Does a tailored instant messaging program for parents improve early child development? A randomized controlled trial among pre-kindergarten children in Uruguay during the summer recess
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN14483649 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN14483649 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | RU_052022 |
- Submission date
- 16/02/2024
- Registration date
- 23/02/2024
- Last edited
- 14/08/2024
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Evidence suggests that small aids in the form of instant messaging can facilitate changes in parenting practices, which are crucial factors in enhancing child development and school readiness.
This study aims to evaluate an instant messaging intervention program aimed at promoting parenting practices and child development in preschool children.
Who can participate?
The participants in this study are parent-child dyads in pre-kindergarten (pre-K), ie aged around 4 years
What does the study involve?
The FODI (Fortalecimiento Oportuno del Desarrollo Infantil) Program lasts 26 weeks, during which families receive three weekly messages, through digital notifications. These messages contain information aimed at promoting positive parenting practices that can improve the cognitive development of their children.
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups:
a. Tailored treatment: personalized messages containing the names of the participants and adjusted according to developmental levels measured using INDI;
b. General treatment: personalized messages containing the names of the participants but not necessarily adjusted to the developmental level; and
c. Active control group: generic messages related to health and cultural curiosities, with no content aimed at stimulating development.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The tailored treatment of the FODI messaging program is expected to have a positive impact on parenting practices (compared to the general and active control conditions).
Likewise, the tailored treatment is expected to have a positive effect on cognitive development or aspects of it.
There are no anticipated risks for participation in this study, but in case of discomfort, parents and children can withdraw from the study at any time.
Where is the study run from?
Universidad de la República (Uruguay)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
October 2021 to November 2024
Who is funding the study?
Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and Fundación ReachingU.
Who is the main contact?
Dr. Alejandro Vásquez-Echeverría, alejandro.vasquez@pedeciba.edu.uy
Contact information
Public, Scientific, Principal Investigator
Espacio Interdisciplinario - Universidad de la República
José Enrique Rodó 1843
Montevideo
11200
Uruguay
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-9538-4857 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +598 2408 9010 |
| alejandro.vasquez@pedeciba.edu.uy |
Study information
| Study design | Single centre experimental intervention with an active (strong) control group |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Study setting(s) | Home, Internet/virtual, Other |
| Study type | Prevention, Quality of life, Treatment, Efficacy |
| Participant information sheet | https://forms.gle/B5qUYiPWTaNzWcTf8 |
| Scientific title | Do pre-k children benefit from a tailored instant messaging program designed to improve parenting practices and child development, as compared to a non-tailored and control condition? A randomized controlled trial during the summer recess |
| Study hypothesis | 1. The treatment of the messaging program (FODI) (in the general and tailored conditions) will have a positive impact on parenting practices, compared to the active control group, and the effect will be greater in the tailored condition. 2. The treatment (in the general and adjusted conditions) will have a positive effect on cognitive development or on any of its components, compared to the active control group, and the effect will be greater in the tailored condition. 3. Quartiles 1 and 4 of the tailored condition (but not quartiles 2 and 3) will show greater impact on development and parenting practices as compared to the general condition. 4. Parenting practices will exhibit a mediating effect between treatment (tailored and general conditions) and development. |
| Ethics approval(s) |
Approved 25/05/2022, Comité de ética en investigación de la Facultad de Psicología - Faculty of Psychology Research Ethics Committee - UdelaR (Tristán Narvaja 1674, Montevideo, 11200, Uruguay; +598 24008555; comiteeticainv@psico.edu.uy), ref: 25052022 |
| Condition | Child development / Parenting practices |
| Intervention | The Program duration is 26 weeks, during which families receive three messages per week, through instant messaging. The messages contain information intended to promote parenting practices that could enhance their children's cognitive development. Stratified randomization was performed by baseline cognitive ability quartile at the individual level. A total of 401 participants were assigned, with one-third allocated to each of the following conditions: general treatment, tailored treatment and active control. a. Tailored treatment: personalized messages containing the names of the participants and adjusted according to developmental levels measured using the INDI scale; b. General treatment: personalized messages containing the names of the participants but not necessarily adjusted to the developmental level; and c. Active control group: generic messages related to health and cultural curiosities, with no content aimed at stimulating development. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | 1. Child development is assessed using the Spanish adaptations of the following tests: 1.1. School Readiness-Child Development Inventory (INDI; Vásquez-Echeverría et al., 2022) 1.2. Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA-3, Bracken, 2007) 1.3. Theory of mind Task Battery: ToMTB (Hutchins & Prelock, 2014). 1.4. Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-4, Wechsler, 2014), specifically the Cancellation and Picture Naming subtests. 1.5. Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (Smith-Donald et. al, 2007), specifically the Pencil tap subtest. These assessments are administered both before and after de program implementation. 2. Parenting Practices are evaluated using the Inventory of Characterization of the Home Environment for the Promotion of Child Development (not published yet). 3. Sociodemographic information is collected at baseline using an ad-hoc scale including parents' age, parent's educational level, number of members in the household, number of siblings the child has, diagnosed difficulties/disabilities if any, type of technical treatment if any, etc. |
| Secondary outcome measures | 1. Motor development outcomes measured using the School Readiness-Child Development Inventory (INDI; Vásquez-Echeverría et al., 2022) before and after intervention. 2. Social-emotional development outcomes measured using INDI before and after intervention. 3. Attitudes toward learning outcomes measured using INDI before and after intervention. |
| Overall study start date | 29/10/2021 |
| Overall study end date | 30/11/2024 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Healthy volunteer, Carer |
|---|---|
| Age group | Mixed |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 500 |
| Total final enrolment | 401 |
| Participant inclusion criteria | Participants in this study are parent/tutor-child dyads. The criteria considered were: For parents: 1. Being the primary caregiver of a child in pre-K. 2. Having a phone that supports WhatsApp For children: 1. Being in pre-K (around 4 years old). 2. Attending one of the schools selected for the project. |
| Participant exclusion criteria | 1. Children with severe disabilities as reported by teachers and parents. 2. Twin siblings (in these cases one sibling was randomly selected). |
| Recruitment start date | 01/08/2023 |
| Recruitment end date | 26/09/2023 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Paraguay
- Uruguay
Study participating centres
Montevideo
11200
Uruguay
Montevideo
11200
Uruguay
Sponsor information
University/education
José Enrique Rodó 1839 bis
Montevideo
11200
Uruguay
| Phone | +598 2408 9010 |
|---|---|
| ei@ei.udelar.edu.uy | |
| Website | https://www.ei.udelar.edu.uy/ |
Funders
Funder type
Charity
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 15/04/2025 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Planned publication in high-impact peer-reviewed journals |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not expected to be made available due to Uruguayan legislation of data protection concerning INDI. |
Editorial Notes
14/08/2024: The following changes were made:
1. The public title was changed from "Does a tailored instant messaging program for parents improve early child development? A randomized controlled trial among pre-kindergarten children in Uruguay".
2. The scientific title was changed from "Do pre-kindergarten children benefit from a tailored instant messaging program designed to improve parenting practices and child development, as compared to a non-tailored and a control condition? A randomized controlled trial. ".
15/03/2024: Internal review.
27/02/2024: Internal review.
16/02/2024: Trial's existence confirmed by Comité de ética en investigación de la Facultad de Psicología - Faculty of Psychology Research Ethics Committee - UdelaR.
