Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Trials
Published in: Trials 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Study protocol

The Benefits of Early Book Sharing (BEBS) for child cognitive and socio-emotional development in South Africa: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Authors: Nicholas Dowdall, Peter J. Cooper, Mark Tomlinson, Sarah Skeen, Frances Gardner, Lynne Murray

Published in: Trials | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at risk for problems in their cognitive, social and behavioural development. Factors such as a lack of cognitive stimulation, harsh parenting practices, and severe and persistent aggression in early childhood are central to the genesis of these problems. Interventions that target the intersection between early childhood development, parenting, and early violence prevention are required in order to meaningfully address these problems.

Methods

We are conducting a randomised controlled trial to evaluate a parenting intervention for caregivers of children aged between 23 and 27 months, designed to promote child cognitive and socioemotional development in Khayelitsha, a low-income peri-urban township in South Africa. Families are randomly allocated to a book-sharing intervention group or to a wait-list control group. In the intervention, we train caregivers in supportive book-sharing with young children. Training is carried out in small groups over a period of 8 weeks. Data are collected at baseline, post intervention and at 6 months post intervention. In addition to targeting child cognitive development, the intervention aims to improve child socioemotional functioning.

Discussion

The Benefits of Early Book Sharing (BEBS) trial aims to evaluate the impact of an early parenting intervention on several key risk factors for the development of violence, including aspects of parenting and child cognition, prosocial behaviour, aggression, and socioemotional functioning. The study is being carried out in a LMIC where violence constitutes a major social and health burden. Since the intervention is brief and, with modest levels of training, readily deliverable in LMIC contexts, a demonstration that it is of benefit to both child cognitive and socioemotional development would be of significance.

Trial registration

The BEBS trial is registered on the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number database, registration number ISRCTN71109104. Registered on 9 February 2016. This is version 1 of the protocol for the BEBS trial.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Grantham-McGregor S, Cheung YB, Cueto S, Glewwe P, Richter L, Strupp B, ICDS Group. Developmental potential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries. Lancet. 2007;369(9555):60–70.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
2.
Heckman JJ, Masterov DV. The productivity argument for investing in young children. Appl Econ Perspect Policy. 2007;29(3):446–93.
3.
Walker SP, Wachs TD, Grantham-McGregor S, Black MM, Nelson CA, Huffman SL, Baker-Henningham H, Chang SM, Hamadani JD, Lozoff B. Inequality in early childhood: risk and protective factors for early child development. Lancet. 2011;378(9799):1325–38.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Catts HW, Fey ME, Zhang X, Tomblin JB. Estimating the risk of future reading difficulties in kindergarten children: a research-based model and its clinical implementation. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2001;32(1):38–50.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Murray L, Arteche A, Fearon P, Halligan S, Croudace T, Cooper P. The effects of maternal postnatal depression and child sex on academic performance at age 16 years: a developmental approach. J Child Psychol Psychiatr. 2010;51(10):1150–9.CrossRef
6.
7.
Engle PL, Black MM, Behrman JR, De Mello MC, Gertler PJ, Kapiriri L, Martorell R, Young ME, ICDS Group. Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than 200 million children in the developing world. Lancet. 2007;369(9557):229–42.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Liddell C, Rae G. Predicting early grade retention: a longitudinal investigation of primary school progress in a sample of rural South African children. Br J Educ Psychol. 2001;71(3):413–28.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Dendir S. Children’s cognitive ability, schooling and work: evidence from Ethiopia. Int J Educ Dev. 2014;38:22–36.CrossRef
10.
Heckman JJ. The case for investing in disadvantaged young children. Big Ideas Child. 2008:49–58.
11.
Twist L. Results from PIRLS 2006. Literacy Today. 2007;53:28–31.
12.
Modisaotsile BM. The failing standard of basic education in South Africa. Policy Brief. 2012;72:1–7.
13.
Moffitt TE, Caspi A. Childhood predictors differentiate life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways among males and females. Dev Psychopathol. 2001;13(02):355–75.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Odgers CL, Caspi A, Russell MA, Sampson RJ, Arsenault L, Moffitt TE. Supportive parenting mediates widening neighborhood socioeconomic disparities in children’s antisocial behavior from ages 5 to 12. Dev Psychopathol. 2012;24(3):705.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
15.
World Health Organization. World Health Organization global burden of disease. Geneva: WHO Press; 2012.
16.
Seedat M, Van Niekerk A, Jewkes R, Suffla S, Ratele K. Violence and injuries in South Africa: prioritising an agenda for prevention. Lancet. 2009;374(9694):1011–22.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Tremblay RE, Nagin DS, Seguin JR, Zoccolillo M, Zelazo PD, Boivin M, Perusse D, Japel C. Physical aggression during early childhood: trajectories and predictors. Pediatrics. 2004;114(1):e43–50.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
18.
Broidy LM, Nagin DS, Tremblay RE, Bates JE, Brame B, Dodge KA, Fergusson D, Horwood JL, Loeber R, Laird R. Developmental trajectories of childhood disruptive behaviors and adolescent delinquency: a six-site, cross-national study. Dev Psychol. 2003;39(2):222.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
19.
Nagin D, Tremblay RE. Trajectories of boys’ physical aggression, opposition, and hyperactivity on the path to physically violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquency. Child Dev. 1999;70(5):1181–96.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Rothbaum F, Weisz JR. Parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior in nonclinical samples: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull. 1994;116(1):55.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Gershoff ET. Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: a meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychol Bull. 2002;128(4):539.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Murray J, Anselmi L, Gallo EAG, Fleitlich-Bilyk B, Bordin IA. Epidemiology of childhood conduct problems in Brazil: systematic review and meta-analysis. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013;48(10):1527–38.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
23.
Wessels I, Mikton C, Ward C, Kilbane T, Alves R, Campello G, Madrid B. Preventing violence: evaluating outcomes of parenting programmes. Geneva: Word Health Organization; 2013.
24.
Ruffman T, Slade L, Crowe E. The relation between children’s and mothers’ mental state language and theory‐of‐mind understanding. Child Dev. 2002;73(3):734–51.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Wellman HM. Understanding the psychological world: developing a theory of mind. 2002.
26.
Diener ML, Kim D-Y. Maternal and child predictors of preschool children’s social competence. J Appl Dev Psychol. 2004;25(1):3–24.CrossRef
27.
Spinrad TL, Stifter CA. Toddlers’ empathy-related responding to distress: predictions from negative emotionality and maternal behavior in infancy. Infancy. 2006;10(2):97–121.CrossRef
28.
Fivush R, Nelson K. Parent-child reminiscing locates the self in the past. Br J Dev Psychol. 2006;24(1):235–51.CrossRef
29.
Murray L, Pella JE, De Pascalis L, Arteche A, Pass L, Percy R, Creswell C, Cooper PJ. Socially anxious mothers’ narratives to their children and their relation to child representations and adjustment. Dev Psychopathol. 2014;26(4pt2):1531–46.CrossRefPubMed
30.
LaBounty J, Wellman HM, Olson S, Lagattuta K, Liu D. Mothers’ and fathers’ use of internal state talk with their young children. Soc Dev. 2008;17(4):757–75.CrossRef
31.
Rosnay M, Pons F, Harris PL, Morrell J. A lag between understanding false belief and emotion attribution in young children: relationships with linguistic ability and mothers’ mental-state language. Br J Dev Psychol. 2004;22(2):197–218.CrossRef
32.
Mol SE, Bus AG, de Jong MT, Smeets DJ. Added value of dialogic parent-child book readings: a meta-analysis. Early Educ Dev. 2008;19(1):7–26.CrossRef
33.
Lonigan CJ, Shanahan T. Developing early literacy skills: things we know we know and things we know we don’t know. Educ Res. 2010;39(4):340–6. Part of a special issue: The National Early Literacy Panel Report: Summary, Commentary, and Reflections on Policies and Practices to Improve Children’s Early Literacy.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
34.
Whitehurst GJ, Lonigan CJ. Child development and emergent literacy. Child Dev. 1998;69(3):848–72.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Bus AG, Van Ijzendoorn MH, Pellegrini AD. Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: a meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Rev Educ Res. 1995;65(1):1–21.CrossRef
36.
Arnold DH, Lonigan CJ, Whitehurst GJ, Epstein JN. Accelerating language development through picture book reading: replication and extension to a videotape training format. J Educ Psychol. 1994;86(2):235.CrossRef
37.
Lonigan CJ, Whitehurst GJ. Relative efficacy of parent and teacher involvement in a shared-reading intervention for preschool children from low-income backgrounds. Early Child Res Q. 1998;13(2):263–90.CrossRef
38.
Whitehurst GJ, Epstein JN, Angell AL, Payne AC, Crone DA, Fischel JE. Outcomes of an emergent literacy intervention in Head Start. J Educ Psychol. 1994;86(4):542.CrossRef
39.
Dowdall N. The effectiveness of shared picture book reading interventions on child language outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Master’s Thesis, Oxford University; 2015.
40.
Ruffman T, Slade L, Devitt K, Crowe E. What mothers say and what they do: the relation between parenting, theory of mind, language and conflict/cooperation. Br J Dev Psychol. 2006;24(1):105–24.CrossRef
41.
Fine Y, Aram D, Ziv M. Promoting low-SES kindergartners’ reference to mental states through parental mediation during interactive storybook reading. Megamot. 2014;49(3):415–45.
42.
Ziv M, Smadja M-L, Aram D. Mothers’ mental-state discourse with preschoolers during storybook reading and wordless storybook telling. Early Child Res Q. 2013;28(1):177–86.CrossRef
43.
Adrian JE, Clemente RA, Villanueva L. Mothers’ use of cognitive state verbs in picture-book reading and the development of children’s understanding of mind: a longitudinal study. Child Dev. 2007;78(4):1052–67.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Adrian JE, Clemente RA, Villanueva L, Rieffe C. Parent-child picture-book reading, mothers’ mental state language and children’s theory of mind. J Child Lang. 2005;32(3):673–86.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Vally Z, Murray L, Tomlinson M, Cooper PJ. The impact of dialogic book‐sharing training on infant language and attention: a randomized controlled trial in a deprived South African community. J Child Psychol Psychiatr. 2015;56(8):865–73.CrossRef
46.
Murray L, De Pascalis L, Tomlinson M, Vally Z, Dadomo H, MacLachlan B, Woodward C, Cooper PJ. Randomized controlled trial of a book-sharing intervention in a deprived South African community: effects on carer–infant interactions, and their relation to infant cognitive and socioemotional outcome. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2016;57:1370-79.
47.
48.
Evans S, Royston P, Day S. Minim: allocation by minimisation in clinical trials. 2004.
49.
Cooper P, Vally Z, Cooper H, Sharples A, Radford T, Tomlinson M, Murray L. Promoting mother-infant book-sharing and child cognitive development in an impoverished South African population: a pilot study. Early Child Educ. 2014;42:142-53.
50.
Fenson L, Pethick S, Renda C, Cox JL, Dale PS, Reznick JS. Short-form versions of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. Appl Psycholinguist. 2000;21:95–116.
51.
Law J, Roy P. Parental report of infant language skills: a review of the development and application of the Communicative Development Inventories. Child Adolesc Mental Health. 2008;13(4):198–206.CrossRef
52.
Dunn DM, Dunn LM. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test: Manual. Pearson; 2007.
53.
Gardner MF. Expressive one-word picture vocabulary test-revised. Academic Therapy Publications; 1990.
54.
Bayley N. Bayley Scales of Infant Development: manual. Psychological Corporation; 1993.
55.
Sigman M, Neumann C, Jansen AA, Bwibo N. Cognitive abilities of Kenyan children in relation to nutrition, family characteristics, and education. Child Dev. 1989;60:1463–74.
56.
Goldman DZ, Shapiro EG, Nelson CA. Measurement of vigilance in 2-year-old children. Dev Neuropsychol. 2004;25(3):227–50.CrossRefPubMed
57.
Musielak-Hanold KA. An evaluation of the effects of mediational intervention for sensitizing caregivers (MISC) and a health and nutrition education program on the sustained attention of Ugandan children with HIV. Diss. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY; 2016.
58.
Buttelmann D, Carpenter M, Tomasello M. Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm. Cognition. 2009;112(2):337–42.CrossRefPubMed
59.
Goodman R. Psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2001;40(11):1337–45.CrossRefPubMed
60.
Cluver L, Gardner F, Operario D. Psychological distress amongst AIDS‐orphaned children in urban South Africa. J Child Psychol Psychiatr. 2007;48(8):755–63.CrossRef
61.
 Achenbach, Thomas M., and C. Edelbrock. "Child behavior checklist." Burlington (Vt) 7 (1991).
62.
Cluver L, Gardner F. The mental health of children orphaned by AIDS: a review of international and southern African research. J Child Adolesc Mental Health. 2007;19(1):1–17.CrossRef
63.
Nöthling J, Martin CL, Laughton B, Cotton MF, Seedat S. Maternal post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and alcohol dependence and child behaviour outcomes in mother-child dyads infected with HIV: a longitudinal study. BMJ Open. 2013;3(12):e003638.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
64.
Rochat TJ, Houle B, Stein A, Coovadia H, Coutsoudis A, Desmond C, Newell M-L, Bland RM. Exclusive breastfeeding and cognition, executive function and behavioural disorders in primary school-aged children in rural South Africa: a cohort analysis. PLoS Med. 2016:1–51.
65.
Crockenberg S, Litman C. Autonomy as competence in 2-year-olds: maternal correlates of child defiance, compliance, and self-assertion. Dev Psychol. 1990;26(6):961.CrossRef
66.
Kochanska G, Aksan N. Mother‐child mutually positive affect, the quality of child compliance to requests and prohibitions, and maternal control as correlates of early internalization. Child Dev. 1995;66(1):236–54.CrossRef
67.
Pereira M, Negrão M, Soares I, Mesman J. Decreasing harsh discipline in mothers at risk for maltreatment: a randomized control trial. Infant Mental Health J. 2014;35(6):604–13.CrossRef
68.
Goldsmith HH, Reilly J, Lemery KS, Longley S, Prescott A. Preschool Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (PS Lab-TAB; Version 1.0). Technical Report, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993.
69.
Bozicevica L, De Pascalis L, Schuitmaker N, Tomlinson M, Cooper P, Murray L. Longitudinal association between child emotion regulation and aggression, and the role of parenting: a comparison of three cultures. Psychopathology. (in press).
70.
71.
Wellman HM, Fang F, Liu D, Zhu L, Liu G. Scaling of theory-of-mind understandings in Chinese children. Psychol Sci. 2006;17(12):1075–81.CrossRefPubMed
72.
Taumoepeau M, Ruffman T. Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding. Child Dev. 2006;77(2):465–81.CrossRefPubMed
73.
Murray L, Stanley C, Hooper R, King F, Fiori‐Cowley A. The role of infant factors in postnatal depression and mother‐infant interactions. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1996;38(2):109–19.CrossRefPubMed
74.
Lansford JE, Deater‐Deckard K. Childrearing discipline and violence in developing countries. Child Dev. 2012;83(1):62–75.CrossRefPubMed
75.
Taumoepeau M, Ruffman T. Stepping stones to others’ minds: maternal talk relates to child mental state language and emotion understanding at 15, 24, and 33 months. Child Dev. 2008;79(2):284–302.CrossRefPubMed
76.
Weber A, Fernald A, Yatma D. When cultural norms discourage talking to babies: effectiveness of a parenting program in rural Senegal. Child Dev. (in press).
77.
78.
Merla A, Di Donato L, Rossini P, Romani G. Emotion detection through functional infrared imaging: preliminary results. Biomed Tech. 2004;48(2):284–6.
79.
Abidin RR. Parenting Stress Index-short form. Charlottesville: Pediatric Psychology Press; 1990.
80.
Rochat TJ, Arteche AX, Stein A, Mitchell J, Bland RM. Maternal and child psychological outcomes of HIV disclosure to young children in rural South Africa: the Amagugu intervention. AIDS. 2015;29:S67–79.CrossRefPubMed
81.
Löwe B, Kroenke K, Herzog W, Gräfe K. Measuring depression outcome with a brief self-report instrument: sensitivity to change of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). J Affect Disord. 2004;81(1):61–6.CrossRefPubMed
82.
Bhana A, Rathod SD, Selohilwe O, Kathree T, Petersen I. The validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire for screening depression in chronic care patients in primary health care in South Africa. BMC Psychiatry. 2015;15(1):1.CrossRef
83.
García-Moreno C, Jansen HA, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts C. WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women: initial results on prevalence, health outcomes and women’s responses. World Health Organization; 2005.
84.
85.
Metadata
Title
The Benefits of Early Book Sharing (BEBS) for child cognitive and socio-emotional development in South Africa: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Authors
Nicholas Dowdall
Peter J. Cooper
Mark Tomlinson
Sarah Skeen
Frances Gardner
Lynne Murray
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Trials / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1745-6215
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-017-1790-1

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

Trials 1/2017 Go to the issue

Erratum

Erratum to: Attention training for infants at familial risk of ADHD (INTERSTAARS): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Study protocol

Effect of strength training on sleep apnea severity in the elderly: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Study protocol

To evaluate if increased supervision and support of South African Government health workers’ home visits improves maternal and child outcomes: study protocol for a randomized control trial

Study protocol

Effectiveness of a novel mobile health education intervention (Peek) on spectacle wear among children in India: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Study protocol

Development of a core outcome set for studies involving patients undergoing major lower limb amputation for peripheral arterial disease: study protocol for a systematic review and identification of a core outcome set using a Delphi survey

Study protocol

Substitution of ethambutol with linezolid during the intensive phase of treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis: study protocol for a prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase II trial