Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41957862›Full record

ArticleBMC global and public health2026

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

Yeshim Iqbal, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Duja Michael, Sneha Bolisetty, Sakila Yesmin, Ashraf Uddin Mian, Maung Ting Nyeu, Sangyoo Lee, A Brooks Bowden, Kate Schwartz and 5 more

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Article in BMC global and public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Yeshim IqbalDivision of Social Sciences, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, China. yeshim.iqbal@dukekunshan.edu.cn.
Hirokazu YoshikawaSteinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Duja MichaelSteinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Sneha BolisettyTeachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Sakila YesminBRAC Institute of Educational Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Ashraf Uddin Mian, Vancouver, Canada.
Maung Ting NyeuThe Gervitz Graduate School of Education, University of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Sangyoo LeeMonroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
A Brooks BowdenCenter for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Kate SchwartzSteinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Kuri ChisimBRAC Institute of Educational Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
A R M Mehrab AliARCED (Aureolin Research, Consultancy, and Expertise Development) Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Sadia Sumaia ChowdhuryARCED (Aureolin Research, Consultancy, and Expertise Development) Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Anika AlamCenter for Educational Data Science and Innovation, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Jere R BehrmanCenter for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThis 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.

methodsWe 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 on fathers' parenting and engagement with family (reported by both fathers and mothers), fathers' mental health, and child development.

resultsWe find that the program has a positive impact on the fathers' parenting (father reported) and engagement with family (father and mother reported), as well as on father-reported child social-emotional development, compared to the mother-only program. While the program did not have a main effect on directly assessed child development outcomes, we do find that baseline mother-reported stimulation with child and mother health moderate the impact on father-reported child social-emotional development in the camp community (larger positive impacts for fathers from households with lower baseline mother-reported stimulating behaviors and health). We also find that child gender and mother-reported stimulating behaviors moderate impacts on multiple mother-reported child developmental outcomes in both host and camp communities (treatment effects on these outcomes were negative for boys and positive but weak for girls, and larger positive impacts on mother-reported motor development were found among mothers from households who reported lower stimulation at baseline). Additionally, child age moderates the impact on fathers' collaboration with the mother (reported by the mother), such that the treatment effect is larger for mothers of older children.

conclusionsOur findings demonstrate the potential of father-focused programs as powerful caregiver interventions.

trial registrationPre-registered with REES (13880.1v2); retrospectively registered at ISRCTN (ISRCTN13510859).

Indexed as

BangladeshEarly childhood developmentFather engagementRohingya

Identifiers

PMID41957862
PMCPMC13067743

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.