financial resilience compared to child-focused programming alone.
详细描述
This individual-level randomized controlled trial examines the integration of Compassion International's (CI) child-focused Survival and Early Childhood Program with International Care Ministries' (ICM) household-level Transform + Family Academy intervention among 700 families with children aged 3-5 years across CI's partner communities in Western and Southern Mindanao, Philippines. All participating households are currently registered in CI's Survival and Early Childhood Program, which provides comprehensive child development support through local community partners. Through random assignment, half of the households will additionally receive ICM's household-level intervention targeting the broader family system.
This study examines whether combining ICM's household-level interventions with CI's child-focused programming can improve developmental outcomes for children aged 3-5 years in extreme poverty settings. The research evaluates the effectiveness of ICM's Transform + Family Academy approach to addressing broader family constraints, including caregiver capacity, health challenges, and economic instability, on children's developmental outcomes and household financial resilience when integrated with CI's Survival and Early Childhood Program. Specifically, the outcomes of interest include children's early numeracy and literacy development, alongside secondary outcomes of children's nutritional status and household financial resilience as measured through savings behaviors and social safety net access.
The hypothesis underlying this work suggests that child development programs may achieve greater impact when paired with comprehensive household support that tackles the multidimensional nature of poverty affecting both immediate child needs and the family systems that sustain long-term progress.
ICM's Transform component is a 15-week program delivered through weekly 90-minute community-based group sessions covering three domains: health education (malnutrition prevention, sanitation, respiratory infections, infant care), livelihood training (income diversification, business development, savings group formation), and values formation (personal character, family relationships, decision-making). Health and livelihood sessions are facilitated by trained ICM staff, while optional values components are delivered by community leaders.
The Family Academy component provides 8 weeks of home-based early childhood education through twice-weekly visits delivering separate one-hour sessions for mathematics and phonics instruction. These sessions target both children aged 3-5 and their caregivers, building caregiver capacity to support school readiness through structured learning activities and educational games.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Other
- 盲法
- None
盲法说明
Due to the nature of the interventions, participants cannot be blinded to their treatment assignment as treatment participants will attend Transform + Family Academy sessions while control participants will not. Implementation staff will necessarily know group assignments to deliver appropriate interventions. This is an unblinded study.
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 3 Years 至 5 Years（Child）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 否
入选标准
- •Households must have a child between 3 to 5 years old who is currently registered in CI's Survival and Early Childhood Program.
- •Households must meet ICM's poverty criteria with a poverty score of 50 and above as determined through asset-based scoring and household income evaluation. Higher scores indicate poorer households.
- •Each participating household must include an adult family member aged 18 to 65 years who serves as a primary caregiver for the target child.
排除标准
- •Households with previous participation in ICM's Transform program will be excluded from the study.
结局指标
主要结局
Children's early numeracy competency at post-intervention and 12 months
时间窗: Baseline, 1 week after intervention, and 12 months
Children's early numeracy competency is assessed through proctored assessments testing early learning proficiency using eight subtasks to measure preschool children's early math skills. The assessment measures children's mathematical skills across eight components: color recognition (10 points), shape recognition (8 points), rote count (10 points), object count (10 points), numeral identification (10 points), numeral comparison (9 points), missing number (10 points), and simple addition (10 points). The total possible score is 77 points, with higher scores indicating better numeracy skills.
Children's phonics and literacy competency at post-intervention and 12 months
时间窗: Baseline, 1 week after intervention, and 12 months
Children's phonics and literacy competency is assessed through proctored assessments testing pre-reading skills and phonemic awareness. The assessment measures children's reading and phonics skills across four components: alphabet recitation (10 points), letter name identification (20 points), beginning sound recognition (20 points), and letter sound identification (20 points). The total possible score is 70 points, with higher scores indicating better literacy and phonics skills.
次要结局
- Children's malnutrition status at 2 months and 12 months(Baseline, 2 months, and 12 months)
- Household savings at 2 months and 12 months(Baseline, 2 months, and 12 months)
- Social safety net access at 2 months and 12 months(Baseline, 2 months, and 12 months)