Impact Evaluation of a Parenting Intervention for Rohingya and Bangladeshi fathers of 0-2 year old children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

• In Event: Integrated approaches to ECD

Proposal

Throughout early childhood, fathers’ engaged and responsive interactions with children positively impact cognitive development (Sethna et al, 2017), early literacy (Roopnarine & Yildirim, 2019), early numeracy (Frongillo et al, 2017), and social growth (McWayne et al, 2013). The impacts of father involvement in child development can begin prenatally (Tamis-Lemonda et al, 2009), and overall, father’s involvement with their children can make long-term developmental impacts (Barker et al, 2017).
Changes in societal, labor, and family structures due to forced displacement can shift fathers’ role in the household as well as the family dynamics. A great deal of research on father-child interactions and father’s engagement with their young children has occurred in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) contexts (Hossain, 2013; Li et al., 2021). Existing literature on parenting interventions that take place with refugee populations primarily target refugee families in these developed contexts, which make up for a minority of refugee families worldwide (Gillespie, et.al., 2022). This highlights the gap in literature and research for exploring parenting interventions, specifically father interventions, in refugee communities in the developing world.
The present study is an impact evaluation of a father-focused intervention in the Rohingya camps and surrounding host communities (Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ukhiya, Ramu, and Teknaf) in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The Rohingya in Bangladesh comprise one of the largest refugee groups in the world, with approximately 900,000 forcibly displaced Rohingya living in camps in Cox’s Bazar (Population Factsheet, 2022) after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

Research Questions:

What is the added impact of a parenting intervention consisting of home visits (conducted by male volunteers every week) and group session (conducted by male volunteers every three weeks) to fathers of children aged 0-2 on father engagement with children and wife, father wellbeing, and child development, in comparison to families who only receive a parenting intervention targeting mothers?




The Intervention:
The intervention is a 6-month early childhood development (ECD) intervention for fathers of 0-2 year old children, delivered through weekly 30-minute one-on-one home visits with the father and one monthly group session with other fathers in the nearby area. The intervention is part of the BRAC-IED-led Humanitarian Play Lab (HPL) initiative under the Play to Learn consortium and is an added component to an existing intervention that had been working with mothers of 0-2 year old children to maximize positive child development outcomes. The objectives of this added component are to promote fathers’ wellbeing by improving their emotional literacy, encouraging fathers to develop relationships with their spouses and children, and nurturing playful, responsive caregiving practices among fathers (BRAC & Sesame Workshop).

Methods:
The impact evaluation employs a cluster randomized trial design in which a total of 2000 families (1000 in the Rohingya camps and 1000 in the host communities) were randomized (with camp and host randomized separately - block randomized) such that families received the mothers’ intervention only in the control condition and received both the fathers’ and mothers’ intervention in the treatment condition. The randomization unit is the mother volunteer. Mother volunteers deliver the same parenting intervention with mothers in both the treatment and control group, and the entire caseload of each mother volunteer was assigned either to receive the mother’s intervention only (the control group) or the mother intervention plus the father intervention add-on (the treatment group). The fathers’ intervention was delivered by father volunteers.
Before and after the intervention, we collected surveys in person from both fathers and mothers, assessing a set of preregistered hypothesized outcomes on father wellbeing (assessed through depressive and anxiety symptoms), father engagement with child and family (assessed through a set of measures reported by both father and mother on perceptions of father’s involvement with family) and child development (assessed through mother-reported CREDI). Endline data include a direct child assessment and are currently (July 2023) being collected. The impact findings from this study will be presented.

References

Barker, B., Iles, J.E., & Ramchandani, P.G. (2017). Fathers, fathering and child psychopathology. Current Opinion in Psychology, 15, 87-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.02.015

BRAC & Sesame Street. Humanitarian Play Lab: Curriculum - Fathers’ Engagement Model - 0-2 Age Cohort | Home Based

Frongillo, E.A., Kulkarni, S., Basnet, S., & de Castro, F. (2017). Family care behaviors and early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26, 3036-3044. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0816-3

Hossain, Z. (2013). Fathers in Muslim families in Bangladesh and Malaysia. In D.W. Shwalb, B.J. Shwalb, & M.E. Lamb (Eds.), Fathers in Cultural Context (pp. 95-122). New York: Routledge.

Li, X., Hu, Y., Huang, C. Y. S., & Chuang, S. S. (2021). Beyond WEIRD (Western, educated, industrial, rich, democratic)‐centric theories and perspectives: Masculinity and fathering in Chinese societies. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 13(3), 317-333. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12403

McWayne, C., Downer, J.T., Campos, R., & Harris, R.D. (2013). Father involvement during early childhood and its association with children's early learning: A meta-analysis. Early Education and Development, 24(6), 898-922. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2013.746932

Population Factsheet - Rohingya refugee response/Bangladesh. (2022, April 30). UNHCR Operational Data Portal. Retrieved June 25, 2022 from https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/92631

Roopnarine, J.L. & Yildirim, E.D. (2019). Fathers’ cognitive engagement and preschoolers’ literacy skills in three ethnic groups in Trinidad and Tobago. Journal of Black Psychology, 45(6-7), 494-517. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798419887067

Sethna, V., Perry, E., Domoney, J., Iles, J., Psychogiou, L., Rowbotham, N.E.L., Stein, A., Murray, L., & Ramachandani, P.G. (2017). Father-child interactions at 3 months and 24 months: Contributions to children’s cognitive development at 24 months. Infant Mental Health Journal, 38(3): 378-390. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21642

Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., Kahana- Kalman, R. & Yoshikawa, H. (2009). Father involvement in immigrant and ethnically diverse families from the prenatal period to the second year: Prediction and mediating mechanisms. Sex Roles, 60, 496-509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9593-9

Authors

• Duja Michael, NYU Global TIES for Children

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

• Sneha Bolisetty, NYU Global TIES for Children

• Dennis Hilgendorf, Global TIES for Children, New York University

• Yeshim Iqbal

• Ashraf Uddin Mian, ARCED Foundation