Child Development and Primary Care in Low Income Families

University of Illinois

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Development, Child; Parenting

Treatments: Other: Child Safety Handout; Behavioral: Sit Down and Play

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03126292

2014-0337_3

K23HD086295 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objective of this study is to conduct a 12-month pilot longitudinal study of a parent-directed program delivered in a primary care setting serving primarily low-income families. The parent-direction program will be evaluated in a randomized controlled design to determine the feasibility of protocol implementation and to investigate the potential impact on parental outcomes. Process outcomes will include success with recruitment, participant retention, and ability to collect outcome measures. Clinical outcomes will incorporate measures of parental self-efficacy and parenting behaviors, including observational assessments of parent-child interactions.

Full description

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.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 2 to 3 months old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Parent is 18 years or older
• Child is present for a 2 month well-child visit
• Adult present with child at appointment is parent/caregiver of child

Exclusion criteria

• Parent is non-English speaking
• Child is acutely sick

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Sit Down and Play

Experimental group

Description:

Families randomized to intervention group will receive Sit Down and Play while they wait in the waiting room to be seen by their primary care provider at current and subsequent well-child visits.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sit Down and Play

Handout

Active Comparator group

Description:

Families in the control group will receive handouts regarding child safety

Treatment:

Other: Child Safety Handout