Group-based intervention to improve developmental status among children age 6–18 months in rural Shanxi province China: a study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

摘要

Early childhood development (ECD) is a critical component for building the foundation of future physical and emotional health and subsequent academic success. The quality of the home environment to promote development is an important factor in ECD. Since large rural–urban disparities in the home environment exist in China, there is a critical need to develop and evaluate interventions to promote ECD in rural areas. Individual center-based or home-based interventions dominate the current ECD programmes in rural China. However, group-based interventions offer potential advantages in terms of both effectiveness and cost. Thus, we aim to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated group-based intervention, the Care Group Intervention, in enhancing ECD among children age 6–18 months and (2) conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis.