Parenting in the Preschool System in Malaysia

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a hybrid human-digital playful parenting programme, "Naungan Kasih-Hybrid (NK-Hybrid)", in Malaysia. The programme is facilitated by teachers from Malaysian preschools for low-income families, consisting of a) one in-person session to introduce caregivers to the programme, b) teacher-facilitated WhatsApp support groups, and c) an interactive chatbot-led parenting programme featured on WhatsApp, called "Naungan Kasih-Text (NKText)". It tests the effectiveness of this package in a cluster-randomised trial, with 50 preschools as clusters, randomly assigned to either the treatment group or a waitlist control group. Findings from this study will provide evidence for the effectiveness of a low-cost and scalable intervention integrating digital modalities with a "light-touch" in-person component to improve educational outcomes in children attending preschools for low-income families, and thereby address social inequalities in Malaysia. N = 50 Clusters, 772 Primary Caregivers, 304 Secondary Caregivers, and 754 Children. Enrolment reflects participating primary caregivers.

NCT Number	NCT07599566
Lead Sponsor	University of Oxford Collaborators: Universiti Putra Malaysia
Conditions	Positive Parenting, Child Maltreatment, Child Development, Child Behavior, Parenting Stress, Parent Mental Health
Enrollment	772 participants
Start Date	2024-07-10
Primary Completion	2025-10-17 (estimated)
Study Completion	2025-10-17 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-05-27