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Sit Down and Play: A Preventive Primary Care-Based Program to Enhance Parenting Practices

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Abstract

The primary care office offers an ideal setting to encourage parenting behaviors that promote early childhood development. We conducted a pilot study to establish feasibility and acceptability of Sit Down and Play (SDP), a brief primary care-based program to facilitate positive parenting behaviors through take-home play activities. A prospective 1-month study was conducted in an urban primary care clinic. SDP was administered to 30 caregivers of 6–12 month-old children while they waited for their well-child appointment. Caregivers completed baseline and 4-week follow-up surveys. Open-ended interview questions regarding acceptability and usefulness of SDP were administered and analyzed using content analysis. Parenting practices related to child development were measured with standardized measures and changes analyzed using paired t-test and linear mixed effects models. Most caregivers were mothers (90 %) and non-white (97 %); the majority of children received Medicaid (87 %). There were significant increases in parental reports of practices related to child development (p < 0.001), including families who reported low incomes (i.e. <$25,000) and received a high-school education or less (p = 0.001). Four main themes emerged from the open-ended interview data: (1) importance of play, (2) noticing a change in their child, (3) reinforcing existing positive parenting behaviors, and (4) satisfaction with the program. This preliminary study suggests that SDP is a feasible and potentially beneficial program that can be delivered during pediatric well-child visits. Further studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of SDP on parenting behaviors and developmental outcomes.

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Funding

The work described has been supported through funding provided by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through Grant UL1TR000050. The funding source had no involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of date; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Illinois at Chicago, 840 South Wood Street, MC 856, Chicago, 60612, IL, USA

    Reshma Shah & Daniela DeFrino

  2. The University of Illinois at Chicago, Institute for Health Research and Policy, 1747 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL, 60608, USA

    Yoonsang Kim

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Institute for Juvenile Research, The University of Illinois at Chicago, 1747 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL, 60608, USA

    Marc Atkins

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  1. Reshma Shah
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  2. Daniela DeFrino
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Correspondence to Reshma Shah.

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Shah, R., DeFrino, D., Kim, Y. et al. Sit Down and Play: A Preventive Primary Care-Based Program to Enhance Parenting Practices. J Child Fam Stud 26, 540–547 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0583-6

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