Study of Parent Education Programme Effectiveness for Early Stimulation in Adamawa State

Parent education programmes targeting early stimulation can improve children's cognitive and language development outcomes in resource-limited settings, and evaluating their effectiveness in Adamawa State provides evidence for scale-up decisions in North East Nigeria. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a structured parent education programme on early stimulation practices among families of children aged 0 to 3 years in Yola North, Girei, and Gombi Local Government Areas, Adamawa State. A pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design was employed, with 100 mothers in the intervention group attending six weekly group sessions on responsive caregiving, sensory stimulation, language enrichment, and play, while 100 control group mothers received standard child welfare clinic advice. Home stimulation environment quality was assessed before and after the intervention using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment scale. Results showed significant improvements in home stimulation quality in the intervention group (mean HOME score improvement of 12.4 points, p < 0.001) compared to minimal change in the control group. Language stimulation and learning materials subscales showed the largest improvements. Mothers' self-efficacy in caregiving increased significantly in the intervention group. The study concludes that structured parent education significantly improves early stimulation practices. Recommendations include integrating parent education sessions into PHC-linked ECD programmes, training community health workers as facilitators, and adapting materials into Adamawa local languages. Keywords: parent education, early stimulation, Adamawa State, HOME scale, caregiver practices