Supporting caregivers to actively engage in their children’s development through a play-based game

• In Event: To Nudge or Not to Nudge? Improving classroom instruction to achieve learning for all

Proposal

Across South Africa, many children are at high-risk of not achieving their full potential. National education statistics continue to show that many children, particularly those living in low-income communities, are not adequately prepared to enter school or succeed in their early years (Giese et al. 2022). Finding Thabo is an interactive play-based game designed by The Reach Trust to stimulate key parts of a young child's brain and build foundational skills in literacy and numeracy. Finding Thabo works by prompting caregivers to ask children questions about picture-cards through WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, also empowering caregivers to meaningfully engage with children and paving the way for caregiver-child relationships that nurture development. Finding Thabo has been rolled out in early childhood centers across the Western Cape, South Africa. In a pilot study, caregivers reported seeing positive changes in their children after using Finding Thabo.
Nonetheless, behavioral barriers remain that may prevent caregivers from regularly engaging with the game, even when they may be highly motivated to do so. The field of behavioral science demonstrates the importance of considering how caregivers’ environments influence their decisions and actions. As one example, behavioral science research suggests that people have limited attention, or a finite amount of mental energy, which may cause caregivers to forget to engage with Finding Thabo, even if they understand the importance of play. By unpacking how the environment influences caregivers’ behavior, and designing interventions accordingly, behavioral science offers a new way of thinking about how to promote foundational literacy and numeracy by providing caregivers with the support they need to help children learn and thrive. For instance, in the case of limited attention, providing caregivers with timely reminders to engage with Finding Thabo may be an effective way to prompt engagement. Thus, a behavioral science perspective can illuminate novel, effective solutions that may be otherwise overlooked.
By using an in-depth collaborative design process that builds on qualitative, behavioral science-based insights into caregiver behavior, ideas42 and The Reach Trust will develop practical, evidence-based interventions that improve the design of Finding Thabo and support caregivers to initiate and regularly engage with the game, thereby aiming to enhance its effectiveness. The behavioral design process includes co-creation and user testing with caregivers themselves, to ensure that all interventions reflect the priorities and lived experiences of caregivers and are feasible to implement, appropriate for the context, and have the potential for impact. We are currently in the process of executing the behavioral design process, and subsequently plan to run a randomized evaluation of the behaviorally designed interventions. Our randomized evaluation will measure the impacts of the intervention(s) on child development and caregiver behaviors. By the CIES event, we will have developed and refined interventions, produced insights from user testing with caregivers, analyzed preliminary/baseline results from the randomized evaluation, and generated lessons learned to share with conference participants.

Author

• Carolina Better, ideas42