Improving Parental Stimulation in a childcare setting: a cluster-randomised controlled trial in marginalized urban areas in Argentina

Last registered on June 23, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Improving Parental Stimulation in a childcare setting: a cluster-randomised controlled trial in marginalized urban areas in Argentina
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011613
Initial registration date
June 20, 2023

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
June 23, 2023, 5:14 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Argentina
Region
Mendoza

Primary Investigator

Name
Pamela Jervis
Affiliation
Universidad de Chile
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Enrique Alasino
PI Affiliation
World Bank
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Julieta Trias
PI Affiliation
World Bank
Contact Investigator
PI Name
María José Vargas
PI Affiliation
World Bank
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-06-21
End date
2024-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
Childhood development, Early Childhood, Monitoring, Parents development, Field experiment, Parenting Stimulation
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The goal of preschool education is to support children’s cognitive, physical, and socioemotional development, providing a safe and nurturing environment for young children to learn and interact with their peers. However, in 2022 Mendoza, Argentina, the provincial oral fluency census showed that 59% of 2nd graders are at a critical level and 19% at a basic level, while only 22% are at or above expected. Recognising the lack of access to public preschools and additionally the lack of motivation among parents to send their child to preschools, the Dirección General de Escuelas de la Provincia de Mendoza launched the “Nutrition Language Program” (NLP) to provide tools to ‘vulnerable’ families. The study aims to measure the causal effect in the teacher-led parent training on child development (cognitive, language, motor, and socioemotional skills), child development knowledge and parenting behavior (on aspects such as parenting practices, role efficacy and satisfaction, and parenting competencies), and level of well-being. The evaluation will test if these programme improvements lead to an increase in child development outcomes using a cluster randomised control trial.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Alasino, Enrique et al. 2023. "Improving Parental Stimulation in a childcare setting: a cluster-randomised controlled trial in marginalized urban areas in Argentina." AEA RCT Registry. June 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11613-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
"The intervention will be stratified at the department level in Mendoza, Argentina. 9 departments have been selected using purposive sampling out of the 18 total of Mendoza. The selection of departments was based on the criteria that the district must have had public childcares (SEOS) that are in marginalized areas and that run classrooms of children aged in average 2 years old. From the 9 departments selected, 78 SEOS were eligible to participate in the study, of which equal number of SEOS will be assigned to 2 arms. The intervention will be randomised at the SEOS level. Randomization will be done on the computer using Stata. There are two study arms: 1) Treatment Arm receiving ""Language Nutrition Program"" (38 SEOS): The SEOS in the treatment arm will receive parenting group session in the SEOS only for classrooms of children aged in average 2 years old. In average, SEOS have 2 classrroms of children aged 2 years old and all these classrooms will receive the treatment. Of those, 19 SEOS in the treatment group will be randomly assigned to receive messages in addition to the group sessions, of which 10 will be assigned with messages only to the primary caregiver, and the other 9 to the primary caregiver and the primary caregiver's partner. The other 19 SEOS will be the message control group (receiving group sessions only). The treatment is planned to last 18 months (July 2023 to December 2024).
2) Control Arm receiving the statuo quo (38 SEOS): The parents in the control arm will receive the statuo quo services provided by the SEOS."
Intervention Start Date
2023-07-03
Intervention End Date
2024-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Early childhood development (Cognition and Language) using Bayley-III and MacArthur
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Motor skills using CREDI and ECDI UNICEF, Socio-emotional development using CREDI and SDQ, Teachers' motivation and job satisfaction, Teachers' burnout and self-efficacy, Mental health, Primary caregivers' self-efficacy, mental health and childhood development knowledge (using the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory or the Survey of Parents Expectations and Knowledge), Primary caregivers' parenting practices and Home learning environment using FCI and adapted versions of HOME. Preschool quality using the MIRAr and preschool structural conditions using a list of characteristics.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
"The intervention will be stratified at the department level in Mendoza, Argentina. 9 departments have been selected using purposive sampling out of the 18 total of Mendoza. The selection of departments was based on the criteria that the district must have had public childcares (SEOS) that are in marginalized areas and that run classrooms of children aged in average 2 years old. From the 9 departments selected, 78 SEOS were eligible to participate in the study, of which equal number of SEOS will be assigned to 2 arms. The intervention will be randomised at the SEOS level. Randomization will be done on the computer using Stata. There are two study arms: 1) Treatment Arm receiving ""Language Nutrition Program"" (38 SEOS): The SEOS in the treatment arm will receive parenting group session in the SEOS only for classrooms of children aged in average 2 years old. In average, SEOS have 2 classrroms of children aged 2 years old and all these classrooms will receive the treatment. Of those, 19 SEOS in the treatment group will be randomly assigned to receive messages in addition to the group sessions, of which 10 will be assigned with messages only to the primary caregiver, and the other 9 to the primary caregiver and the primary caregiver's partner. The other 19 SEOS will be the message control group (receiving group sessions only). The treatment is planned to last 18 months (July 2023 to December 2024).
2) Control Arm receiving the statuo quo (38 SEOS): The parents in the control arm will receive the statuo quo services provided by the SEOS."
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Computer on Stata
Randomization Unit
SEOS
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
78 SEOS
Sample size: planned number of observations
1521 children
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment=38 SEOS, Control=38 SEOS
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
0.20 SD units
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Ethics and Biosafety Committee for Research of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (FCFM) of the University of Chile
IRB Approval Date
2023-06-20
IRB Approval Number
Certification Nº160
Analysis Plan