CenteringParenting Clinical Intervention on Kindergarten Readiness in Early Childhood

About This Study

Disparities in health begin in early childhood. Early life experiences influence brain development and have significant implications on future health and developmental outcomes. Low-income children are at greater risk of developmental delays in large part due to a lack of an enriched environment. Disparities in early childhood development increase risk for stunted academic achievement throughout the life course. Primary care is a universal exposure in early childhood and therefore is also a significant entry point for promoting optimal child development. There is a need to provide effective, low-cost, and scalable interventions in primary care to support early childhood development.The CenteringParenting intervention is designed to reduce negative health and developmental outcomes within a model of group routine child health care. To date, there is no evidence of the benefits of the CenteringParenting intervention on school readiness, or improvements in parental behaviors that support optimal developmental milestones and achievement. The intent of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the CenteringParenting intervention on school readiness in early childhood, as measured by language development at 24 months, (in addition to health care utilization, child routine care maintenance, parenting stress, caregiver behaviors and attitudes).

What's Involved

Conditions Studied

Study Locations

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

For participating practice sites

* Practice provides care to patients who are covered by public insurance and/or uninsured (no minimum threshold: all insurance types eligible)
* Practices have at least 3,000 primary care visits per year

For parent-child dyad

* Index child age must be 0-3 months
* Parent must be female
* Parent must be 18 years of age and older
* Parent and child must attend one of the 10 study clinical sites
* Parental consent
* Parent must be fluent in English or Spanish

Exclusion Criteria:

For participating practice sites

* Does not accept public insurance

For parent-child dyad

* Child born prior to 34 weeks gestation
* Child with chronic conditions known to affect neurodevelopment
* Child with a positive screen on the Children with Special Healthcare Needs screener