TY - JOUR
T1 - Nutrition education via a touchscreen
T2 - A randomized controlled trial in Latino immigrant parents of infants and toddlers
AU - Thompson, Darcy A.
AU - Joshi, Ashish
AU - Hernandez, Raquel G.
AU - Bair-Merritt, Megan Hayes
AU - Arora, Mohit
AU - Luna, Rubi
AU - Ellen, Jonathan
N1 - Funding Information:
We greatly appreciate the efforts of Lucia Stanslaw (audio voice and translation) and Maria A. Villarroel (translation). This study was funded by an Academic Pediatric Association Young Investigator Award sponsored by Bright Futures (Thompson). The sponsor took no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - Objective: To investigate whether educational modules presented on a touchscreen computer increase immediate nutrition and feeding knowledge in low-income, Spanish-speaking Latino immigrant parents. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial conducted in an urban pediatric clinic with a sample of low-income, Spanish-speaking Latino parents of children <3 years randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 80) and control groups (n = 80). Intervention group members viewed 5 modules on nutrition and feeding presented on an interactive platform using a touchscreen computer. Modules contained text, pictures, and audio. Content was drawn from Bright Futures Guidelines. The primary outcome was a parental total summed knowledge score based on correct responses to 19 questions related to module content. Domain-specific scores were also analyzed. Results: Intervention and control groups did not differ on demographic characteristics. Participants were of varied Latino origins, mean age was 27.5 years, 41% reported a <7th grade education, and 65% reported that they rarely/never use a computer. Compared with the control group, the intervention group had a superior mean total summed knowledge score (72.3% vs 90.8%, P <.001). Mean domain-specific summed knowledge scores were also greater in the intervention arm compared with the control for all 5 domains. These results did not differ on the basis of participant education level. 71% (n = 57) of intervention arm participants planned to change something based on what they learned from the computer program, and 80% reported that they will (n = 49) or may (n = 15) talk to their child's doctor about what they learned in the modules. Conclusions: Results of this pilot study add to the growing literature on the use of this technology for health education in low-income Latino immigrants. Despite low education levels and computer experience, findings suggest that immediate parental knowledge was enhanced supporting the need for a more rigorous evaluation of this technology and its impact on health behaviors.
AB - Objective: To investigate whether educational modules presented on a touchscreen computer increase immediate nutrition and feeding knowledge in low-income, Spanish-speaking Latino immigrant parents. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial conducted in an urban pediatric clinic with a sample of low-income, Spanish-speaking Latino parents of children <3 years randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 80) and control groups (n = 80). Intervention group members viewed 5 modules on nutrition and feeding presented on an interactive platform using a touchscreen computer. Modules contained text, pictures, and audio. Content was drawn from Bright Futures Guidelines. The primary outcome was a parental total summed knowledge score based on correct responses to 19 questions related to module content. Domain-specific scores were also analyzed. Results: Intervention and control groups did not differ on demographic characteristics. Participants were of varied Latino origins, mean age was 27.5 years, 41% reported a <7th grade education, and 65% reported that they rarely/never use a computer. Compared with the control group, the intervention group had a superior mean total summed knowledge score (72.3% vs 90.8%, P <.001). Mean domain-specific summed knowledge scores were also greater in the intervention arm compared with the control for all 5 domains. These results did not differ on the basis of participant education level. 71% (n = 57) of intervention arm participants planned to change something based on what they learned from the computer program, and 80% reported that they will (n = 49) or may (n = 15) talk to their child's doctor about what they learned in the modules. Conclusions: Results of this pilot study add to the growing literature on the use of this technology for health education in low-income Latino immigrants. Despite low education levels and computer experience, findings suggest that immediate parental knowledge was enhanced supporting the need for a more rigorous evaluation of this technology and its impact on health behaviors.
KW - Latino
KW - health education
KW - infant/toddler
KW - nutrition
KW - touchscreen computer
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84866595063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.acap.2012.03.020
DO - 10.1016/j.acap.2012.03.020
M3 - Article
C2 - 22682718
AN - SCOPUS:84866595063
SN - 1876-2859
VL - 12
SP - 412
EP - 419
JO - Academic Pediatrics
JF - Academic Pediatrics
IS - 5
ER -