Poster #168 - Promoting Involvement in Early Learning Among Linguistically Diverse Families Through Storytime at the Public Library

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Families play an essential role in fostering young children’s academic and socio-emotional development (Lamb Parker, Boak, Griffinm Ripple, & Peay, 1999). Although programs have been developed to enhance parents’ abilities to support their child’s development (e.g., Ash & Meyers, 2009), little work has examined how these interventions may uniquely benefit different populations. Understanding how families may differentially benefit from programs allows the field to design tailored interventions that can more effectively reduce disparities (Windor, Jemal, & Alessi, 2015). In particular, as the number of Spanish-speaking families in the United States continues to grow (US Census Bureau, 2017), it is essential to understand how parent education programming can best support this population. In the present study, we examine differential impacts of a public-library-based enhanced storytime program on the home learning environment and parental engagement in cultural enrichment activities for English and Spanish speaking families.

English and Spanish-speaking parents with preschool-age children were invited to participate in a randomized control trial study. Preliminary data from Cohort 1 is presented; cohort 2 data will be added in winter 2019, doubling the sample size. Spanish speaking (i.e., spoke Spanish at home with child & completed all study activities in Spanish) families comprised 43% of the sample. The sample is racially/ethnically (61% Hispanic/Latino) and educationally diverse (39% high school diploma or less, 32% with a college degree). Spanish speaking families were more likely to have lower education and income levels than their English-speaking counterparts (see Table 1).

After completing the pre-test (n = 109), families were randomly assigned to attend either a six-week enhanced storytime program (treatment) or put on a waitlist (control). Each 45-minute session focused on promoting positive parenting and child development through stories, songs, rhymes, and activities. The program was provided in both Spanish and English. Six weeks after the program ended, a follow-up was scheduled with each family (n = 86).

Path analysis was used to test for a treatment effect of an enhanced storytime program on changes in parental involvement in children’s learning and cultural enrichment activities, controlling for pre-test involvement and demographics (child age, parent education, & child gender). A second model tested potential differences in treatment effects by primary language (English vs. Spanish).

For the whole sample, treatment status significantly predicted both increased involvement in children’s learning (beta = .26, p = .002) and cultural enrichment activities (beta = .22, p = .012). When examining potential differences by family language, for English-speaking families a significant treatment effect was detected for both outcomes, while a single treatment effect for cultural enrichment activities was detected for Spanish-speaking families (See Figure 1).

Results suggest that engaging in library-based programming promotes parent involvement in children’s learning. Although both Spanish and English-speaking families demonstrated increases in cultural enrichment activities, only English-speaking families reported increases in their home learning environment. Results point to the need to consider how future programming may more effectively enhance the home learning environment for Spanish-speaking families to address disparities in young children’s school readiness skills for this population.

Authors

• Megan Pratt, Oregon State University
  Presenting Author

• Michelle Taylor, California State University, Long Beach
  Non-Presenting Author

• Larissa Michelle Gaias, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author