An interventional study of Naungan Kasih Positive Parenting Programme in Positive Parenting, Child Maltreatment and Child Development, sponsored by University of Oxford. Completed at 1 site in Malaysia. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-27.
Sponsored by University of Oxford · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a hybrid human-digital playful parenting programme, "Naungan Kasih-Hybrid (NK-Hybrid)", in Malaysia. The programme is facilitated by teachers from Malaysian preschools for low-income families, consisting of a) one in-person session to introduce caregivers to the programme, b) teacher-facilitated WhatsApp support groups, and c) an interactive chatbot-led parenting programme featured on WhatsApp, called "Naungan Kasih-Text (NKText)". It tests the effectiveness of this package in a cluster-randomised trial, with 50 preschools as clusters, randomly assigned to either the treatment group or a waitlist control group. Findings from this study will provide evidence for the effectiveness of a low-cost and scalable intervention integrating digital modalities with a "light-touch" in-person component to improve educational outcomes in children attending preschools for low-income families, and thereby address social inequalities in Malaysia.
N = 50 Clusters, 772 Primary Caregivers, 304 Secondary Caregivers, and 754 Children. Enrolment reflects participating primary caregivers.
The primary aims of the study are to:
Evaluate the effectiveness of NK-Hybrid on positive parenting at three months post-baseline in comparison to wait-list controls Evaluate the effectiveness of NK-Hybrid on child learning and development, as measured by parent and teacher reports of language and communication, literacy, socioemotional, and numeracy skills, and by direct assessments of literacy and numeracy skills, at approximately 12 months post-baseline in comparison to wait-list controls
Secondary aims of the study include:
Evaluate the sustained effectiveness of NK-Hybrid on positive parenting at approximately 12 months post-baseline.
Evaluate the effectiveness of NK-Hybrid on children's learning, namely their literacy and numeracy skills, in comparison to the control group, at three months post-baseline Evaluate the effectiveness of NK-Hybrid on secondary outcomes - parent involvement in playful learning, child maltreatment (physical and emotional abuse), caregiver anxiety and depression, parenting stress, child externalising symptoms, child learning and development, caregiver financial stress, intimate partner violence, marital health, co-parenting support, father involvement, and gender equitable behaviours - at approximately three months post-baseline and 12 months post-baseline.
Evaluate the intervention costs and cost-effectiveness of NK-Hybrid on primary outcomes of positive parenting and child literacy and numeracy skills.
Evaluate the association between engagement in the NK-Hybrid intervention and primary and secondary outcomes.
Explore potential mediators of positive parenting, child literacy and numeracy skills, child maltreatment, child externalising symptoms, and caregiver depression and anxiety at 12 months post-baseline.
Explore potential moderators of positive parenting, child literacy and numeracy skills, child maltreatment, child externalising symptoms, and caregiver depression and anxiety based on socio-demographics and psychosocial assessments at baseline
In line with the study's primary and secondary objectives, the following hypotheses have been defined a priori and will be evaluated using the methods outlined in this statistical analysis plan.
Hypothesis 1a: Caregivers in the treatment group will show higher levels of positive parenting, in comparison to the control group, at 3 months post-baseline.
Hypothesis 1b: Children in the treatment group will show greater improvements in early learning and development, namely their literacy and numeracy skills, in comparison to the control group, at 12 months post-baseline.
Hypothesis 2a: Caregivers in the treatment group will show higher levels of positive parenting, in comparison to the control group, at 12 months post-baseline.
Hypothesis 2b: Children in the treatment group will show greater improvements in learning, namely their literacy and numeracy skills, in comparison to the control group, at three months post-baseline.
Hypothesis 2c: Caregivers in the treatment group will show lower levels of child maltreatment (physical and emotional abuse), anxiety and depression, parenting stress, child externalising symptoms, financial stress, and intimate partner violence, in comparison to the control group, at 3 months and 12 months post-baseline.
Hypothesis 2d: Caregivers in the treatment group will show higher levels of parent involvement in playful learning, marital health, co-parenting support, father involvement, and gender equitable behaviours in comparison to the control group, at 3 months and 12 months post-baseline.
Hypothesis 3a: The intervention will be more cost-effective than the control condition for the primary outcomes, yielding a cost per unit of effect that supports decision-making by relevant stakeholders.
Hypothesis 3b: Higher engagement with intervention components (i.e., in-person onboarding, NKText, and WhatsApp support groups) will be associated with greater improvements in the aforementioned primary and secondary outcomes.
224 studies on the registry are indexed under Child Behavior; 41 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 772 is above the median of 140 across 197 interventional studies indexed under Child Behavior.
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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.
Preschools (clusters):
Parents/Caregivers:
Children:
Teachers (Facilitators):
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Intervention group participants will receive one in-person onboarding session, NKText - a self-guided chatbot providing parenting support, and facilitated WhatsApp support groups.
Behavioral: Naungan Kasih Positive Parenting Programme
The control group will not receive the intervention until after the completion of the intervention period and the final follow-up data collection. Throughout the study period, participants in all groups may access any other interventions, programs, or services that are not part of the study intervention.
The programme is facilitated by teachers from Malaysian preschools for low-income families, consisting of a) one in-person session to introduce caregivers to the programme, b) teacher-facilitated WhatsApp support groups, and c) an interactive chatbot-led parenting programme featured on WhatsApp, called "Naungan Kasih-Text".
Child early learning and development
Children's early learning and development (caregiver- and teacher-report) will be measured using 23 items from the National Preschool Standards-Based Curriculum Assessment (Malaysia); scale = 0-2; higher score indicates better outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Positive Parenting
Positive parenting will be measured using 14 items from the Parenting Young Children Scale (PARYC) (McEachern et al., 2012). (Caregiver Report); (0-6); higher score indicates better outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Child Literacy and Numeracy
Direct child assessments of child learning and development will be conducted by trained research assistants and assessed using an adapted version of the Remote Assessment of Learning (ReAL) High-Access version (Save the Children International, 2021), specifically the Literacy and Numeracy subscales. 12 domains, total score = mean of % correct for each domain; higher score indicates better outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Parent involvement in playful learning
Parent involvement in playful learning will be measured using four items from the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) Child Development Module/Family Care Indicators (Kariger et al., 2012). (4 items) (0-8 times in last two weeks) - higher indicates more playful learning activities (better outcome)
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Child Maltreatment
Child maltreatment will be measured using six items from the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool (Meinck et al., 2018), covering physical violence (two items) and psychological violence (four items). (Parent Report); (0-8 times in last two weeks) - higher indicates more incidence of abuse (worse outcome)
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Child externalising symptoms
Child externalising symptoms will be assessed using 12 items from the externalising subscale of the Child and Adolescent Behavior Inventory (CABI) (Cianchetti et al., 2013); (0-2); higher score indicates worse outcome
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Parenting Stress
Parenting stress will be assessed using six items from the Parenting Stress Scale (Berry \& Jones, 2016); (0-5); higher score indicates worse outcome
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Anxiety and depression
Anxiety and depression will be assessed using four items from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) Scale (Kroenke et al., 2009); (0-3); higher score indicates worse outcome
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Father involvement with the child
Father involvement with the child will be assessed using seven items from an adapted version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Involvement Subscale (Frick, 1991); (0-4); higher score indicates better outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Gender equitable behaviours
Gender equitable behaviours will be assessed using four items informed by measures commonly used in violence prevention research (Abramsky et al., 2020; Doyle et al., 2018); (1-5); higher score indicates better outcome
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Co-parenting support
Co-parenting support will be assessed using six items from the Co-parenting Relationship Scale (Feinberg et al., 2012); (0-3); higher score indicates better outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Marital health/quality
Marital health/quality will be assessed using five items developed by the research team; (1-5); higher score indicates better outcome
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Intimate partner violence
Intimate partner violence will be assessed using four items adapted from the World Health Organisation study on women's health and domestic violence against women (World Health Organization, 2005); (0-3); higher score indicates worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Financial Stress
Financial stress will be assessed using six items adapted from the Financial Self-Efficacy Scale (Lown, 2012); (0-3); higher score indicates worse outcome.
Time frame: Baseline, 3-5 months post-baseline, 12-15 months post-baseline
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified individual participant data underlying the results reported in publications, including demographic variables, caregiver-reported outcomes, and child assessment outcomes.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form, Analytic code
Time frame: Deidentified participant data will be available beginning 12 months after publication of the planned article publication to allow completion of planned secondary analyses by the study team; no end date for availability.
Access criteria: Requests for access will require submission of a brief description of the intended use. Requests will be reviewed by the study team. Access will be granted following approval of the request and completion of appropriate data access procedures.
This study is completed, as verified in May 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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