Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract NACNDC/19JASH084 (Poster) | Published: 16 Dec 2025
Evas Juliet Tibagonzeka1,&, Sabrina Bakeera-Kitaka1, Edward Buzigi1, Christopher Garimoi Orach1
1Makerere University, School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda
Received: 17 Sep 2025, Accepted: 20 Oct 2025, Published: 16 Dec 2025
Domain: Public Health Nutrition
Keywords: Play therapy, severe acute malnutrition, psychosocial stimulation, child development, Uganda
©Evas Juliet Tibagonzeka et al., Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Evas Juliet Tibagonzeka et al., Play to thrive: Developing and evaluating a culturally adapted play therapy framework for holistic recovery of children with severe acute malnutrition in Uganda. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc6):084. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO6-00084
Globally and in Uganda, children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) face significant long-term developmental delays even after achieving nutritional recovery. Although the WHO recommends 15–30 minutes of daily psychosocial stimulation during SAM management, integration into routine care remains limited, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Uganda lacks a structured, culturally adapted model to guide psychosocial stimulation within SAM treatment. Play to Thrive aims to develop and evaluate a caregiver-centred, low-cost play therapy intervention to enhance developmental and psychosocial outcomes among children aged 6–59 months with SAM.
This study protocol will use a sequential mixed-methods design with four phases: (1) a systematic review of global evidence on play therapy interventions for malnourished children; (2) an exploratory qualitative study across five regional referral hospitals to assess current practices, caregiver engagement, and health worker barriers; (3) co-development of a culturally adapted intervention using participatory workshops and the Delphi technique with caregivers, health workers, and policymakers; and (4) a pilot evaluation conducted at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. Child developmental outcomes will be measured using MDAT, caregiver–child interaction using PICCOLO, and caregiver psychosocial wellbeing using PHQ-9. Data analysis will include RevMan for systematic reviews, NVivo for qualitative data analysis, and Stata for pilot outcomes.
The intervention is expected to produce moderate developmental improvements (effect size ≈ 0.45), enhanced caregiver–child interaction, and high feasibility and acceptability (>75%). The project will yield a complete intervention package including an implementation manual, training guide, and caregiver toolkit.
Play to Thrive will generate the first evidence on play therapy within SAM care in Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa. The intervention shall provide a practical, low-cost model that can be delivered by existing staff and integrated into Uganda’s HMIS/DHIS2 for reporting and monitoring. This work represents a scalable, policy-relevant innovation for improving holistic child recovery in Uganda and beyond.
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