Child DevelopmentNCT03502252
Experimental Evaluation of Semillas de Apego
A study testing Semillas de Apego in people with Child Development and Attachment Disorder, run by University of Los Andes, Columbia at 1 site in Colombia.
Trial summary
The current trial focuses on the effectiveness evaluation of Semillas de Apego in Tumaco, a municipality in Colombia heavily affected by violence and poverty. Over a time-span of 23 months, the researchers will follow the implementation of Semillas de Apego with 40 groups of 16 participants each, all of them mothers… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 2 to 4 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Child Development, Attachment Disorder, Exposure to Violent Event
- What is being tested?
- Semillas de Apego
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 1,280 participants
- Where
- 1 siteColombia
- Study dates
- 5 Mar 2018to 30 Nov 2020
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 2 to 4 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Child
Who may be able to join
- The experimental evaluation of Semillas de Apego will be conducted as a Cluster-Randomized Control Trial (C-RCT). The eligible population for the study are all families served by Genesis Foundation's Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) in Tumaco, Colombia and whose children's ages range between 2 to 4 years of age. For example, for the first cohort, the children should have been born between August 1st, 2014 to April 1st, 2016
Who cannot join
- None
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: Experimental Evaluation of Semillas de Apego, a Group-based Program to Foster Maternal Mental Health and Early Childhood Development Among Violence Exposed Communities in Colombia.
The current trial focuses on the effectiveness evaluation of Semillas de Apego in Tumaco, a municipality in Colombia heavily affected by violence and poverty. Over a time-span of 23 months, the researchers will follow the implementation of Semillas de Apego with 40 groups of 16 participants each, all of them mothers or primary caregivers of children 2 to 5. This will allow the researchers to reach a total of 640 participants and their children. The impact evaluation will be based on a cluster- randomized control trial in which the researchers will assign 1280 eligible subjects, nested within 18 child development centers, to either an intervention arm or a control group. The former group will participate in 15 group-led session over the period of 3 months; the latter will continue to have access to the regular early childhood programs offered through the centers to which children are affiliated. Data will be collected at baseline and two follow-ups: 1 and 12 months after the implementation has concluded. The researchers hypothesize that the program will have a positive and sequential impact on the following dimensions: (i) primary caregiver's mental health, (ii) child rearing practices, (iii) quality of child-parent emotional bond, (iv) children's mental health, and (v) children's cognitive and socioemotional development.
Read the detailed description
Over half a million children between 0 and 5 years of age in Colombia have been affected by a civil conflict that has spanned over six decades. Exposure to violence during early childhood, or being born to a household that has been formerly victimized, may have devastating consequences on early childhood cognitive and socio-emotional development. In doing so, violence can compromise the right to lead healthy and productive lives for thousands of children in Colombia.
First, violence leaves a legacy of poverty and psychological trauma (Ibañez \& Moya, 2010; Moya, 2018). Children who experienced violence during early childhood lag in cognitive, social, and emotional development, while exposure to violence increases the probability of child neglect (Harker, Moya, \& Riveros, 2015; Cuartas, Harker, \& Moya, 2015). Protecting children from effects of violence, toxic stress, and deficits in family care is therefore one of the key challenges as Colombia transitions into a post-conflict stage and for the construction of a more equal and peaceful society. More generally, identifying cost effective ways to protect children and children from the effects of violence, toxic stress, and deficits in maternal care is a key challenge in contexts of violence and humanitarian crises.
Recent evidence exploring the effect of interventions to promote positive child-development suggest a promising path through the attention to their caregivers (Singla Kumbakumba, \& Aboud, 2015; Rahman et al., 2013). Building from this evidence, in this trial the researchers will evaluate the effectiveness of a group-based psychosocial program (Semillas de Apego) for victimized caregivers with children 2 to 5 in Colombia, a country devastated by violence. The program promotes healthy child-parent attachments as a pathway for a proper development among children exposed to violence. By fostering caregivers' mental health and their capacity to become a source of emotional protection, the intervention helps children reach their full potential amid such traumatic circumstances. Delivered in a 15-week curriculum, Semillas de Apego first provides tools so that victimized caregivers can start processing their own trauma. Then, the program focuses on allowing a proper understanding of the child's development trajectories and how they affected by the experience of adversities (such as violence exposure). Finally, the curriculum works towards fostering positive child-rearing practices. Taken together, Semillas de Apego's curriculum aims to foster the healthy child-parent attachments that promote appropriate affect regulation and healthy emotional development in the midst of adverse circumstances.
The current trial focuses on the effectiveness evaluation of Semillas de Apego in Tumaco, a municipality in Colombia heavily affected by violence and poverty. Over a time-span of 23 months, the researchers will follow the implementation of Semillas de Apego with 40 groups of 16 participants each, all of them mothers or primary caregivers of children 2 to 5. This will allow the researchers to reach a total of 640 participants and their children. The impact evaluation will be based on a cluster- randomized control trial in which 1280 eligible subjects, nested within 18 child development centers, will be assigned to either an intervention arm or a control group. The former group will participate in 15 group-led session over the period of 3 months; the latter will continue to have access to the regular early childhood programs offered through the centers to which children are affiliated. Data will be collected at baseline and two follow-ups: 1 and 12 months after the implementation has concluded. The researchers hypothesize that the program will have a positive and sequential impact on the following dimensions: (i) primary caregiver's mental health, (ii) child rearing practices, (iii) quality of child-parent emotional bond, (iv) children's mental health, and (v) children's cognitive and socioemotional development.
- Being tested
- Semillas de Apego
- Keywords
- early childhood development, social and emotional development, secure parenting relationships
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Semillas de ApegoBehavioural
Group-based Primary Caregiver Intervention: Group-based psychosocial program for victimized mothers (or alternative primary caregivers) with children 2 to 5, that aims at promoting healthy child-parent attachments as a pathway for a proper development among children exposed to violence.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment Group | Experimental | Semillas de Apego is a group-based psychosocial program for victimized caregivers with children 2 to 5 in Colombia, a country devastated by violence. The program's builds upon scientific evidence on (i) the way in which violence hinders early childhood development and erodes mothers' mental health and their capacity to form nurturing relationships with their children, and (ii) the effectiveness of promoting healthy child-parent attachments to mitigate the effects of toxic stress on toddlers (Lieberman and Van Horn, 2011). Receives: Behavioral: Semillas de Apego |
| Control Group | No intervention | Centers and participants assigned to the this group continue to have access to the regular early childhood programs offered through the centers to which children are affiliated. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Primary caregiver's mental health
Measured with four sub-scales of the Symptom Checklist-90-R (Derogatis, 1994).
Measured: 1 month after the end of intervention
Child rearing practices
Measured with a measure asking caregivers whether they engaged in any of the following six stimulating activities with their children in the previous week: (1) reading stories or looking at books with images; (2) telling stories; (3) singing songs; (4) playing with child; (5) taking the child outside; and (6) spending time in physical activities with child. To analyze this construct as a composite measure, the researchers will computed a summary score ranging from zero (no engagement in any activity) to six (engagement in the six activities)
Measured: 1 month after the end of intervention
Healthy child-parent emotional bonds
Measured with the parenting stress-index (PSI, Adibin, 2012), a measure focused on three major domains of stress: child characteristics, parent characteristics and situational/demographic life stress. The researchers will analyze a composite measure of this scale and the individual sub-scales for the following domains: (i) parental distress, (ii) parent-child dysfunctional interaction, and (iii) difficult child.
Measured: 1 month after the end of intervention
Children's mental health
Measured with two separated scales reported by the caregiver. First, the researchers will employ an adapted measure of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC, Briere,2005) to describe child-levels of trauma and abuse-related symptomatology. Second, the researchers will employ the brief version of the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA, Carter \& Briggs-Gowan, 2004) to screen for social, emotional, and behavioral problems in our population. For both scales, the researchers will focus on composite scores, but also provide detailed findings for each subscale.
Measured: 12 months after the end of the intervention
Children's cognitive, social, and emotional development
Measured with the international Development Learning Assessment (IDELA, Pisani, Borisova \& Dowd, 2015). This direct assessment tool, will describe the: (i) motor development, (ii) emergent language and literacy, (iii) emergent numeracy and problem solving, and (iv) socio-emotional skills of children.
Measured: 12 months after the end of the intervention
Healthy child-parent emotional bonds
Measured with an observation measured designed for this trial, this measure will describe the quality of the relationship between children and caregivers in the child-development center. An overall score will be produced and analyzed from observers' ratings to items targeting: (a) the quality of the interaction, (b) the cognitive stimulation provided in the situation, and (c) the emotional support provided during the situation.
Measured: 12 months after the end of the intervention
Secondary outcomes (2)
Children's mental health:
Measured with two separated scales reported by the caregiver. First, the researchers will employ an adapted measure of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC, Briere,2005) to describe child-levels of trauma and abuse-related symptomatology. Second, the researchers will employ the brief version of the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA, Carter \& Briggs-Gowan, 2004) to screen for social, emotional, and behavioral problems in our population. For both scales, the researchers will focus on composite scores, but will also provide detailed findings for each subscale.
Measured: 1 month after end of the intervention
Children's social, and emotional development.
Measured at baseline with an adapted version of the Preschool Self-Regulatory Assessment (PSRA, Smith-Donald, Raver, Hayes \& Richardson, 2007). This tool will provide independent scores of self-regulations in emotional, attentional, and behavioral domains. The researchers will focus our report on a composite score, but also provide detailed findings for each subscale.
Measured: 1 month after end of the intervention
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted18 Apr 2018
- Study start5 Mar 2018
- Primary completion30 Apr 2020
- Study completion30 Nov 2020
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Child DevelopmentStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 1,280 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Los Andes, Columbia
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Genesis Foundation
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Andres Moya, Ph.D, Principal investigator, Universidad de los Andes, Chile
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03502252
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- UANDES835
- Status last verified
- May 2021
- First submitted
- 10 Apr 2018
- Last updated
- 4 Jun 2021
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 4 Jun 2021. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Experimental Evaluation of Semillas de Apego, a Group-based Program to Foster Maternal Mental Health and Early Childhood Development Among Violence Exposed Communities in Colombia.
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03502252
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- UANDES835
- Keywords
- early childhood development, social and emotional development, secure parenting relationships
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 1,280 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of Los Andes, ColumbiaUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Genesis Foundation
- Study start
- 5 Mar 2018 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 Apr 2020 (actual)
- Study completion
- 30 Nov 2020 (actual)
- First posted
- 18 Apr 2018 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The current trial focuses on the effectiveness evaluation of Semillas de Apego in Tumaco, a municipality in Colombia heavily affected by violence and poverty. Over a time-span of 23 months, the researchers will follow the implementation of Semillas de Apego with 40 groups of 16 participants each, all of them mothers or primary caregivers of children 2 to 5. This will allow the researchers to reach a total of 640 participants and their children. The impact evaluation will be based on a cluster- randomized control trial in which the researchers will assign 1280 eligible subjects, nested within 18 child development centers, to either an intervention arm or a control group. The former group will participate in 15 group-led session over the period of 3 months; the latter will continue to have access to the regular early childhood programs offered through the centers to which children are affiliated. Data will be collected at baseline and two follow-ups: 1 and 12 months after the implementation has concluded. The researchers hypothesize that the program will have a positive and sequential impact on the following dimensions: (i) primary caregiver's mental health, (ii) child rearing practices, (iii) quality of child-parent emotional bond, (iv) children's mental health, and (v) children's cognitive and socioemotional development.
Detailed description
Over half a million children between 0 and 5 years of age in Colombia have been affected by a civil conflict that has spanned over six decades. Exposure to violence during early childhood, or being born to a household that has been formerly victimized, may have devastating consequences on early childhood cognitive and socio-emotional development. In doing so, violence can compromise the right to lead healthy and productive lives for thousands of children in Colombia.
First, violence leaves a legacy of poverty and psychological trauma (Ibañez \& Moya, 2010; Moya, 2018). Children who experienced violence during early childhood lag in cognitive, social, and emotional development, while exposure to violence increases the probability of child neglect (Harker, Moya, \& Riveros, 2015; Cuartas, Harker, \& Moya, 2015). Protecting children from effects of violence, toxic stress, and deficits in family care is therefore one of the key challenges as Colombia transitions into a post-conflict stage and for the construction of a more equal and peaceful society. More generally, identifying cost effective ways to protect children and children from the effects of violence, toxic stress, and deficits in maternal care is a key challenge in contexts of violence and humanitarian crises.
Recent evidence exploring the effect of interventions to promote positive child-development suggest a promising path through the attention to their caregivers (Singla Kumbakumba, \& Aboud, 2015; Rahman et al., 2013). Building from this evidence, in this trial the researchers will evaluate the effectiveness of a group-based psychosocial program (Semillas de Apego) for victimized caregivers with children 2 to 5 in Colombia, a country devastated by violence. The program promotes healthy child-parent attachments as a pathway for a proper development among children exposed to violence. By fostering caregivers' mental health and their capacity to become a source of emotional protection, the intervention helps children reach their full potential amid such traumatic circumstances. Delivered in a 15-week curriculum, Semillas de Apego first provides tools so that victimized caregivers can start processing their own trauma. Then, the program focuses on allowing a proper understanding of the child's development trajectories and how they affected by the experience of adversities (such as violence exposure). Finally, the curriculum works towards fostering positive child-rearing practices. Taken together, Semillas de Apego's curriculum aims to foster the healthy child-parent attachments that promote appropriate affect regulation and healthy emotional development in the midst of adverse circumstances.
The current trial focuses on the effectiveness evaluation of Semillas de Apego in Tumaco, a municipality in Colombia heavily affected by violence and poverty. Over a time-span of 23 months, the researchers will follow the implementation of Semillas de Apego with 40 groups of 16 participants each, all of them mothers or primary caregivers of children 2 to 5. This will allow the researchers to reach a total of 640 participants and their children. The impact evaluation will be based on a cluster- randomized control trial in which 1280 eligible subjects, nested within 18 child development centers, will be assigned to either an intervention arm or a control group. The former group will participate in 15 group-led session over the period of 3 months; the latter will continue to have access to the regular early childhood programs offered through the centers to which children are affiliated. Data will be collected at baseline and two follow-ups: 1 and 12 months after the implementation has concluded. The researchers hypothesize that the program will have a positive and sequential impact on the following dimensions: (i) primary caregiver's mental health, (ii) child rearing practices, (iii) quality of child-parent emotional bond, (iv) children's mental health, and (v) children's cognitive and socioemotional development.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment Group | Experimental | Behavioral: Semillas de ApegoSemillas de Apego is a group-based psychosocial program for victimized caregivers with children 2 to 5 in Colombia, a country devastated by violence. The program's builds upon scientific evidence on (i) the way in which violence hinders early childhood development and erodes mothers' mental health and their capacity to form nurturing relationships with their children, and (ii) the effectiveness of promoting healthy child-parent attachments to mitigate the effects of toxic stress on toddlers (Lieberman and Van Horn, 2011). |
| Control Group | No intervention | –Centers and participants assigned to the this group continue to have access to the regular early childhood programs offered through the centers to which children are affiliated. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 2 to 4 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- The experimental evaluation of Semillas de Apego will be conducted as a Cluster-Randomized Control Trial (C-RCT). The eligible population for the study are all families served by Genesis Foundation's Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) in Tumaco, Colombia and whose children's ages range between 2 to 4 years of age. For example, for the first cohort, the children should have been born between August 1st, 2014 to April 1st, 2016
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- None
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Semillas de ApegoGroup-based Primary Caregiver Intervention: Group-based psychosocial program for victimized mothers (or alternative primary caregivers) with children 2 to 5, that aims at promoting healthy child-parent attachments as a pathway for a proper development among children exposed to violence. | Behavioural | Treatment Group |
Primary outcome
Primary caregiver's mental health
Time frame: 1 month after the end of intervention
Measured with four sub-scales of the Symptom Checklist-90-R (Derogatis, 1994).
Child rearing practices
Time frame: 1 month after the end of intervention
Measured with a measure asking caregivers whether they engaged in any of the following six stimulating activities with their children in the previous week: (1) reading stories or looking at books with images; (2) telling stories; (3) singing songs; (4) playing with child; (5) taking the child outside; and (6) spending time in physical activities with child. To analyze this construct as a composite measure, the researchers will computed a summary score ranging from zero (no engagement in any activity) to six (engagement in the six activities)
Healthy child-parent emotional bonds
Time frame: 1 month after the end of intervention
Measured with the parenting stress-index (PSI, Adibin, 2012), a measure focused on three major domains of stress: child characteristics, parent characteristics and situational/demographic life stress. The researchers will analyze a composite measure of this scale and the individual sub-scales for the following domains: (i) parental distress, (ii) parent-child dysfunctional interaction, and (iii) difficult child.
Children's mental health
Time frame: 12 months after the end of the intervention
Measured with two separated scales reported by the caregiver. First, the researchers will employ an adapted measure of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC, Briere,2005) to describe child-levels of trauma and abuse-related symptomatology. Second, the researchers will employ the brief version of the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA, Carter \& Briggs-Gowan, 2004) to screen for social, emotional, and behavioral problems in our population. For both scales, the researchers will focus on composite scores, but also provide detailed findings for each subscale.
Children's cognitive, social, and emotional development
Time frame: 12 months after the end of the intervention
Measured with the international Development Learning Assessment (IDELA, Pisani, Borisova \& Dowd, 2015). This direct assessment tool, will describe the: (i) motor development, (ii) emergent language and literacy, (iii) emergent numeracy and problem solving, and (iv) socio-emotional skills of children.
Healthy child-parent emotional bonds
Time frame: 12 months after the end of the intervention
Measured with an observation measured designed for this trial, this measure will describe the quality of the relationship between children and caregivers in the child-development center. An overall score will be produced and analyzed from observers' ratings to items targeting: (a) the quality of the interaction, (b) the cognitive stimulation provided in the situation, and (c) the emotional support provided during the situation.
2 secondary outcomes
Children's mental health:
Time frame: 1 month after end of the intervention
Children's social, and emotional development.
Time frame: 1 month after end of the intervention
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 4 Jun 2021.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes
Related trials for Child Development
Recruiting
Strategies for Toddler ASD With Remote-therapy (STAR) Model for ASD
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Therapy
Recruiting
A Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Effects of a Children's Daily Multivitamin on Perceived Growth, Immune Health, Energy, and Focus in Children
Nutrient Gap in Children, Pediatric Health and Well-Being
Enrolling by invitationPhase 2
Extension Study of Infigratinib in Children With Achondroplasia (ACH)
Achondroplasia
Not yet recruiting
Leveraging Families to Promote Healthy Socio-Emotional Development in Children
Child Development, Parents
Recruiting
Smith Magenis Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders
Smith-Magenis Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Andres Moya, Ph.D principal investigator
Universidad de los Andes, Chile
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Semillas de Apego in people with Child Development and Attachment Disorder, run by University of Los Andes, Columbia at 1 site in Colombia.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 4 Jun 2021. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Colombia. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Primary caregiver's mental health (time frame: 1 month after the end of intervention). The study lists 6 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 4 Jun 2021.