Parenting on the Thailand/Myanmar Border Updates

The Parenting on the Border team has collected implementation-level monitoring data such as film screening attendance and conducted qualitative focus group post-intervention discussions focused primarily on implementation outcomes. A four month follow-up for data collection is due to be completed in January 2024 and a detailed statistical analysis plan is also in place to measure the film intervention’s impact. To raise the profile of issues on the Thailand/Myanmar border the team is liaising with the GPI Communications team to develop an output based on the project’s baseline findings. This work will be a particularly valuable resource in government and funder discussions for project partners in Thailand. A local screening of the Parenting on the Border film is anticipated for spring/summer 2024. The team’s film partner, Sermpanya Foundation has also received interest from UNHCR and UNICEF to arrange screenings in migrant communities, including those outside refugee camps. 

The next phase of the Parenting on the Border project - to co-design, implement and evaluate a parenting and mental health intervention – is progressing well. Following workshops with key community-based service providers to shape the intervention's framework and content, there is substantial partner interest in the co-designed intervention. The project has worked extremely hard to identify interested and value-aligned partners in Thailand, and these partners are now actively engaged in the co-design process. The team is also exploring options to increase the size and power of the evaluation of its parenting and mental health intervention, firstly to engage a greater number of implementing partners in the delivery of the project, helping build engagement and prospects for sustainability, and secondly, to increase the sample size and power of the evaluation.

The Parenting on the Thailand/Myanmar Border team has completed baseline data collection in all communities recruited for their cluster randomised controlled trial of a film intervention aiming to reduce harsh punishment and promote positive parenting practices. Delivery of the film based intervention and endline data collection are ongoing. With support from the University of Oxford core research team, preliminary analysis of baseline trial data is due to take place in August 2023 and great progress has also been made to clean existing data and finalise participant lists. As data collected by the team will be the first of its type to exist for the population group at this scale, next steps will include engaging with the community advisory board to facilitate discussion on key interests and priorities for data analysis. Participant attrition has presented a key challenge for the team during the data collection period and will continue to be reviewed alongside planned recruitment targets and timelines. In addition, flooding temporarily impacted transportation and data collection but the team’s planned schedule has now resumed. 

In relation to advocacy, the team has plans to collaborate with fellow GPI partner, the Peace Culture Foundation and is also coordinating with the GPI advocacy team to organise a film screening in Oxford for spring 2024. Further activities have included a visit from study Co-Principal Investigators based at Mahidol University to Mae Sot, Thailand to attend a film screening and receive input from partners and advisory group members on priority questions for baseline data analysis. In November 2023, the team also plans to share the findings of baseline data collection with study partners and the advisory committee. In addition, Dr Amanda Sim will present at a research seminar in Mahidol and to the Committee for Coordination of Services to Displaced Persons in Thailand
 

Reported by Stephanie Eagling-Peche

In the next phase of their research, the Parenting in Displacement team will be conducting a cluster randomised-controlled trial of a film intervention aiming to reduce harsh punishment and promote positive parenting practices. The film, developed in collaboration with filmmakers from Sermpanya Foundation, is expected to be ready by the end of this month. Screening in communities is anticipated to begin in May.

In February the team of enumerators finished their training ready to begin baseline data collection in March. The team started data collection with a bang, and has already completed data collection across four communities.

The team held the first research team meeting of the year with the data collection team, academic collaborators from Mahidol University, McMaster University, Duke University and the University of Oxford as well as partner organisations Help Without Frontiers, Mae Tao Clinic, TeacherFocus and Sermpanya Foundation in attendance. The day provided an exciting opportunity to share their plan for the upcoming year of data collection and next phases of research. The workshop also resulted in the development of a Scientific Working Group, open to all interested members of the study and foster collaboration across all partners.