A family inclusive project in Uganda has successfully improved child cognitive and language skills and reduced maternal depression.
The project has several features that mark it out as different from other approaches:
- It involves only group work – 12 sessions according to a manual.
- It includes a focus on family relationships.
- It is delivered by mature and well trained community volunteers.
- All parents are invited, not just ones who are unwell.
- It specifically includes fathers, with sessions specifically for fathers and addressing mother-father communication. Some of the volunteers are men.
The project is summarised by Professor Maureen Black in The Lancet.
Singla DR, Kumbakumba E & Aboud FE (2015), Effects of a parenting intervention to address both maternal psychological wellbeing and child development and growth in rural Uganda: a community-based, cluster-randomised trial, Lancet Global Health 3
Photo: Trocaire. Creative Commons.
