Reading Bees: Adapting and Testing a Mobile App Designed to Empower Families to Read more Interactively with Children in Distinct Geographical and Cultural Contexts

项目摘要 许多孩子到幼儿园时没有做好学习阅读的准备，有可能落后更多， 与种族、地理和贫困有关的不平等（比率>50%）。这些在中断期间被放大， 当获取信息和资源受到干扰时。熟练程度低与不利的 学校、职业和保健成果，估计费用> 3 500亿美元/年。作为父母是孩子的“第一 和最重要的教师，”家庭阅读程序对这些结果有很大的影响。但 高资源家庭和低资源家庭之间的差距很大，家庭压力，文化 差异、扫盲挑战和其他因素。被边缘化的家庭在获得医疗服务方面也常常面临障碍， 可靠的扫盲宣传信息、方案和资源，加剧了差距。提供可信访问权限， 当育儿惯例形成时，健康提供者准备帮助减轻这些障碍， 指导往往是一般性的，不一致的，并可能在家里淡出。拟议项目的目标是 增强、“本地化”和测试一个新的、免费的移动的应用程序，该应用程序旨在提供可靠的共享阅读指导 和资源的父母（阅读蜜蜂; RB）在一个有效的，从事的方式。理由是，没有类似的 方法是存在的，RB是免费的，旨在加强现有的计划，有证据表明，其功能 将是有用和有效的。内容以证据为基础，并与社区的投入共同开发 利益攸关方和来自弱势背景的家庭。核心原则是清晰、可信、灵活 (e.g.,父母设定他们自己的目标），响应性（孩子年龄，家庭问题，ZIP），吸引人的内容（提示， 视频，资源）和积极强化（“LitCoin”奖）。该项目的长期目标是利用 经常预算，以帮助改善阅读和扫盲成果。为了实现这一目标，在3个文化不同的地区（OH， WV，FL）将在一个为期3年的项目中合作。首先将添加内容以满足每个社区的需求： 由地区利益相关者策划的当地阅读相关资源列表和RB的西班牙语版本。 增强的，“本地化”的RB然后将与每个地区的父母进行测试，首先通过焦点小组来衡量 有用性和指导完善，然后在诊所访视期间向父母（0-6岁）提供RB， 在接下来的两个月里测量使用情况。结果测量包括可行性、可接受性和有用性。的 中心假设是，当地利益相关者将有机会参与，以突出其 地区;家庭将评价RB内容是有用的，并经常使用RB，特别是为了获得LitCoin奖项;并改善 获得信息和资源将促进更好的阅读和扫盲成果。这项工作意义重大， 创新，因为它涉及技术支持，以用户为中心的方法，可在现有儿科， 图书馆和程序基础设施，并使家长能够更互动地阅读和访问可靠的 信息.预期的结果是，这项工作将为经常预算提供重要的改进，显示可行性， 它提供了一个灵活的协作模式，将经常预算的使用“本地化”并扩展到其他领域。

PROJECT SUMMARY Many children arrive at kindergarten unprepared to learn to read, at-risk of falling more behind, with major inequities linked to race, geography and poverty (rates >50%). These are amplified during disruptions such as COVID, when access to information and resources is perturbed. Low proficiency is strongly linked to adverse school, vocational and health outcomes, with estimated costs >$350 billion/year. As parents are a child’s “first and most important teachers,” home reading routines have a large impact on these outcomes. However, there are wide disparities in these between high- and low-resource families, fueled by household stressors, cultural differences, literacy challenges and other factors. Marginalized families also often face barriers to access of reliable literacy-promoting information, programs and resources, worsening disparities. Given trusted access to families when parenting routines are shaped, health providers are poised to help mitigate these barriers, yet guidance tends to be general, inconsistent and can fade-out at home. The objective of the proposed project is to enhance, “localize” and test a new, free mobile app designed to provide reliable shared reading guidance and resources for parents (Reading Bees; RB) in an efficient, engaging way. The rationale is that no similar approach exists, RB is free and designed to enhance existing programs, and there is evidence that its features will be useful and effective. Content is evidence-based and has been co-developed with input from community stakeholders and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Core principles are clarity, credibility, flexibility (e.g., parents set their own goals), responsiveness (child age, family concerns, ZIP), engaging content (tips, videos, resources) and positive reinforcement (“LitCoin” awards). The long-term goal of this project is to use RB to help improve reading and literacy outcomes. To achieve this, teams in 3 culturally distinct areas (OH, WV, FL) will collaborate in a 3-year project. Content will first be added to address needs in each community: lists of local reading-related resources curated by area stakeholders and a Spanish language version of RB. Enhanced, “localized” RB will then be tested with parents in each area, first through focus groups to gauge usefulness and guide refinement, and then by providing RB to parents (ages 0-6) during clinic visits and measuring use over the next 2 months. Outcome measures involve feasibility, acceptance and useflness. The central hypothesis is that local stakeholders will be engaged by the opportunity to highlight resources in their area; families will rate RB content as useful and use RB often, especially to earn LitCoin awards; and improved access to information and resources will fuel better reading and literacy outcomes. This work is significant and innovative as it involves a tech-enabled, user-centered approach that is scalable within existing pediatric, library and program infrastructure and empowers parents to read more interactively and access reliable information. The expected outcome is that this work will provide vital enhancements to RB, show feasibility and usefulness and provide a flexible, collaborative model to “localize” and scale use of RB into other areas.