Prescribing books for immigrant children - A pilot study to promote emergent literacy among the children of Hispanic immigrants

Objectives: To assess book-sharing activities within first-generation Hispa nic immigrant families, and to assess the effect of pediatricians giving bo oks to their patients. Design: Survey. Participants: Convenience sample of 122 predominantly Hispanic immigrant pa rents of children aged 2 months to 5 years. Of these parents, 56 had receiv ed children's books from the pediatrician, and 66 had not. Setting.. House staff continuity clinic at a university children's hospital . Main Outome Measurer Frequent Book Sharing (FBS) was defined as a parent's reporting more than 3 days per week of sharing books with the child. Main i ndependent variables included the following: (1) exposure to the Reach Out and Read program, defined as having received a children's book from the ped iatrician; (2) socioeconomics, as measured by parents' years of education a nd Medicaid enrollment; (3) acculturation, as defined by 4 questions relati ng to parents' proficiency with the English language; (4) parent's country of origin; (5) parent literacy, as measured by a parent's reporting more th an 3 days per week of reading alone; (6) parent's age; (7) marital status; (8) household size; (9) child's age; (10) child's sex. Results: Ninety percent of the parents were born out-side of the United Sta tes (71% in Mexico), 85% spoke Spanish in the home, and 63% had completed l ess than a high-school education. Seventy-five percent of children's medica l insurance was provided by Medi-Cal (Medicaid), and 9% of children were un insured. Sixty-seven percent spoke exclusively Spanish at home, and 84% of parents want their children to learn to read in both English and Spanish. High FBS was reported among parents whose children had received books from the physician when compared with parents whose children had received no boo ks. The odds ratio (OR) was 3.62 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.40-9.37; P < .05). Also associated with FBS were parents reading frequently to thems elves (OR = 9.52; 95% CI, 2.09-43.27; P < .05) and national origin outside Mexico (OR = 5.54; 95% CI, 1.59-19.27; P < .05). These findings were indepe ndent of parent's educational level, parent's employment, parent's age, acc ulturation, and family size. Conclusions: Pediatricians can promote literacy development among Hispanic immigrant children through the provision of free books at well-child visits . Our findings also suggest the independent effects of adult literacy and c hild age. Further research is needed to understand the effect of pediatric literacy programs on Hispanic immigrant children, their bilingual environme nts, and their readiness for school entry.