An Online Family Literacy and Wellness Program for Latino Dual Language Learners: Pilot Randomized Waitlist...

Area of Science:

• Early Childhood Education
• Health Equity
• Family Literacy Programs

Background:

• Early childhood interventions often overlook implementation and health equity.
• Family literacy and wellness programs can address both health and language development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To refine and pilot-test a family literacy and wellness program for Latino dual language learners (DLLs) using a health equity lens.
• To assess program acceptability, reach, and preliminary effects on home literacy and child language skills.

Main Methods:

• An 8-week program was co-developed with a parent and community advisory board.
• A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a waitlist control was conducted with 32 parent-child dyads.
• Program effects were measured using parent surveys, the StimQ2 instrument, and child literacy assessments.

Main Results:

• The program successfully reached the target Latino population, with high parent acceptability and attendance.
• Participants showed significant improvements in the quality (effect size 0.99) and quantity (effect size 1.01) of home literacy activities.
• The program integrated health topics to enhance foundational language and literacy skills.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional collaboration is a promising strategy for promoting health equity in early language development for Latino DLLs.
• The refined program demonstrated positive preliminary effects on home literacy environments.