Global health faculty developing innovative strategies to prevent child maltreatment at the Thai-Myanmar border
As Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences and core faculty of the Global Health Program, Amanda Sim’s research focuses on improving the mental health and well-being of forcibly displaced children and families. Sim recently received a $1.2 million grant from The LEGO Foundation to develop innovative strategies to prevent child maltreatment and promote positive parenting among families displaced by armed conflict at the Thai-Myanmar border.
This project is part of the Global Parenting Initiative (GPI), a five-year £11 million collaboration of academic institutions and organizations implementing innovative and scalable parenting interventions in low- and middle-income countries. The GPI aims to prevent violence against children and improve child development outcomes by rapidly developing and evaluating the effectiveness of parenting interventions. This initiative builds on the Parenting for Lifelong Health programme’s experience in developing and testing in-person, digital, and hybrid parenting programmes in the Global South, led by the Department of Social Policy & Intervention at the University of Oxford where Sim completed her PhD.
In collaboration with partners such as the Thai NGO Sermpanya Foundation, and the Institute for Population and Social Research at Mahidol University, Sim and colleagues will implement and evaluate a population-level media campaign using films created and screened by displaced communities themselves. The project will utilize a participatory approach with the local community and leverage tools such as educational storytelling to prevent violence and promote wellbeing in a context where families face multiple adversities. The intervention will be evaluated using a cluster randomized controlled trial methodology involving 2,200 families from Myanmar.
“We hope innovative media platforms such as film will prove to be an effective and scalable way to promote positive child and family outcomes among refugees and migrants” remarks Sim,”many of whom have experienced trauma and ongoing stressors in their daily lives.”
This ground-breaking study recognizes the urgent need for improved supports for caregivers and children displaced by armed conflict, poverty, and insecurity, and contributes to SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
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