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Improvement in Cognitive Outcomes for Children Living in Poverty in the Legacy for ChildrenTM Parenting Intervention Five Years Post-Intervention
The Legacy for ChildrenTM (Legacy) group-based parenting model was developed to address developmental disparities associated with childhood poverty. A set of randomized controlled trials of Legacy tested two implementations, prenatal to age 3 (Los Angeles [LA]) and birth to child age 5 (Miami), for their impact on parenting and maternal wellbeing, child development (cognitive, language, socioemotional) and health. Third grade follow-up data were also collected.
Methods
Cognitive outcomes from 246 Legacy participants in Miami and 233 participants in LA were analyzed when the children were 3 and 5 years old, and in third grade. These assessments included the Kauffman Assessment Battery for Children-II (KABC) and Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ). An intent-to-treat approach was used and t-tests compared unadjusted mean scores of the intervention and comparison groups by site.
Results
In LA, the intervention group scored on average 4 points higher than the comparison group on the KABC at both age 3 years and third grade time points (Age 3: 83.7 vs. 79.3, p=0.02; Third Grade: 94.2 vs. 89.9, p=0.03). The intervention group also scored higher on third grade WJ Letter-Word (103.8 vs. 97.7, p=0.01) and Applied Problems (96.5 vs. 92.3, p=0.04) subtests. There were no statistically significant cognitive differences at the Miami site.
Conclusions
Children of mothers participating in the LA site of Legacy had significantly higher IQ through third grade, five years post intervention. Shifting the developmental trajectory of early cognitive development has immediate and long term implications for child health, educational achievement, and wellbeing.
Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practiceDiversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Describe the Legacy for ChildrenTM model and its implementations
Discuss the site specific longitudinal Legacy for ChildrenTM cognitive outcomes
Explain the public health implications of the Legacy for ChildrenTM model’s outcomes
Keyword(s): Child Health, Poverty
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Lara Robinson, PhD, MPH, is a behavioral scientist position at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Robinson serves as the Project Lead for the Legacy for ChildrenTM Dissemination Project. Her expertise is in early childhood development, parenting, and research translation/implementation science. She received her Master’s of Public Health at Tulane University and her PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of New Orleans.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.