The Effect of a Health Literacy Enhancement Program on Early Childhood Development Among Primary Caregivers in Ethnic Groups
Keywords:
Developmental promotion, Early childhood development, Ethnic group, Health literacy, Primary caregiversAbstract
Health literacy refers to the intellectual and social skills that motivate and the capability of caregivers to access, comprehend, and utilize information to support early childhood development. This quasi-experimental two-group pretest-posttest design aimed to examine the effect of a health literacy enhancement program for caregivers from ethnic groups. Five child development centers in Chiang Rai province were purposively selected based on ethnic population and their willingness to participate. They were randomly assigned to two groups: three centers for the experimental group and two for the control group. Caregivers were selected based on inclusion criteria, resulting in 40 participants in each group. The research instrument was the health literacy enhancement program. Research instruments for data collection included: 1) a general information questionnaire for caregivers, 2) a health literacy questionnaire, and 3) a caregiver behavior questionnaire. Analysis of data used descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test, and Mann-Whitney U test.
The finding revealed that the experimental group had statistically significant higher mean scores for health literacy after receiving the program (M = 66.02, SD = 4.36) compared to before the intervention (M = 32.75, SD = 5.18, Z = -5.516, p < .001), and higher than the control group (M = 41.55, SD = 9.80, Z = -7.719, p < 0.001). Additionally, the experimental group had statistically significant higher mean scores for caregiver behavior in promoting the development of children after receiving the program (M = 54.98, SD = 2.42) compared to before the intervention (M = 49.75, SD = 7.47, Z = -2.916, p < .01) and statistically significantly higher than those of the control group (M = 49.43, SD = 6.20, Z = -4.340, p < 0.001).
Healthcare providers may apply health literacy programs to enhance caregivers’ capacity, promoting optimal child development and age-appropriate developmental milestones.
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