RANDOMIZED EVALUATION OF A PARENTAL EDUCATION TRAINING PROGRAM AND ITS IMPACTS ON CHILDREN’S EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES IN NEPAL (PEN = Parental Education Nepal)

Last registered on September 07, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
RANDOMIZED EVALUATION OF A PARENTAL EDUCATION TRAINING PROGRAM AND ITS IMPACTS ON CHILDREN’S EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES IN NEPAL (PEN = Parental Education Nepal)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010478
Initial registration date
November 25, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
November 30, 2022, 3:31 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 07, 2023, 10:24 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Nepal
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Elodie DJEMAI
Affiliation
Université Paris-Dauphine
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Florence ARESTOFF
PI Affiliation
Université Paris-Dauphine
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Olivia BERTELLI
PI Affiliation
Université Paris-Dauphine
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-08-28
End date
2024-06-30
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Gender
Additional Keywords
Information, Early Childhood Development
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Context: The project consists in the impact evaluation of a parental education training program on the development of children aged 0 to 6 years implemented by the NGO Planète Enfants et Développement (PE&D) in cooperation with a local partner, Prayas NGO. The intervention focuses on training small groups of parents on attitudes and activities aimed at improving children’s growth, their cognitive and non-cognitive development. The training will last for about 12 months, for a total of 15 group sessions. The study takes place in the rural areas of Gajuri Municipality in Nepal where young children (0-6) spend most of their time at home and are rarely enrolled in pre-schools or kindergarten. Parents and family members are, hence, the main source of childhood development, making their attitudes and behaviors a crucial determinant of their children’s human capital development.

Method: The impact evaluation will be carried out as a randomized control trial involving 1,000 sampled households and their 3,000 children under six years old living in the rural municipality of Gajuri (in Dhading district of Bagmati province). Sampled households will be surveyed before and after the implementation of the program. About half of the households will be randomly assigned to the parental education group sessions and the other half will serve as control group. The main goal of the project is to evaluate the impact of being assigned to these sessions on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive development as well as on parents’ attitudes, behaviors and aspirations towards their children. A special focus will be given to the gap between boys and girls, given the stark preference for boys in the Nepalese culture and the role of socioeconomic disparities.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
ARESTOFF, Florence, Olivia BERTELLI and Elodie DJEMAI. 2023. "RANDOMIZED EVALUATION OF A PARENTAL EDUCATION TRAINING PROGRAM AND ITS IMPACTS ON CHILDREN’S EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES IN NEPAL (PEN = Parental Education Nepal)." AEA RCT Registry. September 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10478-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The NGO will develop a curriculum defining the topics to be presented and discussed during the parental education training sessions. The training sessions are planned to begin in January 2023 for at least twelve months, with sessions taking place every three weeks, for a total of 15 sessions.
The sessions will cover all aspects of ECD that are known to be relevant to increase child cognitive and non-cognitive development. Each session will be organized so that theory is delivered, and practices are given. The caregivers will be encouraged to practice and experience the promoted attitudes from one session to the next.
Intervention Start Date
2023-01-29
Intervention End Date
2024-02-17

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Participation to the training sessions, parental ECD knowledge, aspirations for the children, gender equity opinions, opinion about violence against children, time spent with the children for each type of activities, diet regime, use of violence against children, hygiene practices, child development skills (physical/motor, cognitive, emotional, social, language skills)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Randomization will be conducted at the cluster level. Half (50) will be randomly assigned to the intervention whereas the other half will serve as control group (50). Clusters are identified based on households’ geographical proximity. The sample will consist of 1,000 households, 500 treated and 500 untreated. This means that all families living in the same cluster will be assigned to the same group. In a "treated" cluster, all sampled households will be invited to attend the training.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer, checking for the balance on the main outcome variables at baseline.
Randomization Unit
The unit of observations is the cluster, defined geographically. it is a type of ad hoc neighborhood.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
100 meeting points.
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,000 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 households by treatment arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Paris School of Economics
IRB Approval Date
2022-08-09
IRB Approval Number
2022-007
Analysis Plan

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