Engaging and Supporting Fathers: A Parenting Intervention to Improve Early Child Development in Tanzania

据估计，在低收入和中等收入国家，有2.5亿或43%的5岁以下儿童未能实现其发展潜力。父母的干预措施，或主要侧重于提高亲子关系质量的方案，已显示出改善早期儿童发展（ECD）成果的有效性。然而，迄今为止，大多数循证育儿干预措施都是为母亲设计、提供和评估的，并将父亲排除在外。在高收入国家进行的观察性研究表明，父亲的养育和夫妻关系是父亲身份的独特方面，独立和互动地塑造父亲对幼儿发展的影响。虽然有越来越多的跨文化证据支持这些方面的父亲在中低收入国家，很少有人知道如何让父亲和解决这些重要方面的父亲通过养育干预措施在撒哈拉以南非洲。这个K99/R 00独立之路奖的目标是准备候选人成功过渡到一个独立的干预科学家与国际研究的重点是促进幼儿发展的成果，通过支持父亲通过社区为基础的干预措施在中低收入国家。这一目标将通过辅导阶段（K99）的培训来实现，以扩大候选人在三个关键领域的知识和技能：1）幼儿发展、父亲和家庭科学方面的多学科和跨文化培训，2）潜在特征分析，3）干预措施制定和评估科学。候选人组建了一支优秀的导师团队，在理论，实务和方法技能方面具有互补的专业知识。这些培训目标将通过一个整体的方法来实现，其中包括定期的导师会议，课程，培训，会议和实地研究经验在坦桑尼亚。K99阶段的具体研究目标是：1）根据父亲养育子女和夫妇关系的衡量标准，确定父亲角色的特征，并确定其与后来幼儿发展结果的关系，以及2）整合和调整多成分养育子女干预措施，支持父亲在坦桑尼亚文化背景下作为父母和伙伴的角色。K99阶段的指导培训和研究成果将使候选人能够完成独立阶段（R 00）的最终研究目标，即：3）进行新调整的父亲干预的混合方法试点试验，以改善父亲的结果。这项建议将产生第一个以证据为基础的、多方面的育儿干预措施，从一开始就针对坦桑尼亚文化背景下的父亲。试点试验结果将用于确定项目的可行性和可接受性，以及对父亲结局的初始干预效果，以支持随后的R 01应用，该应用旨在评估其在坦桑尼亚更大样本中对ECD结局的有效性。

An estimated 250 million or 43% of children under age 5 years are failing to reach their developmental potential in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Parenting interventions, or programs that primarily focus on enhancing the quality of parent-child relationships, have shown effectiveness for improving early child development (ECD) outcomes. However, the majority of evidence-based parenting interventions to date have been designed for, delivered to, and evaluated among mothers and have excluded fathers. Observational studies in high-income countries have supported that fathers’ parenting and couple’s relationships are unique dimensions of fatherhood that independently and interactively shape the influence of fathers on young children’s development. While there is increasing cross-cultural evidence to support these dimensions of fatherhood in LMICs, very little is known about how to engage fathers and address these important aspects of fatherhood through parenting interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. The goal of this K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award is to prepare the candidate for a successful transition to an independent intervention scientist with an international research focus on promoting ECD outcomes by supporting fathers through community-based interventions in LMICs. The goal will be accomplished through training during the mentored phase (K99) to broaden the candidate’s knowledge and skills in three critical areas: 1) multidisciplinary and cross-cultural training in ECD, fatherhood, and family science, 2) latent profile analysis, and 3) intervention development and evaluation science. The candidate has assembled an outstanding mentorship team with complementary expertise in theoretical, substantive, and methodological skills. These training objectives will be achieved through a holistic approach that includes regular mentorship meetings, coursework, trainings, conferences, and field-based research experience in Tanzania. The specific research aims of the K99 phase are to: 1) characterize profiles of fatherhood based on measures of fathers’ parenting and couple’s relationships, and determine their associations with later ECD outcomes, and 2) integrate and adapt a multicomponent parenting intervention that supports fathers’ roles as parents and partners in the Tanzanian cultural context. The mentored training and research findings from the K99 phase will enable the candidate to accomplish the final research aim of the independent phase (R00) that is: 3) to conduct a mixed-methods pilot trial of the newly adapted fatherhood intervention for improving paternal outcomes. This proposal will generate the first evidence-based, multicomponent parenting intervention that is designed from the outset for fathers in the Tanzanian cultural context. The pilot trial results will be used to determine program feasibility and acceptability and initial intervention efficacy on paternal outcomes to support a subsequent R01 application that aims to evaluate its effectiveness on ECD outcomes with a larger sample in Tanzania.