A cluster randomised controlled trial from rural Thailand offers critical insights for health professionals designing child protection interventions. The study evaluated a blended parenting programme combining face-to-face sessions with mobile-based online modules among 480 parents, tracking physical punishment and emotional abuse outcomes at one-month follow-up.
Three key findings emerge: first, the intervention produced no significant reduction in physical punishment compared to standard care. Second, emotional abuse reporting increased in the intervention group, likely reflecting improved parental awareness rather than worsening outcomes. Third, the one-month timeframe may be insufficient to capture meaningful behavioural change.
For practitioners and programme developers, these results suggest future interventions should incorporate longer follow-up periods, potentially target higher-risk populations more precisely, and consider mechanisms for translating awareness into sustained protective behaviours. The research, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, underscores that implementation context and programme design require careful recalibration for rural, low-resource settings. Read the full article on GMJ Newsroom.
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