The aim of this project is to assess whether video materials from the BBC Tiny Happy People (THP) campaign are effective in terms of improving the language skills of socioeconomically disadvantaged children before they start school. This project will also look at how useable the service is for parents in terms of acceptability, effects on self-efficacy and implementation of advice.
The current study will evaluate BBC Education's Tiny Happy People initiative (https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people) which seeks to reduce the impact of social and economic disadvantage on children's language skills before they arrive at primary school. BBC Education have created videos for parents and other caregivers with information about child development, tips and activities as well as other content of interest. The aim of the evaluation is to find out how parents feel about the materials and whether the videos promote a) caregiver confidence at 12, 18 and 24 months, b) caregiver-infant interaction at 12, 18 and 24 months and c) child language at 18 and 24 months. The primary outcome is expressive vocabulary size at 17-18 months. Families with 4- to 9-month-old infants who would like to take part will be randomly allocated either to a language support group or a physical health active control group and sent short, age-appropriate advice videos by text message three times a month until their children are 18 months old (with follow up videos for children until the age of 2 years where possible given study time limits).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
435
This intervention involves regular texting of BBC Education Tiny Happy People videos to parents
This intervention involves regular texting of publicly available videos about supporting infant physical and dental health to parents
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
18 month expressive vocabulary
Infant expressive vocabulary, assessed using the communicative development inventory (CDI) at 18 months
Time frame: 2 months. Parents will complete the report within 2 months of the infant turning 18 months old.
Caregiver responsive behaviour at 12, 18 and 24 months
Parents willing and able to upload a 5-minute video of a play time with their child will have the option to do so. A researcher will code the video using the PaRRis rating scale.
Time frame: Measures will be collected within 2 months of the child turning 12, 18 and 24 months
Caregiver self-efficacy at 12, 18 and 24 months
Parents will be sent a self-efficacy questionnaire to complete in the format of a qualtrics survey, via SMS text message at each time point. Questions will focus on how parents feel about their parenting in general and supporting their child's language development and physical health.
Time frame: Measures will be collected within 2 months of the child turning 12, 18 and 24 months
24 month expressive vocabulary
Infant expressive vocabulary, assessed using the communicative development inventory (CDI) at 24 months
Time frame: 3 months. Parents will complete the report within 3 months of the infant turning 24 months old.
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