PhD Thesis

DEVELOPMENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF A PARENTING INTERVENTION TO PROMOTE MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTION IN UNDERPRIVILEGED FAMILIES IN BANGLADESH

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

DEVELOPMENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF A PARENTING INTERVENTION TO PROMOTE MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTION IN UNDERPRIVILEGED FAMILIES IN BANGLADESH Ferdowshi, Nafiza Bangladesh is a developing country with approximately 165 million inhabitants (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics [BBS], 2018). Among this huge population, nearly 14.8% are living below the international poverty line (The World Bank, 2019) and 71.2% of women are literate (BBS, 2018). Research indicates that the quality of mother-child interactions has an immense impact on children‟s development and educational outcomes (Mihelic et al., 2017; UNICEF Bangladesh, 2010). The main objective of the research was to investigate the effectiveness of the International Child Development Program (ICDP) in order to enhance the quality of mother-child interaction for disadvantaged families in Bangladesh. More specifically, this study addressed five research questions; these were as follows: (i) Does engagement in an 8 week parenting intervention increase mothers‟ feelings of competence as a parent? (ii) Does participation in the intervention produce significant improvements in parenting practices? (iii) Does engagement in the intervention show significant improvements in mother-child positive interaction? (iv)What changes are found in the mothers‟ conception of their children due to attend the intervention? (v) What characteristics distinguishes mothers who benefitted the most from the intervention from those who benefitted the least? The ICDP is non-instructive, designed to identify and reactivate local cultural parenting practices and to improve positive parent-child interaction (Hundeide, 2010). A mixed method design was used combining a single-blinded, randomised wait-listed control group trial with qualitative observations and interviews. One conveniently selected slum area was used where five intervention and five wait-listed control groups were formed. A total of 100 mothers participated in the intervention with random assignment to intervention (n=50) and wait-listed control groups (n=50). The inclusion criteria were that (i) participating families had a child aged one to three years; (ii) the PARENTING INTERVENTION IN UNDERPRIVILEGED FAMILIES Page iv mothers would be primary caregivers; and (iii) mothers had no prior experience of attending any parenting intervention programs. Intervention and wait-listed control groups had received the ICDP‟s 8-week two hourly centre-based group sessions. Along with a demographic questionnaire, measures were included the parenting sense of competence scale (PSOC), the parenting subscale of the parenting and family adjustment scale (PAFAS), the infant-toddler version of the home observation for the measurement of the environment (IT-HOME), the 6-item observation rating scale (ORS) of positive interaction, the observational guide for identifying mothers‟ caregiving qualities, and the semi-structured interview guides. All participants were assessed at two points of time: Pre-test and post-test. In addition, intervention experience related interviews were completed at post-intervention. A log book was used to keep all the records during intervention implementation. Daily session of the intervention was measured by an observational measure and a semi-structured feedback interview. Ethical issues were cautiously considered for data collection phases. Quantitative data were analysed through SPSS software using chi-square and MANOVAs whereas qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis. This study findings indicated the effectiveness of the intervention in terms of both quantitative and qualitative data. Preliminary analyses of the study found that some of the sub-scales of three widely used measures, that is PSOC, PAFAS, and IT-HOME, were discarded from the main analyses due to their low reliability scores. The findings of main analyses identified that mothers‟ parental efficacy, parent-child relationship, and emotional and verbal responsivity were more important in promoting mother-child positive interaction for disadvantaged families of Bangladesh. Findings also showed a noticeable changes in mothers‟ parental satisfaction, coercive practices, maternal invlovement, and mediated interaction after receiving ICDP intervention. In consistent with quantitative findings, the qualitative observational analyses identified that all eight ICDP themes of positive mother-child interaction were more practiced in the intervention group mothers than in the wait-listed control mothers. A remarkable change was reported in the mothers‟ conception towards children measure between intervention and wait-listed control group. Findings revealed that children‟s motor abilities, socio-emotional relationship, and cognitive functioning were more exploring positive conceptions of the child to the intervention mothers. In contrast, control group mothers PARENTING INTERVENTION IN UNDERPRIVILEGED FAMILIES Page v more focused on negative conceptions of the child in terms of aggressive and non-compliant behaviour and less emphasised on children‟s abilities. Mothers‟ experience of the intervention also found ICDP‟s main concepts of positive interaction that categorised as maternal sensitivity to the child, positive attitude towards child, talk to the child, maternal mediation, and self-regulation. Overall, intervention experience of the mothers highlighted the caregiving qualities of mothers, learning aspects from the intervention, and parenting practices that changed after attending the ICDP intervention. This research also presented individual case studies to demonstrate the changes that occurred for the mothers in terms of their parenting practices. The mothers were selected as case studies from the intervention groups based on their responses on the quantitative and qualitative measures. By critically scrutinising data, the researcher found 12 cases who improved, 18 cases who did not change substantially, and 7 cases who did not improve from the intervention. Finally, the researcher selected six mothers who benefitted most and another five mothers who did not appear to benefit from the intervention. The individual case study analysis highlighted a comparative and deeper understanding of the mothers‟ perceived benefits from the intervention in terms of their living condition, family income, family type, and performance in the intervention. In summary, the broader view of the findings indicated the partial effectiveness of the intervention from which some mothers were benefitted whereas some were not benefitted from the intervention due to the mothers‟ poor educational background, disadvantaged living conditions, self-reported measures, and lower cognitive functioning while answering the questionnaires. The strengths and weaknesses of this study were included along with its future implications in policy making and capacity building of promising practitioners. Disseminating the knowledge of positive mother-child inteaction on a larger scale would be helpful for underprivileged as well as privileged mothers and other caregivers to promote advanced parenting practices and developmental outcomes of the children. A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at the University of Dhaka

BEHAVIORAL MANIFESTATION AND PSYCHO-SOCIAL PREDICTORS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

BEHAVIORAL MANIFESTATION AND PSYCHO-SOCIAL PREDICTORS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS Chowdhury, Mohammad Salim The occurrence of juvenile offence is an enormous concern in Bangladesh. It has been observed that juvenile offences have increased and studies found that status offenses increased through juveniles. The legal and judiciary reform in Bangladesh regarding juvenile offenders evident to ensure the minimum standard of care staying in Child Development Centers (CDCs). With the exploring of behavioral manifestations of the juvenile offenders, the symptoms of mental health difficulties have been ascertained for healing process with effective treatment and care. However, each community might have unique assessed concerning its predicting factors as these factors differ from individual to individual, family to family and community to community. So the research goal of the study is to explore the behavioral manifestations and to predict psycho-social factors of juvenile offenders. A total 523 of juveniles have been taken as participants where 197 were offenders group selected from CDCs and 326 were randomly selected from mainstream educational institutions as comparison group. About 88.30% of male and 11.70% of female are found among the offenders group where 52.10% of male and 47.90% of female are drawn from comparison group. To accomplish the aim of the study, descriptive and exploratory research design were chosen. The adaptive Bangala version of the four out of five sub-scales of Beck Youth Inventories (BYI-II) i.e. depression, anxiety, anger, and self-concepts were applied. A checklist to identify the behavioral outcome and functional support scale was used and a semi-structured questionnaire was developed to predict the psychosocial factors. Face to face interview method was administered by following the ethical principles. It reveals that social and emotional impairment scores i.e. depression (t = 7.25; P< 0.001), anger (t= 6.96; P< 0.01) and anxiety (t = 4.26; P< 0.001) are found significantly high among the juvenile offenders. The score of the self concepts of the two groups were not found statistically significant. However, it has been indentified that moderate to extremely high level of depression, anger and anxiety and self-concepts have been found among the juvenile offenders those are staying at CDCs. Moreover, as exhibited behaviors by juvenile offenders were internalized related to emotion or feelings where observing to peers, extreme level of explicit behaviors were expressed. To predict the psychosocial factors, level of educational attainment (OR 0.83; p 0.001) school dropout (OR 1.03; p 0.01) and socio-economic status (OR 0.94; p 0.001) are found more as risk of engaging into offensive behaviors by juveniles as socio-economic factors. Middle class juveniles are prevailing to arrest and staying at juvenile justice system which is evident from the recent developed middle class theory of juvenile offences. Furthermore, family violence (OR 2.31; p 0.001), physical abuse by the family members (OR 4.22; p 0.001), parental antisocial behaviors (OR 9.20; p 0.001) and parental mental illness (OR 4.49; p 0.001) are found predictor to juvenile offenders. Experiences of substance abused (OR 11.91; p 0.001) are seen predictors to be juvenile offenders. The role of concerned authority is to provide specialized mental health care of the juvenile offenders by trained and expert professionals as treatment process of development, correction and rehabilitation through ensuring the minimum standard of care. Strengthening attachment bond with educational institutions; prompting middle class family structure; protecting from family violence and preventing the adverse childhood condition within the family level are recommended to prevent the issue of juvenile offenders. There is needed to take necessary steps to depress the juveniles from substance abuse by proper implementation of the existing laws and awareness among parents and education institutions. This dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology.

Crisis preparedness and management training in Bangladesh through cross-cultural techniques

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Crisis preparedness and management training in Bangladesh through cross-cultural techniques Byron, Joanne Bangladesh has experienced a variety of natural (i.e., flood, cyclone) and manmade (terrorism) disasters. To date, the consequences of these disasters have not been widely recognized and responded to within the mental health realm. The goal of this research was to investigate crisis response techniques used in the reduction of mental health disorders in the aftermath of a traumatic event. Further, crisis intervention programs, such as PREPaRE and NOVA with an emphasis on cross-cultural techniques were examined for use in the development of a crisis response program specific for the country of Bangladesh. The study details the development of the Crisis Preparedness and Management for Mental Health (CPM-MH) program and the evaluation of four CPM-MH workshop trainings conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh between 2017 and 2018. Pre-tests and post-tests, and program evaluations were analyzed for 95 participants of Bengali decent with English as a second language having attended Crisis Preparedness and Management for Mental Health five-day workshops. A Bangla speaking cofacilitator was used for summary of material and training assistance. Results indicated a significant decrease in anxiety when required to conduct a crisis intervention and a significant increase in knowledge of the variables impacting crisis response. Further, results yielded a significant increase for a positive attitude in crisis preparedness and management activities, and a significant increase in knowledge and characteristics of a crisis event. Qualitative data analysis of the three open-ended questions on program evaluations indicated common themes from participants related to knowledge of the presenter, strength Running head: CRISIS PREPAREDNESS AND MANAGEMENT 8 of the training process, crisis-training techniques, introduction to new concepts, relevancy of crisis training for the community, training conducted in both English and Bangla, and additional days to the current training. After successful participants completion of the training program, the implementation of the CPMMH training program contributed to building local and national capacity for crisis responders to deliver effective psychological intervention for crisis stabilization to survivors of disasters. There is a critical need for the continual activation of psychosocial support and increased manpower for community-based volunteers as well as a standardized protocol and mechanisms for crisis response at a country and city level. Thesis submitted yo the Department Of Educational And Counseling Psychology, University of Dhaka, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for Ph.D. in Educational and Counseling Psychology.

Assessing the need of professional counselors and their potential role in Bangladesh

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Assessing the need of professional counselors and their potential role in Bangladesh Rozario, Lipy Gloria The objective of this study is assessing the need of professional counselors and their potential role in Bangladesh. To achieve this objective, mixed method has been applied, predominantly qualitative study. For qualitative study, documentation, observation, interviews, focus group discussion have been used involving persons considering their age, sex, institutional affiliations, and experiences in the field. The sample size of qualitative study consists of thirty respondents, aged 25 and above and among whom 9 male, 21 are female. For quantitative study, a survey instrument has been administered on 982 respondents, aged above 18, male 51.7%, female 48.9%, from Dhaka, Chittagong, and Rajshahi divisions in Bangladesh. The research findings demonstrate that the number of available mental health service centers including resource persons and counselors/psychotherapist, in particular, is very limited. There is a huge gap between the existing problem and the services being provided for their mitigation. The result also shows that mental health services are mostly concentrated in Dhaka, the Capital of Bangladesh; while other districts and rural areas are badly deprived of them. Further, lack of awareness about psychological problems, stigma and knowledge about services among general population also contribute in not seeking mental health services. As per the professionalism of the counselors, currently there are a very few professional counselors in existence. In addition, the concept about counselor’s educational background, their roles, competency, supervision, collaboration among mental health and medical professionals is rather vague both among the professionals as well as those that are in need of these services. It is clear from this research that Bangladesh has a long way to go in order to understand the need of professional counselors for psychological wellbeing of the people; and meeting the gap between the presently available mental health services as opposed to their adequate requirements is very essential to establish professional counseling in Bangladesh. This thesis submitted to the department of Educational and Counselling Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling Psychology.