A Translational Research Approach to Healthy Technology Usage in Language-Minority Families with Young Children

项目总结 在过去的十年里，科技在美国幼儿中的使用变得越来越普遍， 新冠肺炎大流行期间向在线学习的过渡再次引起了家长和 教育者对屏幕时间的看法。关于选择高质量应用程序和设置边界的建议 设备的使用通常通过立场声明、白皮书和博客文章来传达，但信息 很少以一种吸引人的、适合家庭的方式呈现出来，很容易被年轻人采用和维持 孩子们的日常生活。作为卫生公平的问题，这一挑战在以下人群中感受到的更加尖锐 语言少数民族家庭，他们在尝试访问相关的 资源。 该项目提供了一种交互式、双语、混合虚拟和物理世界的方法来解决这些问题 翻译鸿沟。它通过双语提出了来自学术界和医学界的建议 讲故事和在线虚拟世界中的一系列互动、共同玩的活动，然后转换游戏玩法 到物理世界中的看护和儿童互动，使用户能够首先实践健康的技术 通过互动在线游戏，然后在他们的日常生活中实施这些排练的做法。这个 在线平台和互动内容的有效性将通过随机对照的 学习。与健康技术使用相关的知识、态度和信心的改善将是 在儿童及其照顾者中进行评估。还将评估该平台的能力，以促进 儿童和照顾者之间的双语互动，支持学习和语言发展。总的来说， 我们的产品不仅将作为通知家庭最佳技术使用实践的手段，而且还将成为催化剂 扩大和重新设想与数字设备的联合游戏，特别是在语言少数民族家庭中。

PROJECT SUMMARY Technology use among young children in the U.S. has become increasingly prevalent over the past decade, and the transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has renewed concerns among parents and educators about screen time. Recommendations for choosing high-quality apps and setting boundaries around device use are often conveyed through position statements, white papers, and blog posts, but the information is rarely presented in an engaging, family-friendly manner that can be readily adopted and sustained in young children’s everyday routines. As a matter of health equity, this challenge is felt even more acutely among language-minority households, who additionally face language barriers when attempting to access relevant resources. This project delivers an interactive, bilingual, hybrid virtual-and-physical world approach to address these translational gaps. It presents recommendations from the academic and medical spheres through bilingual storytelling and a suite of interactive, co-play activities in an online virtual world, then transitions the gameplay to caretaker-child interactions in the physical world, empowering users to first practice healthy technology through interactive online games and then implement those rehearsed practices in their day-to-day lives. The effectiveness of the online platform and interactive content will be evaluated through a randomized controlled study. Improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and confidence related to healthy technology use will be assessed among children and their caretakers. The platform will also be evaluated for its ability to facilitate bilingual interactions between child and caretaker that support learning and language development. Overall, our product will serve not only as a means to inform families of best technology use practices, but as a catalyst to broaden and reimagine joint play with digital devices especially among linguistic minority families.