Community perceptions and practices of early childhood development in an urban-poor setting in Nairobi: Uncovering contextual drivers beneath poverty

•Community perceptions and practices of early childhood development in Nairobi urban poor settlements are generally poor and might be contributing significantly to the poor child development outcomes in these communities.•Traditional, cultural, and religious beliefs, adverse family processes and gen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Children and youth services review 2021-05, Vol.124, p.105961, Article 105961
Main Authors: Nampijja, Margaret, Okelo, Kenneth, Okullo, Domnick, Muendo, Ruth, Wanjohi, Milka N., Kimani-Murage, Elizabeth W., Kitsao-Wekulo, Patricia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Care-giving
Caregivers
Caregiving
Child
Child care
Child development
Child poverty
Childhood
Children
Clinical outcomes
Community
Community health
Community volunteers
Early childhood education
Early-childhood development
Feasibility
Health care
Health services
Intervention
Interviews
Knowledge
Local government
Low income groups
Malnutrition
Mobile phones
Nutrition
Parents & parenting
Perceptions
Poverty
Practices
Religious beliefs
Stimulation
Urban areas
Urban development
Urban poverty
Volunteers
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Summary:•Community perceptions and practices of early childhood development in Nairobi urban poor settlements are generally poor and might be contributing significantly to the poor child development outcomes in these communities.•Traditional, cultural, and religious beliefs, adverse family processes and gendering of family roles underlie the poor caregiving practices in the informal settlements.•Poverty appears to obscure the adverse effects of the traditional beliefs and malpractices of early childhood development.•Community education programs emphasising the importance of caregivers actively stimulating their children’s development through responsive caregiving, but also addressing the cultural and religious beliefs that undermine caregiving are recommended.•Future research should examine the role of cultural beliefs and practices in caregiving and early childhood development and how their impact varies between the poor and wealthier contexts. Worldwide, over 250 million children under five are at risk of not achieving their developmental potential due to extreme poverty, malnutrition, infections, and unstimulating environments. Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices of child care are a salient yet important factor in influencing early childhood development (ECD) outcomes. While knowledge, attitudes and practices of ECD and associated factors are indeed noticeable and contribute significantly to developmental outcomes, the chances of them being addressed are minimal as they are not being investigated. We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of ECD, and associated challenges in an urban-poor setting in Kenya. A qualitative survey was conducted among parents and other community members in Korogocho, Nairobi within the context of a larger study which aimed to examine the feasibility and impact of a mobile phone application for monitoring child developmental milestones. We conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) with 64 primary caregivers, 64 community health volunteers (CHVs), and 11 representatives from county and sub-county government to gauge their knowledge, attitude and practices in ECD. We also asked them about the challenges they faced in supporting child stimulation, nutrition and health care, and what their expectations were of the proposed intervention. Interviews were audio-recorded, and the data were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed that the community (par
ISSN:0190-7409
1873-7765
DOI:10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.105961