The Supporting Early Learning Study

Summary

FIND (Filming Interactions to Nurture Development) is a potentially disruptive innovation in the field of early childhood intervention. The scientific premise of this proposed work, for which the investigators have strong preliminary evidence, is that for families experiencing economic adversity and related stressors with children ages 12-36 months, the FIND video-coaching program is a potent and efficient tool that addresses many of the known limitations of existing parenting programs and therefore has great potential for achieving impact at scale to support low-income children's optimal development. Our research on FIND to date (including a recently completed randomized efficacy trial) provides evidence of effects on responsive caregiving and key child developmental outcomes at lower dosages (and with greater potential for scalability) than do most existing programs. Preliminary data also suggest that FIND may be especially effective for caregivers with high levels of adverse early life experiences (who are typically difficult to engage/impact). Finally, and potentially quite noteworthy, preliminary data indicate that FIND may achieve such effects via improvement in specific domains of underlying caregiver brain functioning. This research therefore aims to conduct a randomized effectiveness trial in the context of a diverse sample of low-income families with children ages 12-36 months (at study entry) using a longitudinal design with an active control condition.

Conditions

• Child Behavior
• Parent-Child Relations

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Filming Interactions to Nurture Development

FIND is a brief home-based video coaching intervention which involves feedback provided by the coach to the caregiver using brief film clips derived from video of caregiver-child interaction collected in the home. The coaching focuses on showing caregivers instances in which they are engaging in developmentally-supportive interactions during coaching sessions. FIND is delivered over 10 weekly home visits lasting 30-45 minutes. The process begins with an initial visit in which the coach provides an overview, records 10-15 minutes of caregiver-child interaction, then introduces the concept of serve and return. The video is edited to show brief clips in which the caregiver is engaged in the first of five specific caregiver-based components of serve and return. The next week, the FIND coach reviews the edited clips in detail with the caregiver. Sessions continue, alternating between filming and coaching sessions until all five components have been covered sequentially.

BEHAVIORAL

The Healthy Toddler Program

HTP, the active control intervention, consists of weekly home visits alternating between (a) coaching sessions covering one of five domains of child development (Motor, Cognitive, Language, Play, and Social-Emotional and (b) observation sessions that will include a review of the prior coaching session and an observation and discussion of the caregiver-child interaction. This intervention will consist of 10 home visits each lasting 25-30 minutes. The coach will not engage in any filming or video coaching, but will be able to discuss caregiving concerns. HTP materials are adapted from the Partners for a Healthy Baby curriculum developed by Florida State University's Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Oregon

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Philip A Fisher, PhD · University of Oregon

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-10-29

Primary Completion

2025-05-31

Completion

2025-05-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations