Can technology narrow the early childhood stimulation gap in rural Guatemala? Results from an experimental approach

• In Event: Early Life Impacts of COVID-19: Prenatal and Early Childhood

Abstract

How children develop in the early years affects how well they do for the rest of their lives (Campbell et al., 2014; Gertler et al., 2014; Heckman, 2011; Black et al., 2017). Reach-Up is an early childhood home visitation program that trains parents on early stimulation of children 0-4 years by promoting child-parent interaction through reading, singing, talking, and playing with homemade toys as an opportunity to develop child’s skills (Grantham-McGregor, Powell, Walker & Himes, 1991). The effects of this program have been documented around the world (Hamadani et al., 2019; Grantham-McGregor & Smith, 2016). Guatemala piloted this program in 2017 in rural areas with limited access to early learning opportunities and a randomized evaluation found positive effects (Trias & Arteaga, 2020). The program was about to scale-up when the pandemic hit. Nowadays, the country is still implementing strong restrictions and the home visitation program cannot resume.

In this study, we will examine the effects of a remote adaptation of this program, Juega Conmigo, in which mothers receive voice messages that are customized according to child’s age group and maternal. Messages used the Reach-Up curriculum, which was adapted to be used remotely during the pandemic. Parents received three messages per week during a three-month period. The messages had a sixty seconds duration and contained a fact statement about child development, for example, the importance to talk with children. Then, it was followed by a suggested activity in which there was a detailed description of what a parent could do during the week to help her child talk. Finally, it ended with a final remark about, for example, the importance of telling children how much they are loved.

Using a list of families with children 6-33 months of age registered in the program who had phone numbers, we randomly assigned them to treatment (n=700) or control (n=700) groups. The treatment group received the voice messages, and the control group did not. Using a telephone survey, we collected baseline data that shows that treatment and control groups are balanced, mid-point data to test parent-child interaction, and will collect end-line data to test the effects on child development. Data analysis will conclude in January and a paper will be finished by March 2021. We hypothesize that being in the treatment group reduces maternal anxiety (GAD-7; Löwe et al., 2008), and increased child’s language recognition (MacArthur-Bates; Jackson-Maldonado, MArchman & Fenald, 2013), and child’s overall development (CREDI; McCoy et al., 2017).

While prior literature has used technology on early childhood interventions, most of them have used smartphones through videos and reinforcement through text messages (Bloomfield, Balsa & Cid, 2019). The assumption behind those interventions is that mothers are literate and that the target population owns a smartphone, which is not the case for rural Guatemala. Our experience underscores not only the importance to quickly adapt to crises like Covid-19, but also to find alternative ways to serve poor and illiterate families who live in remote areas that cannot easily be served under normal circumstances.

Author

• Irma Arteaga, University of Missouri - Columbia
  Presenting Author