Developmental benefits of play-centric home visiting and telephone-supported Pashe Achhi in Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, classroom-based, play-centric preschool services for 4-year-olds were shifted to two sequential interventions – home visits and mobile phone-based Pashe Acchi (Beside You). Both segments were weekly and comprised both tele-counselling and tele-learning components. Mother–child dyads received the interventions. This quasi-experimental study evaluates early developmental benefits of these two play-centric non-overlapping interventions over 10 months. They and similar-aged children living in the same community constituted the intervention and comparison groups, respectively. The 1:1 propensity score-matching technique was applied to the baseline data from 508 children, yielding a sample of 386 for analysis. The mother-reported Extended Ages and Stages Questionnaire (EASQ) was the measurement tool, analysed using a two-factor ANCOVA with repeated measures. The intervention effect was evident in the full-scale EASQ and communication and fine-motor domains, with a ‘moderate’ effect size, and in the problem-solving and personal-social domains with a ‘small’ effect size. No effect was observed in the gross-motor domain. Although the effects likely depend on a dosage of 830 ‘contact’ minutes, the interventions show promise for enhancing home learning environments and could potentially be adapted for other emergencies.