Dumbaugh, Mari;
Belem, Mireille;
Kousse, Sylvain;
Ouoba, Patricia;
Sankoudouma, Adama;
Tchibozo, Achille Mignondo;
Fearon, Pasco;
... SUNRISE team; + view all
(2023)
‘Children awaken by playing’: a qualitative exploration of caregivers’ norms, beliefs and practices related to young children’s learning and early childhood development in rural Burkina Faso.
BMJ Open
, 13
(10)
, Article e075675. 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075675.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Evidence suggests that responsive caregiving and early learning activities positively impact developmental outcomes, with positive effects throughout the life course. Early childhood development interventions should align with local values, beliefs and resources but there has been little research of caregiver beliefs and perspectives on development and learning, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This qualitative study explored norms, beliefs, practices and aspirations around child development of caregivers of young children in rural Burkina Faso. METHODS: We conducted 32 in-depth interviews with mothers and fathers of young children and 24 focus group discussions with mothers, fathers and grandmothers, which included trying behaviours and reporting on experiences. The research informed the development of Scaling Up Nurturing Care, a Radio Intervention to Stimulate Early Childhood Development (SUNRISE), an early child development radio intervention. RESULTS: Caregivers described a process of 'awakening', through which children become aware of themselves and the world around them.Perceptions of the timing of awakening varied, but the ability to learn was thought to increase as children became older and more awake. Consequently, talking and playing with babies and younger children were perceived to have little developmental impact. Caregivers said children's interactions with them, alongside God-given intelligence, was believed to impact later behaviour and development. Caregivers felt their role in helping their children achieve later in life was to pay for education, save money, provide advice and be good role models. Interaction and learning activities were not specifically mentioned. Caregivers who trialled interaction and learning activities reported positive experiences for themselves and their child, but interactions were often caregiver led and directive and play was often physical. Key barriers to carrying out the behaviours were poverty and a lack of time. CONCLUSIONS: Exploring early childhood beliefs and practices can reveal important sociocultural beliefs which, if incorporated into programme planning and implementation, could help achieve more impactful, acceptable and equitable programmes. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05335395.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | ‘Children awaken by playing’: a qualitative exploration of caregivers’ norms, beliefs and practices related to young children’s learning and early childhood development in rural Burkina Faso |
Location: | England |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075675 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075675 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | community child health, health education, health equity, qualitative research, Infant, Female, Child, Child, Preschool, Humans, Child Development, Caregivers, Burkina Faso, Qualitative Research, Mothers |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10180230 |
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