Text Messages to Promote Positive Parenting Behaviors

Last registered on January 04, 2021

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Text Messages to Promote Positive Parenting Behaviors

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0006960

Initial registration date

December 26, 2020

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

January 04, 2021, 9:15 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

Peru

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Olga Namen

Affiliation

Innovations for Poverty Action

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Emma Naslund-Hadley

PI Affiliation

Inter-American Development Bank

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Juan Manuel Hernandez-Agramonte

PI Affiliation

Innovations for Poverty Action

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2020-08-20

End date

2021-03-31

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

Early Childhood Development, Socio-emotional skills, Parenting

JEL code(s)

C93 I21 J13 O15

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Prolonged home confinement as a result of social distancing policies due to COVID-19 can have negative impacts on the wellbeing of children and adults and their child-parent relationships. This study evaluates whether providing text messages with emotional support and information about positive parenting strategies can improve parents' and children's socio-emotional outcomes.

External Link(s)

Link to Innovations for Poverty Action's research hub with a general description of the research project.

Registration Citation

Citation

Hernandez-Agramonte, Juan Manuel, Olga Namen and Emma Naslund-Hadley. 2021. "Text Messages to Promote Positive Parenting Behaviors." AEA RCT Registry. January 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6960-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The text messaging intervention includes tools to help parents cope with the emotional tension and challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and to support their parenting process. This program is targeted to low-income parents with children aged 3-6 years old who are beneficiaries of public childcare services. In addition, we include motivational messages once a week with positive reinforcements to encourage parents to practice positive discipline and spend time with their children. The messages are designed using behavioral tools to correct for inaccurate beliefs, assist them with goal setting and planning and develop a growth mindset for their role as parents.

Intervention Start Date

2020-09-20

Intervention End Date

2020-12-11

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

We evaluate the effect of the intervention on children's socio-emotional outcomes and parental wellbeing and stress.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Parental wellbeing and stress is captured by parents' self-reported measures. We construct a parental wellbeing index adapting an existing instrument from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised Online Depression (CESD-R). Likewise, we adapt a parental stress index from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW). Children's socio-emotional outcomes are collected through parents' reports on children's wellbeing and behaviors. We created an index adapted from the existing Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Parental engagement in educational activities, parental perceptions of their role as caregivers and discipline practices at home.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Parental engagement is measured by an index constructed using parents' reports about the time spend with their children on educational activities and other productive routines and investments. Parental perceptions and discipline practices are captured by parents' self-reported measures.

Experimental Design

Households are randomly assigned into a treatment group that receives the text messaging intervention or a control group that receives placebo messages with information about existing resources from the regular services. All groups receive regular virtual programs from the public childcare services.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Household level

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

4939 households

Sample size: planned number of observations

4939 households

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

There are 2462 households in the treatment group and 2477 households in the control group.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

According to our calculations, with a probability of error type I of 0.05 and a power equal to 0.8, the minimum detectable effect is 0.0797 SD for each index.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB