Mental disorders are leading causes of the health-related burden globally, and in Rwanda the intergenerational mental health consequences of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi persist and are further compounded by poverty, such that recent studies have found 20% of the Rwandan population has one or more mental disorders.
The Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) has expanded its evidence-based home-visiting Sugira Muryango (SM) in Rwanda. The current study aims to assess a digitally enhanced delivery of Sugira Muryango to meet the needs of the Government of Rwanda in expanding the mental health and social services infrastructure.
The proposed research will test the feasibility, acceptability and impact of a technology-enabled service delivery model using a digital tool that streamlines data collection, improves visibility of key program performance metrics, and serves as a resource for learning materials that can be used for continuous learning and training of a non-specialized workforce that is delivering an evidence-based intervention that improves caregiver mental health and family functioning. What the team learn from technology-supported delivery of Sugira Muryango - an evidence-based, trauma-informed, family-based behavioral intervention in Rwanda - can be used to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and scalability of evidence-based mental health services in Rwanda and globally.
Household inclusion criteria: Participants must be the primary caregiver to a child between birth and 36 months. Caregivers must live in the same household as the child and must be the child's legal guardian. Legal guardians may be parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or foster parents. Participants must be categorized as Ubudehe 1 under the socio-economic categorization of households from LODA.
Government Official inclusion criteria: Government officials must be located at the Village, Cell, Sector and/or District level and must participate in the 1-day ECD training. Government officials must also agree to participate in the PLAY Collaborative activities throughout the course of program delivery.
IZU interventionist inclusion criteria: IZUs must be a part of the Inshuti z'Umuryango/Friends of the Family program, must be over the age of 18, and must be literate in Kinyarwanda.
Cell Level IZU Mentor inclusion criteria: Cell Level IZU Coordinators must be situated at the Cell Level and able to supervise at least 12 IZU interventionists, must be over 18 years of age, and must be literate in Kinyarwanda.
Household exclusion criteria: Potential participants will be excluded if they do not meet the inclusion criteria above, are experiencing an active crisis (e.g., psychosis), or have severe cognitive impairments which preclude their ability to speak to the research questions/assessments under scrutiny.
Government Official exclusion criteria: Government officials will be excluded from participation in the PLAY Collaborative if they are not located at the Cell, Sector or District level and if they are unable to meet the demands of participation in the PLAY Collaborative.
IZU interventionist exclusion criteria: IZUs will be excluded from participation if they do not meet the inclusion criteria above and if they are unable to meet the demands of delivering the Sugira Muryango program.
Cell Level IZU Mentor exclusion criteria: Cell Level IZU Coordinators will be excluded if they do not meet the inclusion criteria above or are unable to meet the demands of supporting the delivery of the Sugira Muryango program.
Parallel
Digital Dashboard-Supported Sugira Muryango Implementation
Other interventionArm investigating technology-supported delivery of Sugira Muryango, specifically, the use of a Digital Dashboard tool developed in partnership with the University of Rwanda. Developed using co-design and user interface/user experience techniques, the Dashboard (a) streamlines collection of data on evidence-based intervention quality and reach; (b) improves visibility and searchability of implementation data by region; (c) facilitates caregiver mental health and social services referrals and follow up, and (d) serves as a training platform with resources to enhance lay worker fidelity (content-specific skills) and competence (cross-cutting skills) in evidence-based intervention delivery.
Usual Care - Sugira Muryango Implementation
Other interventionSugira Muryango intervention is delivered using traditional supervision, data entry, and quality monitoring tools.
Risk of Harm cases time to resolution
Risk of harm cases' (violence, mental health) time to resolution in days.
Intervention Quality of Delivery
Quality of delivery consists of fidelity, the ability to adhere intervention's planned activities, processes, and design, and competence, core interpersonal and professional skills relevant to mental health and psychosocial services interventions (i.e., empathy, active listening, rapport building). Fidelity is captured by intervention, session-specific items mapping planned activities and processes. Competence is capture by items mapping a set of cross-cutting interventionist skills that should be used or deployed during intervention delivery. Items are scored on a scale from 0 to 4. Scales scores are transformed and reported as percentages, with higher percentages representing higher fidelity and competence.
IZU - interventionist self-efficacy (Adapted Provider Self-efficacy scale)
The Adapted Provider Self-efficacy scale measures providers' belief in ability to successfully perform specific tasks, make decisions, and deliver care. It captures confidence in the providers' skills, knowledge, and ability to manage clinical/intervention-related and interpersonal challenges effectively. Range 0-5, with higher values indicating higher self-efficacy.
John Hopkins' Dissemination and Implementation Battery (D&I)
This measure is administered to interventionists, households, and organizations. It assess key implementation science domains related to buy-in, acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness. Items are scored on a 4-point Likert scale (0-3) with higher scores indicating higher buy-in, acceptability, feasibility, etc.
Hopkin's Symptom Checklist (HSCL)
Assesses caregiver mental health including two subscales related to anxiety and depression. The HSCL includes 25 items scored on a 4-point Likert scale (1-4) scores can range from 1 to 100 with higher scores indicating poorer mental health. .
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation (DERS)
Assesses caregiver emotion regulation. The full DERS scale includes 36 items which are scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1-5). Higher scores indicate greater difficulties in emotion regulation with a minimum score of 36 and maximum score of 180.
Trauma History and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (UCLA PTSD)
Is an evidence-based tool for assessing trauma exposure and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. it includes separate modules for evaluating Trauma Exposure (nature and number of potentially traumatic events experienced or witnessed) and PTSD Symptoms (symptom inventory aligned with the diagnostic criteria for PTSD as defined in the DSM. The index is structured to assess key symptom clusters, such as re-experiencing, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and hyperarousal. Scoring helps clinicians determine symptom severity and meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
UNICEF MICS: Child Discipline Module
A key component of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), designed by UNICEF to collect internationally comparable data on child well-being. This module captures caregivers' disciplinary practices used with children aged 1-17 years, providing insights into the prevalence of both positive and negative disciplinary methods. Assesses caregiver's disciplinary practices in three domains: Non-violent discipline, Psychological Aggression, and Physical Punishment.
WASH Indicators - Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)
The WASH Indicators in the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) refer to a set of measures designed to evaluate access to and the quality of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services in households.
Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3 (ASQ-3)
The ASQ uses a series of parent-completed range age-specific questionnaires designed to screen for developmental delay of children in the areas of gross motor skills, fine motor skills, communication, and problem solving. The ASQ-3 is scored using standard guidelines for standardization resulting in binary outcome variables for each domain indicating whether or not the child showed "developmental delay" vs. "no developmental delay.
Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (PSRA)
The Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (PSRA) is a standardized tool designed to measure self-regulation skills in preschool-aged children. It is particularly used in early childhood research to assess children's emotional, attentional, and behavioral regulation abilities in structured settings. Scores range from 0 to 3, with higher scores representing higher self-regulation.
Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory
The HOME is a 43-item survey to assess psychosocial stimulation in the households and includes items on responsive caregiving, language stimulation, personal-social development, stimulation materials in the house, among others. The HOME combines observation of parenting behaviors and household conditions with caregiver report. Items are summed to derive a total score with a minimum score of 0 and a maximum score of 43. Higher home scores indicate higher levels of psychosocial stimulation in the households.
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Boston College
Lead sponsor
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Collaborator