Promoting Math in Young Children: Leveraging Pediatric Clinics to Reach Underrepresented Children in Rural Communities (MATH)

The goals of this clinical trial to examine how pediatricians prescribing early math enriching texts to the parents of their patients affects the early math skills of under-resourced pre-kindergarten-aged children in rural Oregon. The main question it aims to answer is: What is the impact of the text intervention on early math skills in preschool-aged children? Participants will be randomized to receive the early math text intervention or standard of care. Researchers will compare pre-and-post math performance between the intervention and control group.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Early Math Learning
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: TipsbyText Messages

Detailed Description

The goals of this clinical trial to examine how pediatricians prescribing early math enriching texts (TipsbyText) to parents of 3-4 year olds affects the math skills of under-resourced pre-kindergarten-aged children in rural Oregon. The main question it aims to answer is: What is the impact of the text intervention on early math skills in preschool-aged children using the Research-based Early Math Assessment (REMA-Brief)? Two secondary questions of the study are: What is the impact on child literacy using the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening Tool (PALS-PreK) and parent confidence using the Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME)? Participants will be randomized to receive intervention (the early math text intervention) or control (no texts). Researchers will compare pre-and-post math performance on the REMA-Brief (primary outcome), PALS-PreK (secondary child outcome) and DREME (secondary parent outcome) between the intervention and control group.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1000
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Jaime w Peterson, MD, MPH; Phone Number: 5034941049; Email: peterjai@ohsu.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: LeAnn Michaels; Email: michaell@ohsu.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oregon
    • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97239
      • Recruiting
      • Oregon Rural Practice Research Network
      • Contact: LeAnn Michaels, BS; Email: michaell@ohsu.edu
      • Contact: Kendall Dunlop-Korsness, MPH; Email: dunlopko@ohsu.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Jaime W Peterson, MD, MPH

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents of participants must be at least 18 years of age
• Child must be 3 or 4 years old at the time of screening
• Child receives care at a participating Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network (ORPRN) clinic
• Parent and child can communicate in English or Spanish
• Parent is able to give informed consent
• Child is eligible for Medicaid services

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parent is not able to receive text messages
• Parent is not able to read text messages
• Child is too ill to participate
• Parents who are unable to complete study activities
• Child has a sibling currently enrolled in the study
• Child has a developmental delay including neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism or syndromes associated with developmental delay (e.g. cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder). Isolated expressive speech delay is not a developmental exclusion criteria.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; Children and parents receiving Early Math Texts (TipsbyText)	Other: TipsbyText Messages; Texts sent to caregivers meant to increase parent child interaction around math and literacy, sent to participants 4x a week for 8 months
No Intervention: Control; Children and parents not receiving Early Math Texts (TipsbyText)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in child early math skills measured by the Research-based Early Math Assessment (REMA-Brief)	The Research-based Early Math Assessment (REMA-Brief) REMA-Brief assesses core mathematical abilities of children in PK and Transitional Kindergarten (TK) using an individual interview format, with explicit protocol and scoring procedures. Abilities are assessed according to theoretically and empirically based developmental progressions that underlie mathematical learning trajectories. The REMA Brief is a content-referenced test, built on psychological development that includes normative interpretations. There are twenty items; with a maximum possible raw score is 28. Average T score is 50. Standard deviation is 7.	baseline and month 9

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in parent confidence teaching math and literacy by the Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME)	The DREME is a 17-item parent survey to assess parent confidence and beliefs regarding teaching and practicing math with their child.	baseline and month 9
Change in child literacy measured by the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening Tools (PALS-PreK) Score	Screening Tool (PALS-PreK) Score [ Time Frame: Baseline and month 9 ] a. The PALS-PreK measures preschoolers' knowledge of literacy fundamentals: name writing, alphabet knowledge, sound awareness, print and word awareness, rhyme awareness, and nursery rhyme awareness. The English and Spanish PALS-PreK versions slightly differ in content, investigators used the "name writing, alphabet knowledge, beginning sound awareness and nursery rhyme awareness" and each section will be scored separately. Name writing (max 7 points), alphabet knowledge (part A: 26 max; part B 26 max), beginning sound awareness (10 point max), print and word awareness (10 point max). Composite score range is 0-76 with higher score indicating a better outcome.	baseline and month 9

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Oregon Health and Science University
• Collaborators: Stanford University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jaime W Peterson, MD, MPH, Oregon Health and Science University; Principal Investigator: Lisa Chamberlain, MD, MPH, Stanford University; Principal Investigator: Susanna Loeb, PhD, Stanford University; Study Director: Kendall Dunlop-Korsness, MPH, Oregon Health and Science University; Study Director: LeAnn Michaels, BS, Oregon Health and Science University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 23, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 23, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): June 1, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 1, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 30, 2023
• Last Verified: May 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: preschool; rural; early math learning
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1021594

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No