Impacts of a Remote Early Learning Program on Child Development, Caregiver Perceptions of Play, Caregiver-Child Interactions, and Caregiver Wellbeing

• In Event: Implementation and Impacts of a Remote Preschool Program: A Case Study from Lebanon

Proposal

COVID-19 highlighted the need for and potential benefits of remote service delivery for families and children: a need not limited to the pandemic. Families living near conflict, experiencing frequent migration, or settled in hard-to-reach areas would all benefit from effective, remote program delivery. Yet there is little research on the effectiveness of brief early childhood development (ECD) interventions (see Bonilla et al., 2019) and none that we know of that take place in the Middle East or involve two-generation (caregiver- and child-focused) interventions. This study evaluates a two-armed remote early learning intervention for 5-6 year olds with little to no prior ECD acces who live in hard-to-reach areas of Lebanon and their caregivers. The first treatment arm (n=514) received 11 weeks of remote KG3 classrooms (delivered to caregivers via whatsapp groups of 5-6 caregiver-child dyads). The second treatment arm (n=501) received this same program plus parenting support via 8 group caregiver sessions over the 11 weeks.

The evaluation employed a wait list control design, wherein the control group (n=591) began to receive services immediately after endline data collection was completed. Caregivers were interviewed in early 2022 prior to treatment assignment and again in June/July 2022, at the completion of the program, which ran from late March to early June. Children were assessed via a remote adaptation of the IDELA (authors, 2022) at the same two time points. In addition to caregiver surveys and the IDELA, we also recorded select program delivery calls and are coding them for implementation quality and gave teachers self-administered surveys to better understand program delivery. Results are being analyzed with a focus on impacts of both treatment arms (as compared to no programming) on child development (i.e., the IDELA); caregiver reported perceptions of play, learning through play, and social emotional learning; caregiver reported interactions with the child (e.g., frequency of ECD activities and games); and caregiver wellbeing and parenting efficacy/stress. We will also assess any difference between treatment arms with a particular focus on caregiver wellbeing and parenting efficacy to evaluate the added impact of the caregiver support groups.

This evaluation will be the first that examines impacts of a brief, child and caregiver-focused program that is feasible in humanitarian contexts. In humanitarian settings (or other emergencies), it is often not possible to quickly set up in-person classrooms or integrate ECE with caregiver-focused components. In some cases, due to high mobility, it is also not feasible to focus on 8-9 month long programming. In the context of COVID and other crises, such as the multiple crises engulfing Lebanon, it is critical to understand the potential added value in integrating caregiver-focused programming with early learning programs. Brief ECD programs may also be of particular interest to government or other implementing bodies interested in providing ECD at scale but restricted by budgetary constraints. Understanding the value and contributions of a short-term, remote two-generation program such as this could provide a roadmap to alternative services when more traditional models are not feasible.

Authors

• Kate Schwartz, Global TIES for Children, New York University

• Lina Torossian, International Rescue Organization

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Global TIES for Children, New York University