The objective of this study to evaluate potential impact of a brief, low-cost primary care-based intervention of parenting self-efficacy, knowledge, and behavior.
Enriching parenting behaviors in early childhood promotes child development and offers a promising strategy to reduce future educational disparities. However, current interventions are limited by cost and have not been widely disseminated. Recognized as a target for research to improve early childhood development and subsequent school readiness skills among at-risk families, the primary care setting offers an ideal opportunity to reach the millions of children living in poverty. However, what remains unknown is how to more efficiently leverage the primary care setting to deliver a sustainable and effective preventive program to promote positive parenting behaviors and encourage early childhood development in low-income families. Therefore, the investigators designed Sit Down and Play (SDP) a brief parent-directed program delivered in the primary care setting. Modeled after the widely disseminated literacy program Reach Out and Read and grounded in social cognitive theory, SDP is intended to take place during each pediatric well-child visit occurring in a child's first two years with the goal of promoting positive parenting behaviors.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
61
Sit Down and Play (SDP) is designed to be a brief, low-cost intervention that incorporates key theoretical constructs to elicit positive parenting behaviors. It is intended to be delivered by existing clinical staff, nonprofessionals, or volunteers during each of the eight well-child visits between 2-24 months of age while a family waits to be seen by their pediatrician in the examination room
Handout providing written descriptions of strategies to encourage positive parenting behaviors
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Change in Parental Knowledge
Change in parental knowledge regarding importance of talking with children
Time frame: Enrollment and 7 months post-enrollment
Change in participation in cognitively stimulating activities
Change in participation in cognitively stimulating activities such as reading and play as measured by the StimQ
Time frame: Enrollment and 7 months post-enrollment
Change in parenting self-efficacy
Change in perceived self-efficacy in parenting activity as measured by The Tool to Measure Parenting Self Efficacy
Time frame: Enrollment and 7 months post-enrollment
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