Clinical trial NCT02402556: Mother and Child Education Program in Palestinian Refugee Camps
Official title: Implementation and Impact Evaluation of the Mother and Child Education Program (MOCEP) Among Children and Families in Palestinian Refugee Camps in Beirut, Lebanon
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Parenting
Lead sponsor: Yale University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2015-03-30
Enrollment: 106
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 3
Maximum age (years): 6
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL

Brief summary: The purpose of the Mother Child Education Program (MOCEP)-a group-based early childhood development parenting education program-is to provide school-readiness and parenting skills to mothers of young children who do not have access to preschool education services. The MOCEP intervention also provides a setting in which caregivers can model pro-social behaviors and practice conflict resolution techniques directly with young children.

Detailed description: The purpose of the evaluation study is to rigorously evaluate the impact of MOCEP on child and parent outcomes among Palestinian refugees in Beirut, Lebanon. This evaluation employs an innovative, mixed-methods bio-behavioral approach to investigate the associations among social contexts; maternal, child and family functioning; and reduction in violence through the promotion of harmonious family relationships. The results of this study have implications for improving the lives of and reducing violence for the hundreds of thousands of families with young children living in fragile contexts. We hypothesize that when MOCEP is implemented with fidelity (i.e., delivered as intended by design), participating families will experience reduced violence in their homes and have better individual and intra-family outcomes than families who do not participate in the program.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Child must be between 3 and 6 years of age (children age 7 may be accepted under special circumstances)
2. Mother must be able to read and write in Arabic (although skills may not be well-developed)
3. Mothers must commit to participate in the 25-week MOCEP Intervention program

Primary outcomes:
measure: Disciplinary Style Questionnaire
timeFrame: 25 weeks
measure: Better Parenting Questionnaire
timeFrame: 25 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Socio-Emotional Status: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (child assessment)
timeFrame: 25 weeks
measure: Parental Stress Index
timeFrame: 25 weeks
measure: Duke Social Support Index
timeFrame: 25 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Beirut
country: Lebanon
facility: Bourj el-Barajneh refugee camp
city: Beirut
country: Lebanon
facility: Charila
city: Beirut
country: Lebanon
facility: Mar Elias Refugee Camp
Study officials:
affiliation: Yale University
name: James Leckman, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Ponguta LA, Issa G, Aoudeh L, Maalouf C, Hein SD, Zonderman AL, Katsovich L, Khoshnood K, Bick J, Awar A, Nourallah S, Householder S, Moore CC, Salah R, Britto PR, Leckman JF. Effects of the Mother-Child Education Program on Parenting Stress and Disciplinary Practices Among Refugee and Other Marginalized Communities in Lebanon: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020 Jun;59(6):727-738. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2019.12.010. Epub 2020 Jan 31.