Effectiveness of the caregiver support intervention on child psychosocial wellbeing among Syrian refugees in Lebanon: Mediation and secondary analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

This study evaluates the impact of the nine session Caregiver Support Intervention (CSI) on improving children's wellbeing and examines putative mediators of changes in children's psychosocial wellbeing. 240 female caregivers were randomly allocated (1:1) to the CSI or a waitlist control comparison condition. The study was implemented in Lebanon, in an area characterized by high levels of poverty and a high number of the Syrian refugees. Here, a parallel group Randomized Controlled Trial method reported on caregiver-reported child-level wellbeing. The proportion of the total effect of the CSI intervention on child psychosocial wellbeing mediated by caregiver distress, caregiver wellbeing and harsh parenting was 77%. Overall, the study finds CSI holds potential for down-stream short-term effect on improving children's psychosocial wellbeing, beyond the previously reported positive caregiver outcomes.