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RecruitingNCT06572254Updated Aug 27, 2024

ECD Newborn Parenting Education Program

An interventional study of Early Childhood Development Newborn Parenting Education Program in Parenting, sponsored by Aga Khan University. Recruiting at 2 sites in 2 countries. Open to female participants. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-08-27.

Sponsored by Aga Khan University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2024, 1 year 10 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Registered 1 year 7 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2023, registered Aug 2024).
  • Started Jan 2023; still recruiting 3 years 10 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
400
Allocation
Randomized
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Early childhood development: specifically the first 1000 days of life are of crucial importance. It sets the trajectory for the future and transgenerational health. Life of a neonate is influenced by several factors of which responsive caregiving is one of the most imperative facets. In the earliest days of life, the role of responsive caregiving is vital for the child's growing brain. Interactions between the primary caregiver and the neonate in early infancy period foster social and cognitive growth, build trust, provide sense of security, and helps build brain of the young child. In resource constraints areas, particularly in primary health care settings, there is a lack of initiatives to support responsive caregiving. The investigators intend to do an implementation adaptation and assessment of impact and efficacy of early childhood newborn parenting education program at primary health care facilities of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Investigators already have a structured program at our tertiary health care setting, with this project, investigators now intend to adapt it to primary care settings of Aga Khan Health Services Pakistan and Afghanistan a) explore the impact of newborn parenting education program on parental outcomes b) conduct training for health care providers and asses their pre-post knowledge and skills and c) explore systems readiness to scale up this program at national level. The expected outcome of this research is to build a proof of concept of this intervention in primary healthcare settings and disseminate its findings for a national level scale up and to advocate the importance of it to the government sector, civil society organization and funding agencies.

Read the detailed description

The first 1000 days of life are critical to the growth and early brain development. Responsive caregiving lays the foundation of early childhood development and future acquisition of skills. Nurturing care provided by primary caregivers can activate different brain systems, allowing children to feel safe, form connections, and foster emotional and cognitive growth. A child's ability to adapt to adversity and stress in the future relies on a strong foundation of care provided in early childhood. The investigators also commit to be part of this movement and want to help realize the right of every child to survive and thrive, to build a more sustainable future for all. investigators are working on providing optimal care and wellbeing opportunities to the young children and this continuous and involved parenting support needs to start before birth and continue until the age of eight. The investigators will broadly take implementation research approach using different strategies for different aims. Hence for this research, investigators want to implement and adapt this same model in primary care settings of remote Pakistan and Afghanistan. The investigators have chosen Aga Khan Health Services Pakistan (AKHSP) and Aga Khan Health Services, Afghanistan (AKHSA), Foundation for Health and Empowerment (F4HE) field sites. The current research is also proposed in the same geographies that are part of F4HE, although F4HE has very strong implementation the research part is missing, so this research will fill the research gap and build knowledge on early childhood responsive caregiving in primary health care settings. AKHS has its primary care setup all over Pakistan and Afghanistan and the following BHCs will be chosen to implement this research and make the intervention sustainable.

02

Conditions studied

  • Parenting

Keywords

  • Early childhood development
  • Responsive caregiving
  • Parenting
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Aga Khan University is the lead sponsor of 294 studies on the registry; 43 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
Child (0–17), Adult (18–64), Older adult (65+)
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Normal delivery
  2. No underlying morbidities of the newborn
  3. Are not living in ultra-poverty less than 15000/- total household income.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Newborn or mother with underlying conditions or morbidities
  2. Living under 15000 per month
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
400 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Self-study Pictorial Module

    The control group will only be provided with a self-study pictorial module, and they will be tracked and requested to visit the center at the 6 months (child age) post-delivery. At 6 months, their data on responsive interactions, parenting confidence, and patient experience will be collected.

  • Experimental
    Monthly Sessions and Self-study handouts

    The intervention will undergo a 6-month intervention consisting of 1 session at birth with a self-study manual, and 5 monthly sessions (once a month till the infant turns 6 months). At 6 months, they will also be assessed on the measures mentioned above.

    Other: Early Childhood Development Newborn Parenting Education Program

Interventions

  • OtherEarly Childhood Development Newborn Parenting Education Program

    Investigators will be adapting the model used here at the tertiary care of newborn parenting which investogators have developed based on the nurturing care framework and keys to the caregiving framework. Both models have shown reliable evidence of their effectiveness.

    Also known as: Early Childhood Development Newborn Responsive Caregiving

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale

    scale assesses an individual's perceived quality of life, including their physical health, psychological state, social relationships, and environmental factors. It evaluates how an individual's health status affects their overall well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. The minimum value in the scale which is "1" indicates "very poor" while the maximum value which is "5" indicates "very good".

    Time frame: Baseline - At birth (1st Interaction)

  2. Karitine Parenting Confidence Scale

    it consists of 15 items and is used by professionals. The items help explore caregivers' confidence in caring for their infants. It is a self-reported questionnaire and minimal clinical instructions are required to fill it. There are 4 Likert scale options out of which the minimum "0" indicates "No, hardly ever" while maximum is "3" which indicates "Yes, most of the time ". Parents scoring 39 or below indicate of experiencing low confidence while parents scoring 40 and above indicate high levels of confidence.

    Time frame: Through study completion, 6th month

  3. Responsive Interactions Scale

    it consists of 15 items and is used by professionals. The items help explore caregivers' confidence in caring for their infants. It is a self-reported questionnaire and minimal clinical instructions are required to fill it. There are 4 Likert scale options out of which the minimum "0" indicates "No, hardly ever" while maximum is "3" which indicates "Yes, most of the time ". Parents scoring 39 or below indicate of experiencing low confidence while parents scoring 40 and above indicate high levels of confidence.

    Time frame: Through study completion, 6th month

  4. Caregiver Reported Early Development Instruments (CREDI)

    The 20-item questionnaire is a brief version of the full Caregiver Reported Early Development Instruments, capturing essential developmental domains: cognitive, language, motor, and socio-emotional development. The minimum score is "0" while the maximum score is "20".

    Time frame: Through study completion, 6th month

07

Study locations

1 of 2 sites recruiting
  • Aga Khan Health Services
    Kabul, Greater Kabul 1001, Afghanistan
    Completed

    Not enrolling at this site.

  • Aga Khan Health Services
    Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 17130, Pakistan
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — Investigators may not share the individual participant data but investigators plan to publish papers with partners from both countries and share the final results

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 27, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06572254
Collaborators
Global Affairs Canada, Aga Khan Health Services
Responsible party
Shelina Bhamani (Asst Professor, Lead Early Childhood Development and Program Director Outreach Education, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aga Khan University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 27, 2024
Start date
Jan 1, 2023
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Mar 31, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 27, 2024

Study contacts

Dr. Shelina Bhamani, PhD
Contact
shelina.bhamani@aku.edu
03355134134 ext. 02134864645
Sara Sheikh, MScN
Contact
sara.sheikh@aku.edu
03313596023
Sarah Saleem, FCPS
study chair · Aga Khan University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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