Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in India
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many children from limited-literacy communities in India did not receive information regarding COVID-19 safety due to the sudden shutdown of schools. Many parents from these communities could not afford virtual learning and lacked the ability to educate the children th...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The University of Alabama
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://account.jces.ua.edu/index.php/s-j-jces/article/view/482 |
| _version_ | 1797685575343407104 |
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| author | Sohail R. Daulat Kiranmayee Muralidhar Sakshi Akki Benjamin Pope Nagalambika Ningaiah Rashmi Pramathesh Shivamma Nanjaiah Fazila Begum Poornima Jaykrishna Karl Krupp Purnima Madhivanan |
| author_facet | Sohail R. Daulat Kiranmayee Muralidhar Sakshi Akki Benjamin Pope Nagalambika Ningaiah Rashmi Pramathesh Shivamma Nanjaiah Fazila Begum Poornima Jaykrishna Karl Krupp Purnima Madhivanan |
| author_sort | Sohail R. Daulat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many children from limited-literacy communities in India did not receive information regarding COVID-19 safety due to the sudden shutdown of schools. Many parents from these communities could not afford virtual learning and lacked the ability to educate the children themselves. In July 2021, the research team developed comic, coloring, and activity books to provide children with fun, yet readable, educational materials. We consulted with teachers to simplify the language and understand the popularity of different cartoon characters. Between August 2021 and January 2022, our community health partners distributed the books to two age groups, ages 6–10 (n = 116, mean age 8.72) and 11–14 (n = 81, mean age 12.05). We conducted surveys with the children during and a week after distribution to assess any change in their knowledge about COVID-19 safety. The average age of children in this study was 10.09 (SD = 2.01) years. All resided in underresourced urban communities with low literacy rates and limited education. All questions were answered more correctly in the postsurvey, with the social distancing question having the greatest and most statistically significant increase (33.6%, p < 0.0001). The average increase in knowledge among children aged 6–10 (16.9%) was greater, though not statistically significantly so, than the average increase among children aged 11–14 (4.7%). These results indicate that child-friendly books can increase health education for children ages 6–14 in low-literacy populations. Additionally, the mechanism of the program is fit to be used in other low-resource populations globally.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T00:46:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7f2f3e2898734508a3728698410bfd42 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1944-1207 2837-8075 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T00:46:07Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | The University of Alabama |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship |
| spelling | doaj.art-7f2f3e2898734508a3728698410bfd422023-09-14T15:58:40ZengThe University of AlabamaJournal of Community Engagement and Scholarship1944-12072837-80752023-09-0116110.54656/jces.v16i1.482Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in IndiaSohail R. Daulat0Kiranmayee Muralidhar1Sakshi Akki2Benjamin Pope3Nagalambika Ningaiah4Rashmi Pramathesh5Shivamma Nanjaiah6Fazila Begum7Poornima Jaykrishna8Karl Krupp9Purnima Madhivanan10University of Arizona College of MedicinePublic Health Research Institute of IndiaUniversity of ArizonaUniversity of ArizonaPublic Health Research Institute of IndiaPublic Health Research Institute of IndiaPublic Health Research Institute of IndiaPublic Health Research Institute of IndiaPublic Health Research Institute of IndiaUniversity of ArizonaUniversity of Arizona During the COVID-19 pandemic, many children from limited-literacy communities in India did not receive information regarding COVID-19 safety due to the sudden shutdown of schools. Many parents from these communities could not afford virtual learning and lacked the ability to educate the children themselves. In July 2021, the research team developed comic, coloring, and activity books to provide children with fun, yet readable, educational materials. We consulted with teachers to simplify the language and understand the popularity of different cartoon characters. Between August 2021 and January 2022, our community health partners distributed the books to two age groups, ages 6–10 (n = 116, mean age 8.72) and 11–14 (n = 81, mean age 12.05). We conducted surveys with the children during and a week after distribution to assess any change in their knowledge about COVID-19 safety. The average age of children in this study was 10.09 (SD = 2.01) years. All resided in underresourced urban communities with low literacy rates and limited education. All questions were answered more correctly in the postsurvey, with the social distancing question having the greatest and most statistically significant increase (33.6%, p < 0.0001). The average increase in knowledge among children aged 6–10 (16.9%) was greater, though not statistically significantly so, than the average increase among children aged 11–14 (4.7%). These results indicate that child-friendly books can increase health education for children ages 6–14 in low-literacy populations. Additionally, the mechanism of the program is fit to be used in other low-resource populations globally. https://account.jces.ua.edu/index.php/s-j-jces/article/view/482health promotionCOVID-19low-literacychildren health education |
| spellingShingle | Sohail R. Daulat Kiranmayee Muralidhar Sakshi Akki Benjamin Pope Nagalambika Ningaiah Rashmi Pramathesh Shivamma Nanjaiah Fazila Begum Poornima Jaykrishna Karl Krupp Purnima Madhivanan Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in India Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship health promotion COVID-19 low-literacy children health education |
| title | Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in India |
| title_full | Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in India |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in India |
| title_short | Evaluation of Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations in India |
| title_sort | evaluation of educational material for low literacy populations in india |
| topic | health promotion COVID-19 low-literacy children health education |
| url | https://account.jces.ua.edu/index.php/s-j-jces/article/view/482 |
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