Parent-Preschooler Emotion Narratives: Reading to promote literacy and socioemotional competency in urban communities of poverty

Florida International University, Miami FL

Investigators

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Abstract

Project Summary This application will launch an independent research career in dissemination science that (a) leverages natural, resource- efficient opportunities for health promotion in families' settings and routines; (b) synthesizes empirical literature with local knowledge to develop evidence-based content for dissemination; and (c) utilizes mixed methodologies to maximize programmatic impact and reach through end-user feedback within a social marketing framework. The proposed study will develop and examine a parent-preschooler book reading (PPBR) intervention, consisting of an emotion-enhanced children's book and brief parent literacy training. This proposal aims to integrate and extend prior literature that shows (1) a positive relationship between parents' use of labels and explanations of emotions with children at age 3.5 in a storybook reading task, and children's affective knowledge at age 5;14 (2) knowledge acquisition and generalization through activities directing children to engage in social and cognitive narrative content following book reading;15 and (3) benefits of dialogic reading strategies in encouraging parent-child discourse during PPBR to enhance learning.16 We plan to leverage PPBR as a natural family routine by which to influence parent-child discourse around affective content to improve child affective knowledge, parent meta-emotion philosophy, and parent-child emotion talk. We are collaborating with Miami Children's Initiative (MCI), which focuses on Liberty City ? a high poverty, predominantly black and African American neighborhood in Miami ? to maximize area resources and services, build community capacities, and implement sustainable solutions. We will (1) obtain input from parent stakeholders of children ages 3-5 enrolled in MCI's Growing Learners Program regarding perceived barriers and benefits to a PPBR intervention (n=21; Preliminary Study); (2) use findings to inform development and refinement of a PPBR intervention prototype and solicit end user feedback on usability, acceptability, strengths, and persistent obstacles for use (n=21; Specific Aim 1); and (3) examine promise of the revised PPBR intervention in an open trial (n=23; Specific Aim 2). We will conduct paired T-tests to examine pre- to post- intervention differences in child affective knowledge, parent meta-emotion philosophy, and parent-preschooler emotion talk (Hypothesis 1) and a mixed-method analysis of intervention barriers and strengths to examine its acceptability and usability (Hypothesis 2). Findings will set the foundation for further refinement and future work examining effectiveness in a larger multiple baseline or randomized clinical trial. Primary Sponsor Dr. Frazier will oversee Training Goal 2: Dissemination and Implementation Science (with consultants Dunn, Chambers, and Shernoff), supporting community partnership and stakeholder engagement to guide intervention development (Specific Aim 1) and mixed method design of the open trial (Specific Aim 2). Co-Sponsor Dr. Hart will oversee Training Goal 1: Parent-Child Emotion-Related Interactions (with consultants Denham and Salmon), supporting the development and iterative refinement of the PPBR intervention (Specific Aim 1), and the identification and measurement of emotion- and interaction-related outcomes (Specific Aim 2). The proposed training and research plan will launch an independent career in dissemination science focused on leveraging natural opportunities to support healthy development in socioeconomically disadvantaged youth.