Effectiveness of a technology-assisted, family volunteers delivered, brief, multicomponent parents’ skills training intervention for children with developmental disorders in rural Pakistan: a cluster randomized controlled trial

This study adapted the World Health Organization’s mental health Gap-Intervention Guidelines (mhGAP-IG) developmental disorders module into a tablet-based android application to train caregivers of children with developmental disorders. Through doing so, it aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of this technology-assisted, family volunteers delivered, parents’ skills training intervention to improve functioning in children with developmental disorders in a rural community of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. In the relatively short intervention period of 6 months, no improvement in child functioning was observed; but, there were significant improvements in caregivers’ health related quality of life. Further trials with a longer follow-up are recommended to evaluate the impact of intervention.