Using Qualitative Research to Optimize the Design of Parenting Interventions in the Global South

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

In this symposium, we showcase how qualitative methods can be applied to pilot studies to improve the design, delivery, cultural appropriateness, and eventual effectiveness of parenting interventions aimed at improving early child development outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. The first paper describes the process of reviewing evidence-based packages, mapping existing community-based services, and collecting qualitative data from policymakers, program facilitators, and caregivers, to design a theorical framework, program content, and delivery strategy for a violence prevention parenting program in Colombia. The second paper draws from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with fathers, mothers, community leaders, and community health workers to identify the common caregiving practices of fathers; barriers and facilitators to their involvement in childcare; and programmatic opportunities for strengthening paternal caregiving behaviors in Tanzania. The third paper represents a formative study conducted with Rohingya mothers and fathers to learn how to better engage fathers as part of an ongoing home-visiting and group-based parenting interventions primarily targeting mothers in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Finally, the last paper uses qualitative methods not only to design an integrated parenting and nutrition intervention that is delivered within existing health services in Liberia, but also to evaluate initial pilot results pertaining to participants’ and delivery agents’ perceptions of the intervention’s feasibility, acceptability, and quality. Together, these papers exemplify how formative research can enhance the design of culturally relevant, gender-based, and multicomponent programs to optimize delivery within existing services and maximize effectiveness on caregiving and child development outcomes in low-resource global contexts.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: Global South

Chairs

• Marilyn N Ahun, Harvard University

• Joshua Jeong, Harvard University

Individual Presentations

• The Apapacho Violence Prevention Parenting Program: Conceptual Foundations and Pathways to Scale - Presenting Author: Jorge Cuartas, Harvard University

• Designing a Fatherhood Intervention to Improve Family Caregiving Relationships and Early Child Development in Tanzania - Presenting Author: Joshua Jeong, Harvard University; Juliet McCann; Marilyn N Ahun, Harvard University; Alya Al-Sager; Alina Bhojani, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Damas Joachim

• Qualitative Evidence from Rohingya Fathers and Mothers: Implications for Intervention - Yeshim Iqbal, New York University; Presenting Author: Sneha Bolisetty, New York University; Shikhty Sunny, New York University; Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University

• Integrated Child Nutrition, Parenting, and Health Intervention in Rural Liberia: a Mixed Methods Feasibility Study - Presenting Author: Leila Margaret Larson, University of South Carolina; Sejla Isanovic; Musa Sanoe; Shelbie Wooten; Edward A Frongillo; Aisha Khizar Yousafzai, Harvard TH School of Public Health; Christine E Blake; Mufaro Kanyangarara; Melanie Swan; Nicole Rodger; Miriam Murray