Article Text

Short-term, medium-term and long-term effects of early parenting interventions in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
  1. Joshua Jeong1,
  2. Helen O Pitchik2,
  3. Günther Fink3,4
  1. 1Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  2. 2Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
  3. 3Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland
  4. 4University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Joshua Jeong; jjeong{at}mail.harvard.edu

Abstract

Introduction Parenting interventions during early childhood are known to improve various child development outcomes immediately following programme implementation. However, less is known about whether these initial benefits are sustained over time.

Methods We conducted a systematic literature review of parenting interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that were delivered during the first 3 years of life and had completed a follow-up evaluation of the intervention cohort at least 1 year after the primary postintervention endpoint. We summarized intervention effects over time by child-level and parent-level outcomes as well as by timing of follow-up rounds in the short-term (1–3 years after programme completion), medium-term (4–9 years), and long-term (10+ years). We also conducted exploratory meta-analyses to compare effects on children’s cognitive and behavioral development by these subgroups of follow-up rounds.

Results We identified 24 articles reporting on seven randomised controlled trials of parenting interventions delivered during early childhood that had at least one follow-up study in seven LMICs. The majority of follow-up studies were in the short-term. Three trials conducted a medium-term follow-up evaluation, and only two trials conducted a long-term follow-up evaluation. Although trials consistently supported wide-ranging benefits on early child development outcomes immediately after programme completion, results revealed a general fading of effects on children’s outcomes over time. Short-term effects were mixed, and medium-term and long-term effects were largely inconclusive. The exploratory meta-analysis on cognitive development found that pooled effects were significant at postintervention and in the short-term (albeit smaller in magnitude), but the effects were not significant in the medium-term and long-term. For behavioural development, the effects were consistently null over time.

Conclusions There have been few longer-term follow-up studies of early parenting interventions in LMICs. Greater investments in longitudinal intervention cohorts are needed in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of parenting interventions over the life course and to improve the design of future interventions so they can have greater potential for achieving and sustaining programme benefits over time.

  • prevention strategies
  • child health
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Footnotes

  • Handling editor Soumyadeep Bhaumik

  • Twitter @joshuadjeong

  • Contributors JJ conceived the study, designed the protocol, conducted the database search, reviewed studies for eligibility, conducted the analyses and drafted the manuscript. JJ and HOP extracted the data and created the visualisations. JJ, HOP and GF contributed to the interpretation of data and critical revision of the manuscript and approved the final draft.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent for publication Not required.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Data availability statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.

  • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.