Does a tailored instant messaging program for parents improve early child development? A randomized controlled trial among pre-kindergarten children in Uruguay during the summer recess

Do pre-k children benefit from a tailored instant messaging program designed to improve parenting practices and child development, as compared to a non-tailored and control condition? A randomized controlled trial during the summer recess

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN14483649

Enrollment

500

Registered

2024-02-23

Start date

2023-08-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2024-08-26

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Child development / Parenting practices Not Applicable

Interventions

The Program duration is 26 weeks, during which families receive three messages per week, through instant messaging. The messages contain information intended to promote parenting practices that could

b. General treatment: personalized messages containing the names of the participants but not necessarily adjusted to the developmental level

and c. Active control group: generic messages related to health and cultural curiosities, with no content aimed at stimulating development.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: Participants in this study are parent/tutor-child dyads. The criteria considered were: For parents: 1. Being the primary caregiver of a child in pre-K. 2. Having a phone that supports WhatsApp For children: 1. Being in pre-K (around 4 years old). 2. Attending one of the schools selected for the project.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Children with severe disabilities as reported by teachers and parents. 2. Twin siblings (in these cases one sibling was randomly selected).

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
1. Child development is assessed using the Spanish adaptations of the following tests: 1.1. School Readiness-Child Development Inventory (INDI; Vásquez-Echeverría et al., 2022) 1.2. Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA-3, Bracken, 2007) 1.3. Theory of mind Task Battery: ToMTB (Hutchins & Prelock, 2014). 1.4. Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-4, Wechsler, 2014), specifically the Cancellation and Picture Naming subtests. 1.5. Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (Smith-Donald et. al, 2007), specifically the Pencil tap subtest. These assessments are administered both before and after de program implementation. 2. Parenting Practices are evaluated using the Inventory of Characterization of the Home Environment for the Promotion of Child Development (not published yet). 3. Sociodemographic information is collected at baseline using an ad-hoc scale including parents' age, parent's educational level, number of members in the household, number of siblings the child has, diagnosed difficulties/disabilities if any, type of technical treatment if any, etc.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Child development is assessed using the Spanish adaptations of the following tests: 1.1. School Readiness-Child Development Inventory (INDI; Vásquez-Echeverría et al., 2022) 1.2. Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA-3, Bracken, 2007) 1.3. Theory of mind Task Battery: ToMTB (Hutchins & Prelock, 2014). 1.4. Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-4, Wechsler, 2014), specifically the Cancellation and Picture Naming subtests. 1.5. Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (Smith-Donald et. al, 2007), specifically the Pencil tap subtest. These assessments are administered both before and after de program implementation. 2. Parenting Practices are evaluated using the Inventory of Characterization of the Home Environment for the Promotion of Child Development (not published yet). 3. Sociodemographic information is collected at baseline using an ad-hoc scale including parents' age, parent's educational level, number of members in the household, number of siblings the child has, diagnosed difficulties/disabilities if any, type of technical treatment if any, etc.

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Motor development outcomes measured using the School Readiness-Child Development Inventory (INDI; Vásquez-Echeverría et al., 2022) before and after intervention. 2. Social-emotional development outcomes measured using INDI before and after intervention. 3. Attitudes toward learning outcomes measured using INDI before and after intervention.	—

Countries

Paraguay, Uruguay

Contacts

Public ContactAlejandro Vásquez-Echeverría

alejandro.vasquez@pedeciba.edu.uy+598 2408 9010

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026