Effectiveness of child-friendly spaces on the personal well-being of school children: a double-blind, non-randomised control trial

Background. During humanitarian crises, women and children are particularly vulnerable to morbidity and mortality. Objectives. In response to the level of personal well-being of internally displaced children living outside the IDP camps of Zakho District, we applied a Child-Friendly Space (CFS) programme in the community centre of a non-governmental organisation for two months. Material and methods. In this non-randomised parallel controlled trial, internally displaced children living in the Zakho district in Iraqi Kurdistan were assigned to an experimental (n = 36) or control group (n = 36). The children in the experimental group were entered into a two-month CFS programme, including music, painting, dancing, critical thinking games and recreational activities. The CFS programme was designed based on the UNICEF guidelines of CFS establishment. Results. The children were similar in age (9.86 vs 9.58 years; p = 0.428), sleeping hrs. (8.78 vs 9.28 hours; p = 0.294) and gender (male: 58.3% vs 50.0%; p = 0.478) in the control and experimental groups, respectively. The study showed that following the study period, the children in the experimental group were significantly happier about what they have (mean: 9.2 vs 7.0; p < 0.001) and were happier about how safe they feel (8.3 vs 7.00; p = 0.0085) compared to the children in the control group. In addition, the children of the experimental group had significantly higher mean scores of personal well-being compared to the children in the control group (8.4 vs 7.7; p = 0.0074). Conclusions. This study showed that the CFS programme is an effective technique to improve the level of personal well-being and sense of security and safety of children.