P0049 - "Health Stars" Model to Increase Diverse Parents’ Child Health Education

Background: Social determinants have a powerful effect on child health and are linked to parenting practices, with lower income minority families displaying lower parent-child interactions. Pediatricians have an opportunity to promote child health. Yet, low access and time constraints within pediatric visits make it challenging to teach and model parenting behaviors towards child health. Health Stars is a new model of care that brings pediatricians into the communities of high risk families to increase child health education with parent-child interactive activities.

Objective: This study used a quasi-experimental design to test Health Stars. Health Stars consists of parent-child health education sessions, a Health Navigation program (2-1-1 San Diego), and use of a network of volunteer physicians and community partners. Design/

Method: An open trial study was conducted with 188 parent-child dyads. The majority of parents (63%) were Latino with 15% other minorities and 11% white. Spanish was primary language spoken (43%), followed by English (31%). Pre-post measures were used for each of 5 health topics: 1) sleep, 2) nutrition, 3) behavior, 4) illness prevention and 5) oral health and benefits of reading to child. Data included the number of Health Navigation community resource referrals and subsequent outcomes and program satisfaction. Paired t-tests and chi-squared analyses were conducted to measure change. Nineteen 5-Session Health Stars Series were delivered (95 sessions) by physicians. The majority of parents attended ≥4 sessions.

Results: Significant improvements were seen in the percentage of parents demonstrating knowledge for 4 key health education topics from pre to post: sleep (33.8% vs 57.7%), nutrition (23.5% vs 63.2%), behavior (48.6% vs 58.6%) and oral health (19.3% vs 71.9%). Data analysis also showed significant improvements in the percentage of parents correctly identifying each of the benefits of reading, with largest improvements in “dealing with stress” as a benefit of reading (33.6% vs. 71.6%). See Figures. Overall, Health Stars participants were very satisfied with program (97% rated excellent or very good).

Conclusion: Findings indicate a promising model to improve health education through community based parent-child interaction sessions. Initial results show significant increases in parent knowledge of key child health behaviors, including the benefits of reading daily with their child and accessing community resources via 2-1-1 San Diego.