Educational films can help parents reduce child violence and improve parenting, especially in low-income areas, according to a new one-of-a-kind study published in the journal, The Lancet.
However, the evidence on interventions to achieve population-level reach and impact is limited in low-resource settings.
“Universal parenting interventions using a film-based entertainment-education approach can effectively reduce physical violence against children and increase positive parenting, with potential for scalability in low-resource settings,” says the study.
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"To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate a universal mass media intervention to reduce violence against children and improve parenting behaviour in LMICs (Low and middle-income countries)," it said.
Researchers conducted the study in Tak province, Thailand, near the Myanmar border, and assessed the impact of a universal film intervention for migrant and displaced caregivers from Myanmar living in the country. They divided 44 communities into two groups using a computer-generated random list. One group watched a 66-minute parenting drama film, joined a 30–40-minute discussion, and saw a short video and poster with key messages.
The "control group", on the other hand, "received information about local health and social services".
Primary caregivers who were at least 18 years of age and kids who were in the age group of 4-17 years, were eligible to participate in the study. A total of 2,249 caregivers were enrolled into the study.
Participants were surveyed at the start of the study, about four weeks after the intervention, and again about four months later. The study measured caregiver-reported use of physical and psychological violence, as well as positive parenting.
At the start of the study, in both groups, a majority of the "caregivers reported using some form of physical violence and psychological violence respectively in the past 30 days."
"Hitting with the hand was the most common form of physical violence and shouting or yelling was the most common form of psychological violence," it added.
However, the group that was shown the movie, "reported lower levels of physical violence" when asked four weeks after being shown the films and again after four months. They also reported a small increase in positive parenting.
"Caregivers in intervention communities also reported less belief in the need for physical punishment compared to the control group," it added.
