Transform + Family Academy Randomized Controlled Trial in the Philippines

NCT07213102 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: icmcompassionrct
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 700
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

This study evaluates the integration of two complementary poverty alleviation programs: Compassion International's (CI) child-focused Survival and Early Childhood Program with International Care Ministries' (ICM) household-level Transform + Family Academy intervention. CI's program provides holistic child development through health support, educational programming, social development, and spiritual formation via local church partners for children aged 3-5 years. ICM's Transform + Family Academy combines a 15-week household intervention targeting health education, livelihood training, and values formation with an 8-week early childhood education component delivered through home visits. The primary aim of this research is to assess whether integrating household-level interventions with child-focused programming enhances early numeracy and literacy outcomes among children aged 3-5 living in extreme poverty in Western and Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The study also examines the intervention's impact on children's nutritional status and household financial resilience, including savings behaviors and access to social safety nets. The investigators hypothesize that addressing household-level constraints including caregiver capacity, health, and economic challenges will enhance children's academic and nutritional outcomes alongside household financial resilience compared to child-focused programming alone.

Conditions

Child Development; Child Nutrition, Child Neurobehavioral Development; Household and Family; Financial Wellbeing; Academic Attainment

Keywords

Child Development; Child Nutritional Status; Household Financial Resilience

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Children's early numeracy competency at post-intervention and 12 months

  Children's early numeracy competency is assessed through proctored assessments testing early learning proficiency using eight subtasks to measure preschool children's early math skills. The assessment measures children's mathematical skills across eight components: color recognition (10 points), shape recognition (8 points), rote count (10 points), object count (10 points), numeral identification (10 points), numeral comparison (9 points), missing number (10 points), and simple addition (10 points). The total possible score is 77 points, with higher scores indicating better numeracy skills.

  Baseline, 1 week after intervention, and 12 months

• Children's phonics and literacy competency at post-intervention and 12 months

  Children's phonics and literacy competency is assessed through proctored assessments testing pre-reading skills and phonemic awareness. The assessment measures children's reading and phonics skills across four components: alphabet recitation (10 points), letter name identification (20 points), beginning sound recognition (20 points), and letter sound identification (20 points). The total possible score is 70 points, with higher scores indicating better literacy and phonics skills.

  Baseline, 1 week after intervention, and 12 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Children's malnutrition status at 2 months and 12 months

  Baseline, 2 months, and 12 months

• Household savings at 2 months and 12 months

  Baseline, 2 months, and 12 months

• Social safety net access at 2 months and 12 months

  Baseline, 2 months, and 12 months

Study Arms (2)

Treatment receiving integrated Survival and Early Childhood Program & Transform + Family Academy

EXPERIMENTAL

Treatment: Participants will continue receiving Compassion International's Survival and Early Childhood Program and additionally receive International Care Ministries' Transform + Family Academy program. In the treatment arm, the integrated intervention will be delivered over 4 months with participants continuing to receive the Survival and Early Childhood Program. In addition to this, participants receive Transform + Family Academy, with 15 Transform sessions conducted weekly at community locations and 8 weeks of Family Academy sessions delivered through home visits. Each Transform session includes 90-minute health and livelihood training by ICM staff, with optional values components facilitated by community leaders. Family Academy provides home-based early numeracy and phonics lessons for children and their caregivers.

Other: Integrated Whole-Household Programming

Control receiving standard Survival and Early Childhood Program

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Control: Participants will continue receiving Compassion International's Survival and Early Childhood Program without additional interventions.

Other: Standard Child-Focused Programming

Interventions

Integrated Whole-Household Programming OTHER

Treatment participants receive both Compassion International's Survival and Early Childhood Program (holistic child development through health support, educational programming, social development, and spiritual formation via local community partners) plus International Care Ministries' Transform + Family Academy intervention. The Transform component is a 15-week household-level program including health education covering malnutrition prevention, sanitation, respiratory infections, infant care; livelihood training focused on income diversification and business development with savings group formation; and values formation addressing personal character, family relationships, and decision-making. The Family Academy component provides home-based early numeracy and phonics instruction (one hour per topic) to children aged 3-5 with concurrent caregiver capacity building for school readiness support, delivered over 8 weeks.

Also known as: Whole-household poverty intervention

Treatment receiving integrated Survival and Early Childhood Program & Transform + Family Academy

Standard Child-Focused Programming OTHER

Compassion International's Survival and Early Childhood Program provides holistic child development through health support, nutritional assistance, educational programming, social development, and spiritual formation delivered via local community partners.

Control receiving standard Survival and Early Childhood Program

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 3 Years - 5 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Households must have a child between 3 to 5 years old who is currently registered in CI's Survival and Early Childhood Program.
• Households must meet ICM's poverty criteria with a poverty score of 50 and above as determined through asset-based scoring and household income evaluation. Higher scores indicate poorer households.
• Each participating household must include an adult family member aged 18 to 65 years who serves as a primary caregiver for the target child.

You may not qualify if:

• Households with previous participation in ICM's Transform program will be excluded from the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• International Care Ministries, Philippines: lead
• Compassion International, United States of America: collaborator

Related Publications (2)

• Bryan G, Choi JJ, Karlan D. Randomizing religion: the impact of Protestant evangelism on economic outcomes. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2021 Feb;136(1):293-380.

  BACKGROUND

• "Angrist, N., Kabay, S., Karlan, D., Lau, L., & Wong, K. (2025). Human Capital at Home: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in the Philippines (No. w33574). National Bureau of Economic Research.

  BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Lincoln L Lau, PhD

  University of Toronto

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Melinda Kelly Mijares, MD, MPH

  International Care Ministries

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Tommy Lazaro III, MABE, PhD Candidate

  Ateneo de Manila University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Lincoln L Lau, PhD

CONTACT

647-852-0288; LLau@us.ci.org

Daryn J Go, MSc

CONTACT

+63 9175211103; daryn.go@caremin.com

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Due to the nature of the interventions, participants cannot be blinded to their treatment assignment as treatment participants will attend Transform + Family Academy sessions while control participants will not. Implementation staff will necessarily know group assignments to deliver appropriate interventions. This is an unblinded study.
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: This study is an individual-level randomized controlled trial. A total of 700 households with children aged 3-5 years from Compassion International communities across Western and Southern Mindanao will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment arms: Treatment and Control. The treatment will be assigned at the household level, with community-level and regional-level stratification, to ensure balanced representation across geographic locations. Control households will continue receiving Compassion International's Survival and Early Childhood Program. Treatment households will receive an integrated intervention combining Compassion International's Survival and Early Childhood Program with International Care Ministries' Transform + Family Academy program. A roster of eligible households will be compiled and randomly allocated to one of two treatment arms. To minimize bias, participant recruitment and enrollment will occur prior to random treatment assignment.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 25, 2025
• First Posted: October 8, 2025
• Study Start: November 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 30, 2027
• Last Updated: October 8, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-10