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Introduction: ReadNPlay for a Bright Future is an initiative developed by the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) pediatricians and partners, to promote healthy active living among families with young children. The project includes giving families a packet with a baby book and a tips booklet when they bring their young children to the pediatrician's office for the newborn visit. My Baby Book is based on Bright Futures guidelines and contains age-appropriate advice on keeping babies healthy, sharing books, eating healthy, preventing injury, and being active as a family, as well as space to record special memories and milestones. The vision of this project is to encourage families in the region to Play More, Play Together, Play Safely, and have Fuel to Play. Methodology: In January 2013, anonymous surveys in English or Spanish were administered to a sample of 80 mothers of infants under 24 months of age during well child visits at the ETSU Pediatric Clinic. This served as the pre-intervention survey to assess baseline self-reported behaviors of mothers and infants before the intervention (My Baby Book) was implemented. 3 follow up surveys were carried out in July 2013, April 2014 and July 2015 respectively to collect post-intervention data. Questions centered around screen time, physical activity, injury prevention, and healthy eating. Pre-intervention data was compared to post-intervention data consisting of the 3 follow up surveys combined together to determine the effectiveness of the ReadNPlay project. Data was collected using Epi Info and Excel and analyzed with SPSS. Results: The total sample size was 80 at each time point. Majority of the mothers are beneficiaries of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. Preliminary results include that there was a 5.28% decrease in the number of mothers who reported spending more than 20 hours/week watching TV or videos; 4.22% increase in the number of mothers who spent at least 3 hours/week being engaged in light/moderate recreational activities; 14.35% increase in the number of mothers who spent at least 2 hours engaged in vigorous recreational activities or sports; 3% increase in the number of mothers who spent at least 3 hours/week walking for fun/exercise, and a 3.3% increase in the number of mothers who breastfed their children for at least 6 months. Among infants, a 6.39% decrease in hospital visits for injuries was reported as well as 8.23% increase in the number of infants who had no screen time. Conclusion: Limitations of this study include lack of a control group, potential for cohort effect, and the self-reported nature of the data collection. ReadNPlay for a Bright has subsequently been expanded to include distribution of a ReadNPlay children’s book series, development of a mobile application based on My Baby Book, and development of regular healthy active living community events and support groups to link families to in the region. A longitudinal evaluation of the program including several different clinics in the region is underway. |
