ERIC Number: EJ1339348
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2223-7674
EISSN: N/A
The Effect of a Parental mHealth Resource on Language Outcomes in 4- to 5-Year-Old Children
South African Journal of Childhood Education, v12 n1 Article a1026 2022
Background: The use of mobile health (mHealth) technology is rapidly expanding in healthcare worldwide. mHealth tools may provide parents with access to resources essential for promoting language development. Aim: The current study aimed to determine how an mHealth parental resource influenced 42 preschool children's (4.0-5.11 months old) language abilities after a 17-week intervention period. Setting: Participants were identified from six early childhood development (ECD) centres from a low-income community in Tshwane, South Africa. Method: A randomised controlled trial (RCT), pre-test post-test research design was employed to determine whether an mHealth parental resource influenced 42 preschool children's (4.0-5.11 months old) language abilities after a 17-week intervention period. Data were collected using the language subtests of a South African standardised protocol, the Emergent Literacy and Language Assessment Protocol (ELLA). Results: The parental mHealth application targeting language stimulation did not significantly improve the experimental group's language outcomes when compared with the control group because most of the parents (n = 27) used the application for less than 20% of the active days. Conclusion: Providing parents with more support with mobile resources may lead to improved usage of the application.
Descriptors: Telecommunications, Handheld Devices, Low Income Groups, Early Childhood Education, Emergent Literacy, Language Acquisition, Information Sources, Comparative Analysis, Intervention, Language Tests, Standardized Tests, Parent Child Relationship, Foreign Countries, Health Services, Health Promotion, Computer Software, Child Care Centers, Intelligence Tests, Verbal Ability, Vocabulary, Parent Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Africa
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A