Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Jan 12, 2021
Date Accepted: Jun 3, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Exploring mothers’ experience of a linguistic feedback technology for children at risk of poor language development: Qualitative pilot study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The early language environment is important to language development and a child’s life-course trajectory. Risk factors associated with poor child language outcomes include maternal anxiety and depression, low educational attainment, substance misuse and low socioeconomic status. LENA (Language Environment Analysis) is a wearable technology designed to promote caregiver’s engagement in supporting their child’s language development. LENA provides quantitative linguistic feedback which has been shown to improve caregiver language output, thus enhancing a child’s language environment. There is limited research around the uptake of this technology by families with developmentally at-risk children.
Objective:
This qualitative study aims to explore the conditions under which mothers with children at risk of poor developmental outcomes are willing to adopt the use of LENA to monitor and improve caregiver language output.
Methods:
Using a qualitative interpretive design, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight mothers. Participants were recruited purposively to select maximal variation of socio-economic and ethno-demographic background. Transcribed interview data was analyzed thematically and interpretatively.
Results:
Mothers were more likely to adopt LENA when they had sufficient capacity. Sufficient capacity was underpinned by four minor themes: (1) supported resilience, (2) emergent success, (3) feeling overwhelmed, and (4) intrusion of past difficulties.
Conclusions:
LENA is a promising new technology which has acceptability to mothers with risk factors for poor child language development outcomes. Further studies are needed to establish LENA’s effectiveness as an adjunct to strategies to enrich a child’s early language environment.
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