Betancourt 2017.

Study characteristics
Methods	Study design: RCT Duration of study: the study was conducted around 2012‐2014. Country: Rwanda Income classification: low‐income country in 2012‐2014 Geographical scope: urban. Families were recruited through health centres in Kayonza District (located in Eastern Province, Rwanda) where PIH/IMB provides support to the public health system. Healthcare setting: home
Participants	1. Age: (mean, SD) for children, 11.76 (2.88); for caregivers, 41.27 (8.23) 2. Gender: both 3. Socioeconomic background: (mean, SD) SES for families 0.10 (0.08) 4. Educational background: not specified Inclusion criteria: a. being an adult‐headed household; b. at least one caregiver was HIV‐positive; c. at least one child aged 7–17; d. willingness to discuss HIV with school‐age children. Exclusion criteria: a. not living in the catchment area; b. presenting with untreated mental illness; c. active suicidal ideation/attempts in the family also constitutes exclusion criteria; d. HIV‐positive children with non‐disclosed HIV status; e. presence of concerns in caregivers' capacity to participate in the programme in addition to other caretaking duties. Note: at baseline, the intervention and control group scores for the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES‐DC) were, respectively, 13.58 (10.89) and 12.74 (10.68). Stated purpose: to evaluate the Family Strengthening Intervention (FSI‐HIV), a family home‐visiting intervention to promote mental health and improve parent‐child relationships in families with caregivers living with HIV
Interventions	Name: FSI‐HIV Title/name of PW and number: community workers (6) 1. Selection: Rwandan 2. Educational background: bachelor‐level 3. Training: 2‐week training in the FSI‐HIV focused on role‐playing to build skills in family counselling. 4. Supervision: a Rwanda‐based master‐level project manager randomized families and provided weekly on‐site supervision. Study leaders, including a child psychiatrist and clinical psychologist, provided additional weekly supervision to the intervention team by phone. 5. Incentives/remuneration: not specified Prevention type: selective—participants were included based upon the presence of a risk factor (caregivers were HIV‐positive), but those presenting with untreated mental conditions were excluded from the study. Children's baseline levels of distress were well below the cut‐off. Intervention details: the FSI‐HIV is delivered in approximately 90‐minute weekly home‐visiting sessions which span an initial pre‐meeting, the six core modules including a culminating family meeting, and a follow‐up to the family meeting in order to debrief together about what occurred during the family meeting. The FSI‐HIV model blends meetings solely for the caregivers and solely for the children together with a meeting with all family members. Overall, there are at least two combined family meetings, three sessions just with caregivers and at least two sessions just with children. As needed, supplementary psychoeducation on genocide‐related trauma was developed and provided for families where the issue arose. Control: usual care—families received standard social work services through the Ministry of Health, which included sessions at the health centre and/or home facilitated by a social worker. Treatment‐as‐usual (TAU) social workers received no additional training and were asked to provide usual social work services.
Outcomes	Participants’outcomes of interest for this review Psychological functioning and impairment – World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) for children Depressive symptoms – CES–DC Carers’ outcomes of interest for this review Nil Economic outcomes Nil Time points: baseline, post‐intervention (not available) Note: data were not included in the meta‐analysis because they were not provided in the right format or were not available even after attempted author contact.
Notes	Source of funding: this study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R34 MH084679), seed funding from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, The Peter C. Alderman Foundation, the Bayer Prevention Science fund and the Julie Henry Junior Faculty Development Fund of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Notes on validation of instruments (screening and outcomes): “Measures were adapted and validated for the Rwandan context following mixed methods research on local constructs of family functioning, mental health, and resilience.” Additional information: none Handling the data: not applicable Prospective trial registration number: NCT01509573