Effects of an early childhood father engagement program in Rohingya camps and host community in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh: a cluster randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: This study evaluates a 6-month early childhood father engagement intervention delivered in-person to fathers in the Rohingya camps and surrounding host communities in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The intervention is an added component to an existing intervention that works with mothers of 0-3-year-old children to improve positive outcomes of child development and targets fathers with children below 3 years, with objectives to promote fathers' wellbeing by improving their emotional literacy, encouraging fathers to strengthen relationships with their spouses and children, and encouraging responsive and stimulating caregiving practices among fathers. METHODS: We used a cluster-randomized controlled trial design (total N = 2002 fathers, 786 in the Rohingya camps and 1216 in the host communities) to assess the impact of the program…