Administration and Scoring of Measurement tools for the Three and Four-year Old’s and Women before the RCT Baseline Survey in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya

Abstract
The Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) child-based curriculum intervention was identified as a critical Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) strategy because women engage in unpaid childcare, which affects their livelihood in rural Kenya. To examine the impact of enrolling 3- year-olds in PP1 class under the child-based curriculum and learning environment on both children’s developmental milestones and women's economic empowerment, there was a need to adapt existing standardised tools to the local Tharaka Nithi context to assess the participant’s at baseline, midline, and endline. The tools which were used in measuring the baseline status of the participants included Daberon-2, Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI-2030), and Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment (PSRA). The household survey was used to assess women's economic status. All the measurement tools used on children were translated into four major dialects spoken in Tharaka Nithi County (TNC), and some pictures of animals, objects, and foods were replaced with local ones. Appropriate and inappropriate responses were identified and revised, informing the administration and scoring of the instruments. To ensure consistency in administration and scoring, fifteen (15) assessors proficient in the dialects spoken within the county were recruited and trained through classroom roleplay, demonstrations, supervised field practice, and interrater supervision. Assessors were provided with administration and scoring guides to boost their proficiency. Using pilot data of 42 children aged between 3 to 4 years, the internal and test-retest reliability of the measurement tools used with the children met the threshold of 0.7. A pool of researchers constructed the household survey for WEE. Fifteen assessors with proficiency in the dialects within the TNC were recruited and trained on administration and scoring using didactical learning, demonstrations by the trainers, and role plays to ensure that the assessment was carried out in a standardised way. Assessors were taken through class training and field practice. The cultural adaptation and training of assessors were expected to boost the objectivity of the assessment because the findings were important in informing whether curriculum-based childcare intervention has an effect on women's economic empowerment and eventually inform policy decisions regarding the curriculum for the three-year-olds
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Oteyo, S., Gachara, E., Mvungu, E., Onywere, S., Niavasha, D., Waudo, J., ... & Mwangi, M. (2025). Administration and Scoring of Measurement tools for the Three and Four-year Old’s and Women before the RCT Baseline Survey in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. KENYATTA UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT (KU-WEE) JOURNAL, 1(1), 309-329.