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Field
Trial Title
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Before
Promoting non-violent parenting and stress coping through a virtual parenting program in Jamaica
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After
Promoting non-violent parenting through a virtual parenting program in Jamaica
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Trial Status
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Before
on_going
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After
completed
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Abstract
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Before
Stress and financial uncertainty can have an important effect on parental investments and the quality of parent-child interactions at home. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have enacted preventive quarantine measures to flatten the transmission curve. The pandemic has generated an increase in stress and financial uncertainty for people (Almond, et al 2018; Bhat, et al., 2020). Quarantine measures make household members stay together for longer periods of time at home, which exacerbates the likelihood of children exhibiting behaviors that trigger violent reactions in adults at home.
Results from a rapid response survey implemented in Jamaica in July 2020 showed that one of the most important demands from caregivers in the sample is greater availability of services for socioemotional support and stress reduction. Additionally, the data show that 90% of caregivers have access to the internet by phone and 44% internet by tablet. Moreover, while the majority of parents/caregivers reported increasing positive interactions with their children, they also reported increased negative interactions.
Considering the economic and social costs of caregiver’s and children’s stress and the results from the rapid response survey in Jamaica, this research project aims to measure the impact of a virtual intervention (IRIE Homes) that provides caregivers access to support and guidance by specialists to cope with stress and positive parenting skills. By conducting a randomized control trial with approximately 1,200 caregivers in Jamaica, we will measure the causal impacts of this intervention on parenting skills, child maltreatment or abuse, and caregivers’ mental health.
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After
Approximately 75 percent of children aged 2 to 4 worldwide - close to 300 million - are regularly subjected to violent discipline (physical punishment and/or psychological aggression) by parents and/or caregivers at home (UNICEF, 2017). While parenting styles and decisions are crucial in driving human capital accumulation, violence against children is often rationalized as necessary or inevitable. The evidence about the effectiveness of violence prevention parenting programs is scarce. Moreover, the effects of shifting the delivery of a parenting program from an in-person to a digital format are scarce and ambiguous. Results from a global systematic review show that high-quality parenting programs at scale are needed globally.
This research project aims to measure the impact of a virtual intervention (IRIE Homes) that provides caregivers access to support and guidance by specialists regarding positive parenting skills. By conducting a randomized control trial with approximately 1,200 caregivers in Jamaica, we will measure the causal impacts of this intervention on caregiver attitudes to violence against children, child maltreatment or abuse, child emotional and conduct problems, and caregivers’ mental health.
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Trial End Date
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Before
January 31, 2022
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September 30, 2022
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Last Published
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Before
October 21, 2021 01:50 PM
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After
March 23, 2023 01:15 PM
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Intervention (Public)
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Before
The intervention involves training parents of children aged 2 to 6 years in child behavior management strategies and child-led play using a virtual adaptation of the Irie Homes Toolbox.
The intervention includes content relating to four key concepts: 1) building positive relationships between parent and child (e.g. praise, child-led play, involving the child in everyday activities), 2) preventing misbehavior (e.g. understanding why children misbehave, giving children independence, and autonomy, giving clear instructions, setting rules and expectations, modeling appropriate behavior), 3) managing misbehavior (e.g. redirecting children, withdrawing attention, setting limits, giving appropriate consequences) and 4) emotional self-regulation and stress reduction techniques.
The intervention is delivered over a 10-week period through three main components:
1) Three SMS messages per week relating to content from the Irie Homes Toolbox
2) Access to an App consisting of videos of parents utilizing the strategies with their children with new content uploaded each week for 10 weeks
3) Weekly 1-hour virtual group parenting sessions in small groups of eight parents with an officer from the Early Childhood Commission, Jamaica.
The control group receive three SMS messages per week with content relating Covid-19 and how to keep their child safe.
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After
The intervention involves training parents of children aged 2 to 6 years in child behavior management strategies and child-led play using a virtual adaptation of the Irie Homes Toolbox.
The intervention includes content relating to four key concepts: 1) building positive relationships between parent and child (e.g. praise, child-led play, involving the child in everyday activities), 2) preventing misbehavior (e.g. understanding why children misbehave, giving children independence, and autonomy, giving clear instructions, setting rules and expectations, modeling appropriate behavior), 3) managing misbehavior (e.g. redirecting children, withdrawing attention, setting limits, giving appropriate consequences) and 4) emotional self-regulation and stress reduction techniques.
The intervention is delivered over a 10-week period through three main components:
1) Three SMS messages per week relating to content from the Irie Homes Toolbox
2) Access to an App consisting of videos of parents utilizing the strategies with their children with new content uploaded each week for 10 weeks
3) Weekly 1-hour virtual group parenting sessions in small groups of eight parents with an officer from the Early Childhood Commission, Jamaica.
The control group receive three SMS messages per week with content relating Covid-19.
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Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Parents’ use of violence against their child
Parental support
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After
Attitudes to violence
Parents’ use of violence against their child
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Primary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Before
For each primary outcome, we will study both extensive and intensive margins.
- Parents’ use of violence against their child: number of days in the past week that the parent used violence against their child across five discipline questions (from UNICEF MICS). We will also use a list experiment to estimate the prevalence of use of violence and compare the difference between treatment and control groups.
- Parental support: number of days in the past week that the parent carried out five activities with their child (from UNICEF MICS).
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After
- Attitudes to violence: five agree/disagree questions.
- Parents’ use of violence against their child: number of days in the past week that the parent used violence against their child across five discipline questions (from UNICEF MICS).
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Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
Sampling:
There were two eligibility criteria for recruitment of caregivers into the study: (1) the individual should be the father, mother, or main caregiver of a child between 2-6 years of age (inclusive), and (2) the individual should have access to a smartphone or tablet that allows him/her to connect to the internet.
Caregivers were recruited via three channels: (1) SMS messages to the universe of mobile subscribers of Digicel Jamaica (more than 2.6 million SMS messages were sent across all Jamaican parishes), (2) emails sent to principals of preschools by the Early Childhood Commission for dissemination to parents, and (3) social media banners on the Jamaican Loop News website. Each mode of recruitment had a unique link to the recruitment eligibility checklist survey.
Randomization:
1,117 recruited caregivers successfully completed the baseline survey. We randomized the caregivers into two experimental arms: treatment and control. One caregiver in the treatment group was dropped post-randomization as she was later identified as an officer from the Early Childhood Commission, Jamaica. This gave a final study sample of 557 caregivers in the treatment group and 559 caregivers in the control group.
Randomization was stratified by four strata – the cross between the gender of the caregiver ((1) male or (2) female) and the mode of recruitment into the study ((1) SMS campaign or (2) Early Childhood Commission and Principal referral or social media campaign). Few caregivers were recruited through the principal and social media channels, and so we pooled these two modes in the stratification exercise. Stratified randomization by gender will allow us to study heterogeneity in intervention impacts by the gender of the caregiver. Details on the intervention that the treatment group receives are provided in the intervention section. Caregivers in the control group receive three SMS messages per week with content relating Covid-19 and how to keep their child safe.
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After
Sampling:
There were two eligibility criteria for recruitment of caregivers into the study: (1) the individual should be the father, mother, or main caregiver of a child between 2-6 years of age (inclusive), and (2) the individual should have access to a smartphone or tablet that allows him/her to connect to the internet.
Caregivers were recruited via three channels: (1) SMS messages to the universe of mobile subscribers of Digicel Jamaica (more than 2.6 million SMS messages were sent across all Jamaican parishes), (2) emails sent to principals of preschools by the Early Childhood Commission for dissemination to parents, and (3) social media banners on the Jamaican Loop News website. Each mode of recruitment had a unique link to the recruitment eligibility checklist survey.
Randomization:
1,113 recruited caregivers successfully completed the baseline survey. We randomized the caregivers into two experimental arms: treatment and control. This gave a final study sample of 557 caregivers in the treatment group and 556 caregivers in the control group.
Randomization was stratified by four strata – the cross between the gender of the caregiver ((1) male or (2) female) and the mode of recruitment into the study ((1) SMS campaign or (2) Early Childhood Commission and Principal referral or social media campaign). Few caregivers were recruited through the principal and social media channels, and so we pooled these two modes in the stratification exercise. Stratified randomization by gender will allow us to study heterogeneity in intervention impacts by the gender of the caregiver. Details on the intervention that the treatment group receives are provided in the intervention section. Caregivers in the control group receive three SMS messages per week with content relating Covid-19.
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Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
1,116 caregivers
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After
1,113 caregivers
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Planned Number of Observations
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Before
1,116 caregivers
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After
1,113 caregivers
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Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
557 caregivers in the treatment group and 559 caregivers in the control group. This excludes 1 caregiver in the treatment group who was dropped post-randomization as she was later identified as an officer from the Early Childhood Commission, Jamaica.
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After
557 caregivers in the treatment group and 556 caregivers in the control group.
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Additional Keyword(s)
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Before
Non-violent Parenting,Stress,Child Maltreatment,Jamaica
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After
Child maltreatment, positive parenting, digital delivery
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Intervention (Hidden)
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Before
The intervention involves training parents of children aged 2 to 6 years in child behavior management strategies and child-led play using a virtual adaptation of the Irie Homes Toolbox.
The intervention includes content relating to four key concepts: 1) building positive relationships between parent and child (e.g. praise, child-led play, involving the child in everyday activities), 2) preventing misbehavior (e.g. understanding why children misbehave, giving children independence, and autonomy, giving clear instructions, setting rules and expectations, modeling appropriate behavior), 3) managing misbehavior (e.g. redirecting children, withdrawing attention, setting limits, giving appropriate consequences) and 4) emotional self-regulation and stress reduction techniques.
The intervention is delivered over a 10-week period through three main components:
1) Three SMS messages per week relating to content from the Irie Homes Toolbox
2) Access to an App consisting of videos of parents utilizing the strategies with their children with new content uploaded each week for 10 weeks
3) Weekly 1-hour virtual group parenting sessions in small groups of eight parents with an officer from the Early Childhood Commission, Jamaica.
The control group receive three SMS messages per week with content relating Covid-19 and how to keep their child safe.
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After
The intervention involves training parents of children aged 2 to 6 years in child behavior management strategies and child-led play using a virtual adaptation of the Irie Homes Toolbox.
The intervention includes content relating to four key concepts: 1) building positive relationships between parent and child (e.g. praise, child-led play, involving the child in everyday activities), 2) preventing misbehavior (e.g. understanding why children misbehave, giving children independence, and autonomy, giving clear instructions, setting rules and expectations, modeling appropriate behavior), 3) managing misbehavior (e.g. redirecting children, withdrawing attention, setting limits, giving appropriate consequences) and 4) emotional self-regulation and stress reduction techniques.
The intervention is delivered over a 10-week period through three main components:
1) Three SMS messages per week relating to content from the Irie Homes Toolbox
2) Access to an App consisting of videos of parents utilizing the strategies with their children with new content uploaded each week for 10 weeks
3) Weekly 1-hour virtual group parenting sessions in small groups of eight parents with an officer from the Early Childhood Commission, Jamaica.
The control group receive three SMS messages per week with content relating Covid-19.
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Caregiver well-being
Child behavior difficulties
Attitudes to violence
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After
Caregiver well-being
Child behavior difficulties
Mechanisms: Caregiver knowledge, support networks, self-efficacy
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Before
For each secondary outcome, we will study both extensive and intensive margins.
- Caregiver well-being: depression (from PHQ-2), sleep, and anxiety (from GAD-2); each question answered on a 0-3 scale.
- Child behavior difficulties: ten questions on strengths and difficulties (five on emotional subscale and five on conduct); each question answered on a 0-2 scale.
- Attitudes to violence: five agree/disagree questions.
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After
- Caregiver well-being: depression (from PHQ-2), sleep, and anxiety (from GAD-2); each question answered on a 0-3 scale.
- Child behavior difficulties: ten questions on strengths and difficulties (five on emotional subscale and five on conduct); each question answered on a 0-2 scale.
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Pi as first author
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Before
No
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After
Yes
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