Clinical trial NCT03897894: Enhanced Child Friendly Space Interventions for Children
Official title: A Randomised Control Trial of Enhanced Child Friendly Space Interventions for Girls and Boys Affected by Conflict and Displacement
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Psychosocial Stressors
Child, Only
Mental Health Wellness 1
Child Development
Keywords: resilience
child protection
child development
Lead sponsor: Columbia University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Elrha
name: World Vision
First posted: 2019-04-01
Enrollment: 2015
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 6
Maximum age (years): 14
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: A 3-arm randomised controlled trial will be conducted to compare the effectiveness of a new enhanced Child Friendly Space service package with the basic Child Friendly Space service implementation, and to a waitlist control condition, within the West Nile refugee response in Uganda.

Detailed description: A Child Friendly Space (CFS) is an acute phase humanitarian intervention designed to provide children with a safe, supportive, and stable environment early after the onset of crisis that will promote their social and emotional well-being, as well strengthen the existing systems of protection required to support children in reaching developmental milestones. Typically, CFSs house a range of structured and unstructured activities led by trained animators in a community-designated safe area.

The basic service package offers a mixture of recreational and non-formal education activities over a twelve-week period. Each session lasts around 1.5 - 3 hours. Structured activities offered include basic literacy and numeracy lessons, life skills exercises, health and hygiene sessions, and traditional song and dance. Many activities are centered around various forms of play that enable expression and age-appropriate skill development. Unstructured free play and playground time is allocated throughout the daily session.

The enhanced service package provides 40 sequential sessions selected by CFS program staff in advance and implemented over a twelve-week period. Activities are meant to build upon and reinforce one another and are organized into seven psychosocial themes: 1) Building community: "Our space together", 2) Emotional learning: "My feelings", 3) Wellbeing and coping: "Feeling good", 4) Social support: "My friends and family", 5) Relating to others: "Being a good friend", 6) Protection and boundaries: "My safety", and 7) Building on strengths: "All my supports". Each session takes approximately 1.5 - 2 hours to facilitate and will conclude with 1-1.5 hours unstructured free play time.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Primary caregiver has a child between the ages 6-8
* Child is between the ages of 9-14 years

Exclusion Criteria:

* No child resides in the home between the ages of 6 and 14 years

Primary outcomes:
measure: Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28)
timeFrame: up to 1 hour from the start of a session
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) Part 1
timeFrame: up to 1 hour from the start of a session
measure: Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) Part 2
timeFrame: up to 1 hour from the start of a session
measure: Children's Hope Scale (CHS)
timeFrame: up to 1 hour from the start of a session
measure: Children's Revised Impact of Events Scale (CRIES-8)
timeFrame: up to 1 hour from the start of a session
measure: Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (S-MFQ)
timeFrame: up to 1 hour from the start of a session
measure: Emergency Developmental Assets Profile (EMDAP)
timeFrame: up to 1 hour from the start of a session
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Arua
country: Uganda
facility: World Vision West Nile Response Office
Study officials:
affiliation: Columbia University
name: Cassie Landers, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: