Trial reportPediatrics2020
Group Sessions or Home Visits for Early Childhood Development in India: A Cluster RCT.
Trial report in Pediatrics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- Strengthening Early Childhood Development Programs and Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review of Interventions.Maternal & child nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Early parenting interventions to prevent internalising problems in children and adolescents: a global systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMJ mental health · 2023Pooled it
- Early childhood development and parental training interventions in rural China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Characteristics and effects of integrated nutrition and stimulation interventions to improve the nutritional status and development of children under 5 years of age: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Parenting interventions to promote early child development in the first three years of life: A global systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Blended Delivery of a Primary Care Parenting Program for Child Development: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- The lasting influence of parenting intervention on child behavior: findings from a randomized clinical trial using care for child development guidelines.BMC pediatrics · 2024Trial
- Considering equity and cost-effectiveness in assessing a parenting intervention to promote early childhood development in rural Vietnam.Health policy and planning · 2023Trial
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a group-based intervention to improve social-emotional development of young children in poverty-stricken areas: A cluster randomized controlled trial.Journal of global health · 2023Trial
- Effect of parenting intervention through "Care for Child Development Guideline" on early child development and behaviors: a randomized controlled trial.BMC pediatrics · 2022Trial
- Impact of an Early Childhood Development Intervention on the Mental Health of Female Caregivers: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Cost-effectiveness and economic returns of group-based parenting interventions to promote early childhood development: Results from a randomized controlled trial in rural Kenya.PLoS medicine · 2021Trial
- A holistic approach to promoting early child development: a cluster randomised trial of a group-based, multicomponent intervention in rural Bangladesh.BMJ global health · 2021Trial
- Shaping Development Through Parents: A Scalable Approach to Early Learning.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Survive and Thrive in Brazil: estimating the impact of the Boa Vista early childhood program.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Association between maternal-child interaction, maternal depression and early child development: an observational sub-study in rural Zimbabwe.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Observational
- Effectiveness and Cultural Adaptation of Parenting Interventions for South Asian Families: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review Using Bernal's Ecological Validity Model.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of themedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Evaluation of a multicomponent child development intervention delivered through the government health system: a feasibility study.BMJ global health · 2025Observational
- Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesPoor early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries is a major public health problem. Efficacy trials have shown the potential of early childhood development interventions but scaling up is costly and challenging. Guidance on effective interventions' delivery is needed. In an open-label cluster-randomized control trial, we compared the effectiveness of weekly home visits and weekly mother-child group sessions. Both included nutritional education, whose effectiveness was tested separately.
methodsIn Odisha, India, 192 villages were randomly assigned to control, nutritional education, nutritional education and home visiting, or nutritional education and group sessions. Mothers with children aged 7 to 16 months were enrolled (
resultsHome visiting and group sessions had similar positive average (intention-to-treat) impacts on cognition (home visiting: 0.324 SD, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.152 to 0.496,
conclusionsGroup sessions cost $38 per child per year and were as effective on average as home visiting, which cost $135, implying an increase by a factor of 3.5 in the returns to investment with group sessions, offering a more scalable model. Impacts materialize in the first year, having important design implications.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.