Suubi4StrongerFamilies: Addressing Child Behavioral Health by Strengthening Financial Stability and Parenting Among Families in Uganda

Children in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are burdened by significant unmet mental health needs, with prevalence rates higher than 20%. The high rates of poverty, food insecurity, stigma and an inadequate health safety net system exacerbate serious childhood behavioral health (CBH) needs and impede an effective response. Youth disruptive behavioral disorders (DBDs) are a particularly serious concern as they persist through adolescence and adulthood. DBDs are also highly related to poor physical health and interpersonal challenges in adulthood. There is a need to address the context-specific social influences on CBH. Moreover, if children's needs are to be met in SSA, then: 1) implementing interventions designed and tested in SSA, and which mobilize resources within existing child-focused institutions (families, schools) is critical; 2) combined interventions that simultaneously target SSA-specific influences on CBH (family financial stability, culturally-based parenting), and can be delivered in collaboration with child/family-serving community settings (schools, faith-based and financial institutions) are necessary; and 3) group, community and population approaches to CBH are needed to drive scalable solutions.

This study will test the impact of Economic Empowerment (EE) and Family Strengthening (FS) interventions on childhood behavioral health. The study will utilize a longitudinal design with three active study conditions across 30 cluster-randomized primary schools to compare single and combination intervention options. The three study conditions are: 1) EE only, 2) MFG-based FS only, 3) combined EE+MFG-based FS. The interventions will be provided for 12 months; and assessments will occur at baseline, 12, 24 and 36 months.

The study will be guided by the following specific aims:

Aim 1: Examine the impact of EE only, MFG-based FS only, and combined EE+MFG-based FS on children's DBD symptoms and behavioral functioning;

Aim 2: Test the influence of EE only, MFG-based FS only, and combined EE+MFG-based FS on family financial stability (e.g., food and housing stability, material assets, savings), parenting and protective family processes (e.g., family organization, caregiver/child interaction, cohesion, support) and perceptions related to help-seeking (e.g., stigma) on CBH and functioning; and assess whether these change mechanisms mediate intervention effects on DBD symptoms and behavioral functioning, and explore moderation by context-specific moderators of intervention effects;