Effectiveness of different health delivery agents of parenting stimulation interventions on child development outcomes among children aged 0 to 36 months: a systematic review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: This review will evaluate the effectiveness of different health delivery agents of parenting stimulation interventions versus usual care, no intervention, or a different type of delivery agent on child development outcomes among children aged 0 to 36 months. INTRODUCTION: Stimulation interventions vary in terms of implementation. While some interventions are delivered by professionals, most are delivered by non-professionals. Several prior systematic reviews on this topic have been conducted; however, no known study has evaluated the effectiveness of stimulation interventions on child development by type of delivery agent. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This review will consider randomized controlled trials assessing parenting stimulation interventions delivered by different health delivery agents. These will be compared to usual care, no intervention, or a different delivery agent, targeted at caregiver-child dyads of children aged 0 to 36 months. The outcomes will include motor, language, cognitive, and socio-emotional development. The review will exclude studies including children with specific characteristics, interventions that do not focus on parenting, and protocols of randomized clinical trials. METHODS: The review will include both published and unpublished studies. The key information sources to be searched are: MEDLINE, APA (PsycNet), Embase, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL, VHL Regional Portal, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Theses Canada Portal, and Library and Archives Canada. Studies in English, Spanish, and Portuguese will be included. Critical appraisal and data extraction will be conducted using standardized tools. Quantitative data, where possible, will be pooled in statistical meta-analysis, or if statistical pooling is not possible, the findings will be reported narratively. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42021245245.

Exposure to violence, polyvictimization and youth's mental health and alcohol use in El Salvador.

BACKGROUND: Community and family violence are major global health problems. Approximately 1.3 million deaths around the world and 2.5% of global mortality are due to violence. In El Salvador, youth are exposed to multiple levels of physical and emotional violence, abuse, and crime. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the various sources of violence against youth and determine the associations with mental distress symptoms, suicidal ideation, and alcohol use outcomes. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: We use information gathered in 2017 from a representative sample of 13- to 24-year-old adolescents and young adults from El Salvador. METHODS: Data used in this analysis came from a nationally cross-sectional household survey called Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) in El Salvador. We used logistic regression models to determine the associations between lifetime witnessing violence, exposure to physical, sexual, emotional violence, and youth mental health outcomes. RESULTS: Polyvictimization was associated with greater odds of each mental health outcome after adjusting for confounders. The strongest relative association was observed between emotional violence and mental distress. Sexual violence and emotional violence were predictors of suicidal ideation. Finally, physical violence and sexual violence were associated with alcohol use. The greatest associations were observed between sexual violence perpetrated by a parent, peer, or another adult in the community and suicidal ideation, at a magnitude of approximately six times higher odds. CONCLUSIONS: Preventing violence against youth is likely to improve mental health and wellbeing in El Salvador and other similar contexts worldwide.

Determinants and Consequences of Adolescent Fatherhood: A Longitudinal Study in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam.

PURPOSE: Adolescent parenthood is a major challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, the vast majority of the evidence has focused on adolescent motherhood. Little is known about adolescent fatherhood in LMICs. The aim of this study was to examine the determinants of early fatherhood and its consequences on a range of outcomes among adolescent males. METHODS: This study used three waves of longitudinal data from the multicountry Young Lives cohort study, specifically following a sample of 1,779 adolescent boys at ages 15, 19, and 22 years in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. Individual fixed effects models were conducted to investigate the sociodemographic determinants of adolescent fatherhood and the consequences of adolescent fatherhood on males' education, health, psychosocial well-being, and time use outcomes. RESULTS: The results indicated that lower educational attainment, absence of the adolescent's mother and father from the home, larger household size, and poverty increased the likelihood of becoming an adolescent father by age 22 years. The results revealed that becoming an adolescent father was associated with a higher likelihood of school dropout, being overweight, smoking, greater internalizing problems, and less time spent on leisure activities and more time spent on caregiving responsibilities. CONCLUSIONS: Highlighting the experiences of young men as adolescent parents in LMICs, findings underscore the importance of prevention strategies to delay early parenthood for adolescent boys and multicomponent interventions to support young fathers and their unique health, socioeconomic, psychosocial, and behavioral needs.