Empowering Parents to Feed Their Young Child's Brain: Findings from Evaluation of the First 5 California Talk.Read.Sing. Campaign

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis:  The First 5 California Talk.Read.Sing. social marketing campaign was designed to help parents in California of children aged 0-5 recognize the importance of these behaviors and their ability to impact their child’s brain development and learning. Campaign strategy targeted parent’s control beliefs and perceived power to promote these behaviors. The campaign ran from March-June 2014 and again in November 2014-January 2015. Evaluation of the campaign was designed to assess differences in control beliefs among parents exposed to the campaign and to determine if parents of children age 0-5 who have higher campaign recall also have higher frequency of talking, reading, singing behaviors despite differences in socio-demographic characteristics, protective factors, or risk factors.

Methods:  An evaluation of television and radio ads was conducted using a cross-sectional web survey. Measures to determine exposure to the campaign included unaided recall and recognition. Following the unaided recall questions, respondents were shown the television ads and listened to the audio of the radio ads. A sample of 994 respondents completed the survey between April and May 2015. The survey involved the use of both a convenience panel and a population-based panel. Weighting was applied to adjust the convenience panel to the probability panel. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between ad exposure and the behavioral outcomes.

Results:  Sixty percent of target audience members could recall a First 5 California Talk.Read.Sing. campaign TV ad on an unaided basis or by recognition. A third could recall or recognized a radio ad. Almost two-thirds (64.9 percent) reported either unaided recall or recognition of a TV or radio ad. A high proportion (73.7 percent) of respondents recognizing the ads reported that the ads led them to talk, read and sing more with their child(ren). Nearly 6-in-10 reported talking with a family member about the issue; 4-in-10 reported talking with friends and more than a quarter reported talking with a health care provider. Descriptive analysis identified evidence for reading and singing behaviors, however, a regression analysis controlling for other influential factors, found that campaign exposure was associated with an increased likelihood to engage in all three behaviors.

Conclusions:  Large numbers of respondents reporting ad recognition also reported that the campaign influenced their talking, reading and singing behaviors. Using regression analysis, the evidence confirmed that recall and recognition were associated with an increased likelihood to engage in all three behaviors. In addition to promoting talking, reading and singing behaviors, the study suggests that the campaign also influenced interpersonal conversations about the issues.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Short-term campaigns designed to empower parents to engage with their young children in behaviors that promote brain development have the potential for success. Evaluation methods using regression analysis make it possible to demonstrate behavioral effects in a cross-sectional design controlling for socio-demographic and other factors.