Connect to Baby: A Pilot Study of a Parenting and Coparenting Program

Part of paid clinical trials in Washington D.C., District of Columbia.

Sponsor
Georgetown University
Study ID
NCT06179576
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Parenting

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
2 Months - 40 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Connect to Baby — BEHAVIORAL
    To engage both fathers and mothers, CTB recruits parents at the time of birth, capitalizing on the "magic moment" of delivery, and uses father-inclusive digital media content to engage men. A key innovation lies in the introduction and rehearsal of four interaction skills -- Noticing, Following, Talking, and Encouraging (NiFTE, pronounced "Nifty") -- to foster serve-and-return interactions with infants as well as supportive, cooperative coparenting interactions between mothers and fathers. To maximize program uptake, CTB is situated within an early education program parents already trust and attend. Additionally, the study will test hybrid program delivery with both in-person and remote sessions using video-enabled tablets to reduce scheduling and logistical barriers and thereby enhance retention.

Study Details

The proposed project is a randomized control trial to assess a novel 6-session parenting and coparenting intervention for low-income parents of infants. Connect to Baby (CTB) will be implemented within one of the largest federally-funded early care and education programs, Early Head Start (EHS), in Washington, DC. To engage both fathers and mothers, CTB recruits parents at the time of birth, capitalizing on the "magic moment" of delivery, and uses father-inclusive digital media content to engage men. A key innovation lies in the introduction and rehearsal of four interaction skills -- Noticing, Following, Talking, and Encouraging (NiFTE, pronounced "Nifty") -- to foster serve-and-return interactions with infants as well as supportive, cooperative coparenting interactions between mothers and fathers. To maximize program uptake, CTB is situated within an early education program parents already trust and attend. Additionally, the study will test hybrid program delivery with both in-person and remote sessions using video-enabled tablets to reduce scheduling and logistical barriers and thereby enhance retention. The specific aims of the project are to assess efficacy of random assignment to Hybrid delivery of CTB relative to EHS as usual at enhancing parenting and coparenting quality and parent and child wellbeing. If demonstrated to be efficacious, this program will provide Early Head Start (and other family-serving agencies) a brief cost-effective, manualized preventive intervention that could be used alone or in conjunction with other services to improve parent functioning and co-parenting, further engage fathers in programming and caregiving, and, ultimately, enhance child development.

Key Dates

Start date
Aug 1, 2023
Status verified
Aug 2025
Primary completion
Mar 31, 2026
Completion
Mar 31, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
200 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION

Arms

  • Experimental: EHS-CTB Hybrid
    Dyads in the EHS-CTB hybrid condition will receive 6 individual sessions of CTB conducted by trained facilitators. The first session would be at the center, the 2nd through 5th would be remote, and 6th would be at the EHS center as a group session with other families. Sessions will occur approximately one to two weeks apart, allowing for program completion within 10 weeks. During the first in-person session, families will receive tablets with data plans and with the Zoom. They will receive a welcome pack that includes baby gifts that are used to support each session.
  • No Intervention: EHS-CTB Digital Only
    Dyads in the EHS-CTB digital only group will receive EHS early education, as well as EHS home visitation, and will have access to the CTB content via text messages, but will receive no CTB sessions. Digital content includes videos of Baby Elmo and his father and suggested activities.

Primary Outcome Measure

Parent Acceptance/Warmth during parent-child interactions [ Time Frame: At baseline (when families are enrolled in the study) ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Child Development and Social Policy LabWashington D.C.District of Columbia20057
Rebecca Ryan
[email protected]
917-518-6426

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Child Development and Social Policy Lab· Washington D.C., DC

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