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Category: Project

Description: Background: Despite the rapid dissemination of parenting programs aiming to reduce and prevent violence against children (VAC) worldwide, there is limited knowledge and evidence of their implementation at scale. This study addresses this gap by examining the quality of delivery and impact of an evidence-based parenting programme for parents and adolescents aged 10 to 17 – Parenting for Lifelong Health Teens (PLH-Teens), locally known as Furaha Teens – on reducing VAC at scale in Tanzania. The study will examine how implementation quality is associated with intervention effectiveness when delivered to 50,000 parent-child dyads (N=100,000) in schools and community centres across eight districts of Tanzania. Methods: This study will use a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches to answer the following research questions: (1) what is the level of programme implementation of PLH-Teens at scale in Tanzania in terms of quality of delivery and implementation fidelity? (2) what factors are associated with the quality of delivery and implementation fidelity of PLH-Teens? (3) what changes in VAC and well-being are reported by families participating in the PLH-Teens, and are these changes associated with participant baseline characteristics? (4) how is implementation associated with changes in VAC and well-being reported by participating families? and (5) how is supervision of programme facilitators related to programme delivery by facilitators and family outcomes? Primary data regarding programme fidelity (e.g., quality of facilitator delivery), dosage (e.g., participant attendance), implementation costs, and sustainability (e.g., feasibility of further programme delivery at scale) will be collected from implementers, parents, and children and anonymised secondary data on facilitators, parents, and children will be collected by implementing partners. Discussion: PLH-Teens has been implemented to more than 500,000 beneficiaries in over 25 low- and middle-income countries. As a result, the lessons learned regarding implementation at scale will be applied not only in Tanzania but also to the delivery of PLH programmes globally. The research will also provide vital insights for practitioners and policymakers on some of the factors related to quality implementation at scale and inform current and future implementation of other parenting programmes.