Literacy promotion for Hispanic families in a primary care setting: A randomized, controlled trial

Background. Reading aloud is an important activity to prepare children to s ucceed in learning to read. Many Hispanic children have reading difficultie s and therefore are at increased risk for school failure. Methods. We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled study to evalua te the effectiveness of a literacy promoting intervention delivered to low- income Hispanic families with infants. We consecutively enrolled 135 low-in come Hispanic parents of healthy 5 to 11 month old infants. Families were r andomly assigned to an intervention (n = 65) or control (n = 70) group. At enrollment and at two consecutive well-child visits, pediatricians gave int ervention families: 1) an age-appropriate bilingual children's book, 2) a b ilingual handout explaining the benefits of reading to children, and 3) lit eracy-promoting anticipatory guidance. Ten months after enrollment we reint erviewed 130 parents. Results. Both groups were comparable at baseline. At follow-up, interventio n parents were more likely to read books with their child at least 3 days/w eek (intervention = 66% vs control parents = 24%) and to report that readin g books was one of their three most favorite things to do with their child (intervention = 43% vs controls = 13%). Intervention families also had a gr eater number of children's books and total books at home. Using a multiple logistic regression model, controlling for child and parental age, reading habits, and English proficiency, we found that the odds of parents reading to their child at least 3 days/week were 10 times greater in intervention f amilies (OR 10.1, 95% CI 4.0-25.6) compared with control families. Conclusions. This simple, culturally appropriate intervention significantly increased literacy behaviors in low-income Hispanic families.