The Sugira Muryango Longitudinal & Spillover Study

Summary

The Early Childhood version of Sugira Muryango is a family-based, home-visiting intervention targeted at early childhood development and implemented with families living in extreme poverty in three districts of Rwanda. This version of Sugira Muryango was first tested in two small pilot studies and a large cluster randomized trial (CRT) was implemented between February 2018 and September 2019 . Pre- to post-intervention findings demonstrated that Sugira Muryango led to improvements in caregiver behaviors linked to child development and health as well as reductions in violence, which were sustained 12 months after the intervention, at which time improvements in child development were observed.

The Research Program on Children and Adversity in the Boston College School of Social Work is led by Dr. Theresa S. Betancourt and will, in partnership with the University of Rwanda, FXB-Rwanda and Laterite, conduct a longitudinal follow-up study to investigate the longer-term outcomes of the Sugira Muryango intervention in families who participated in the CRT. The four-year follow-up will examine the long-term and sustained outcomes of the intervention. In particular, the investigators will look at key indicators of long-term positive outcomes for children such as school readiness and transition to formal schooling. Given the lack of longitudinal research on intervention programs supporting ECD in sub-Saharan Africa, this study will contribute greatly to the body of knowledge on the costs and benefits of investments in ECD and guide policy makers and government leaders on making impactful investments in children, leading to long-term benefits for the population at large.

The follow-up study involves two activities:

Activity A: Pilot to assess measures performance of newly added measures and field test study protocols.

Activity B: Four-year follow-up of families who participated in the CRT of the Sugira Muryango intervention.

Conditions

• Cognitive Change
• Growth; Stunting, Nutritional
• Language
• Depression
• Behavior
• Violence
• Parenting

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Rwanda

  collaborator OTHER

• FXB-Rwanda

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• LEGO Foundation

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• The ELMA Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Echidna Giving

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

  collaborator FED

• Boston College

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Theresa S Betancourt, ScD, MA · Boston College

Eligibility

Min Age

3 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-04-20

Primary Completion

2022-06-30

Completion

2022-12-31

Countries

• Rwanda

Study Locations