Child literacy promotion in the emergency department

Studies using primary health care settings to promote literacy have demonstrated success. Since socioeconomically disadvantaged children have less access to primary care, obtaining much of their medical care episodically in emergency departments (ED), the purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a simple literacy promotion program conducted in the ED and to determine its efficacy and if there is a difference in promoting literacy with a brochure alone versus a brochure plus a children's book.

Medical student study investigators enrolled patients aged 20 months to 7 years undergoing acute care treatment and evaluation in an ED. Subjects were randomized to a literacy promotion brochure versus a brochure plus a children's book. Phone follow-up interviews were conducted to survey the degree of parental reading taking place at home.

Fifty-one families were enrolled, 8 could not be contacted for follow-up, which left 43 families. Twenty-eight were randomized to book + handout and 15 were randomized to handout alone. On follow-up phone interviews, no significant change in reading was demonstrated regardless of whether a brochure alone was given or a book was given with the brochure.

Literacy promotion in the ED was not associated with any measurable improvement in parent-child reading. This could mean that the ED is not an effective place to promote literacy or confounding factors in this study are responsible for failing to demonstrate a measurable benefit.