Promoting Early Language Development Through Parent-child Book Reading in Costa Rica
- Conditions
- Language Development
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Interactive Book Reading
- Registration Number
- NCT04978766
- Lead Sponsor
- Universidad de Costa Rica
- Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of an interactive parent-child book reading intervention. The intervention includes two components: the provision of five children's books to parent-child dyads and information about how to practice interactive book reading. The investigators expect to find an effect of this intervention on a) infants' expressive vocabulary, b) reading activity, c) parental expectations and knowledge about language development and d) parental use of interactive book reading strategies.
- Detailed Description
The foundations of optimal health, growth and development are forged early in life, when income-related gaps in learning opportunities already exist in Costa Rica. It is therefore important for the government to mitigate the effects of these gaps through programs targeting the development of academic, behavioral, socioemotional and economic abilities. Key to the success of such programs is to consider physical health, nutrition, responsive care and early learning. Multiple government-led initiatives in Costa Rica had been carried out in order to provide adequate programs for infants and young children. Evidence of these efforts are observed in the low rates attained in infant mortality, malnutrition and anemia, as well as the high coverage of the current immunization program. However, policies targeting early learning in children under 36 months of age are incipient and government initiatives in this regard are relatively recent.
The purpose of this study is to promote early language development, a central component of early learning. Our goal is to implement and evaluate a low-cost intervention targeting parents of infants who benefit from the existing immunization program of the public health services offered by the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (Costa Rican Social Security Fund).
The investigators will use an experimental design to randomly assign 15- to 17-month-old infants and their caregivers to one of two groups: a control group or an experimental group. In the experimental group, caregivers will receive a package including five children's books and 36 text messages with information on how to practice interactive book reading with their children. This information will be delivered over a period of 12 weeks. The control group will not receive any treatment during the implementation of the intervention.
In order to measure the efficacy of the intervention, the investigators will evaluate a) infants' expressive vocabulary, b) parent-child reading activity, c) parental expectations and knowledge about language development and d) parental use of interactive book reading strategies at baseline (15-17 months of age) and at posttest (18-20 months of age) in the control and the experimental group. After posttest, the control group will receive the complete intervention.
The investigators expect to find an effect of the interactive book reading intervention on a) infants' expressive vocabulary, b) reading activity, c) parental expectations and knowledge about language development and d) parental use of interactive book reading strategies.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 184
Not provided
- Neither caregivers nor infants must have any significant known physical, mental or learning disability.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Interactive Book Reading Group Interactive Book Reading Participants in this arm will take baseline measures, will receive the intervention and will take posttest measures.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in infant expressive vocabulary Baseline [15 to 17-months] and Posttest [18 to 20-months]. Infant expressive vocabulary will be measured with the short form (SF) Spanish versions of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). Parents will complete version I (CDI-SFI) of the inventory at baseline and version II (CDI-SFII) of the inventory at posttest. Scores on the CDI-SFI inventory range from 0 to 104. Scores on the CDI-SFII inventory range from 0 to approximately 100-135, depending on the complexity of the participant's linguistic production. For both inventories, higher scores indicate a better outcome.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in parental report of reading activities Baseline [15 to 17-months] and Posttest [18 to 20-months]. Parental report of reading activities will be measured with the Spanish version of the Reading Subscale (READ) of the Cognitive Home Environment Questionnaire (StimQ-Toddler). Scores range from 0 to 19. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.
Change in parental expectations and knowledge about language development Baseline [15 to 17-months] and Posttest [18 to 20-months]. Parental report of expectations and knowledge about language development will be measured with the Spanish version of the Survey of Parent/Provider Expectations and Knowledge (SPEAK), a self-administered questionnaire assessing expectations and knowledge about early childhood cognitive and language development. Scores range from 0 to 54. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.
Change in parental use of interactive book reading strategies Baseline [15 to 17-months] and Posttest [18 to 20-months]. Video recordings of parent-child dyads reading books at baseline and posttest will be analyzed for quantity of interactive book reading strategies. Videos will be first transcribed and subsequently coded according to the following coding categories: word tokens, word types, mean length of utterance, number of questions and pointing tokens. Range of scores depends on participants' communicative/linguistic production. Higher scores indicate a better outcome.
Trial Locations
- Locations (2)
Área de Salud (CCSS), Santo Domingo de Heredia
🇨🇷Santo Domingo, Heredia, Costa Rica
Área de Salud (CCSS), Desamparados 2
🇨🇷Desamparados, San José, Costa Rica