Early Child Development and Growth
Conditions
Keywords
Integrated early child development, growth and health, Psychosocial stimulation, Care for child development
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the integration of an early child 'stimulation and care for development' intervention, either alone or in combination with an 'enhanced care for nutrition' intervention, delivered by Lady Health Workers to families with infants and young children aged 0-24 months living in rural Sindh in Pakistan, has beneficial outcomes on child development (cognitive, language, motor and social emotional development) and child growth.
Detailed description
In Pakistan, the National Program for Family Planning and Primary Healthcare delivers maternal and child health and nutrition services in rural and remote areas of Pakistan through community-based Lady Health Workers. The strengths of the programme include provision of services at grassroots levels, reinforcement of health and basic nutrition messages and community acceptability. Given, the growing recognition that optimal early child development (ECD) also requires the integration of psychosocial care; the PEDS-Trial has been proposed to evaluate the benefits of the addition of 'stimulation and care for development' interventions and the feasibility of scaling up an ECD strategy within the community healthcare system of Pakistan.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALControl
BEHAVIORALECD
BEHAVIORALEnhanced Nutrition
Sponsors
UNICEF
Aga Khan University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
FACTORIAL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
1 Days to 24 Months
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* All children born in the defined geographical area of study during the study enrollment period will be eligible for the study along with their primary care giver (mother). Infant must be 1d-2.5m of age at time of enrolment.
Exclusion criteria
* Children born with profound severe disabilities
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Early Child Development | 24 months of child age | Cognitive, Language, Motor, Social-Emotional development |
| Child Growth | 24 months of child age | Length/Height, Weight, Mid Arm Circumference, Head Circumference |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Caregiving Mediator: Mother/Child Interaction | 12 months and 24 months of child age | Live observation |
| Caregiving Mediator: Care for Development | Baseline, 12 months and 24 months of child age | Knowledge and Practices Questionnaire (Maternal Report) |
| Caregiving Mediators: Maternal Psychological Distress (Depression) | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months of child age | Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ)-20 |
| Morbidity | Monthly report | Maternal recall |
| Anaemia Status | 24 months child age | Haemoglobin assessment using HemoCue Assay |
| Caregiving Mediator: Feeding Practices | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months of child age | Maternal report of infant and young child feeding practices |
| Caregiving mediators: Caregiving Environment | 6 months and 18 months of child age | Home Observation and Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory |
Countries
Pakistan
Outcome results
None listed