Parents can be instrumental in promoting young children\'s early mathematics and literacy skills. However, differences in parents\' beliefs can influence their behavior during parent-child interactions. We examined how parental beliefs about the fixedness of children\'s math and reading abilities shape their interactions with their 4- and 5-year-old children during an educational activity. Parental beliefs about children\'s abilities were manipulated using \"articles\" indicating that academic ability is fixed in one domain (e.g., math) but malleable in another (e.g., reading). We then investigated differences in parental unconstructive (performance-oriented and controlling) and constructive (mastery-oriented and autonomy-supportive) involvement across conditions. We also examined whether parent behavior differed depending on the type of educational material parents were told the activity tapped into. The results showed that parents who were induced to have a fixed mindset about reading took full control of the reading activity more often than those who were induced to have a growth mindset about reading, but not math. Parents did not differ in constructive involvement between mindset induction conditions in either domain. We also found that parent autonomy behavior in math differed depending on parents\' general theory of intelligence beliefs. Overall, we found some evidence that parents\' beliefs about the malleability of their children\'s ability in a specific domain affected their behaviors in that domain.

Household food consumption is a major driver of environmental impacts globally. Promoting sustainable consumption practices is crucial for addressing the challenges of resource depletion, food waste, and climate change. This study investigates the role of media literacy in fostering sustainable consumption awareness and behavior. A total of 432 Iranian consumers participated in the study by completing an online structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), revealing that the different aspects of media literacy, including usage, accessibility, content generation, and critical understanding, accounted for 93% of the variance in sustainable consumption awareness. Additionally, these factors explained 51% of the variance in sustainable consumption intention. The combined influences of sustainable consumption awareness and intention accounted for 87% of the variance in sustainable consumption behavior. To promote sustainable consumption, it is recommended to establish dedicated networks and channels that focus on delivering sustainable and healthy consumption content. Furthermore, organizing programs featuring environmental experts and interactive platforms, such as question-and-answer panels, can enhance critical understanding among media-literate audiences and contribute to the adoption of more sustainable consumption practices.

BACKGROUND: There has been a rapid expansion of digital health care services, making the need for measuring and improving digital health readiness a priority. In response, our study team developed the Mobile-Centered Digital Health Readiness: Health Literacy and Equity Scale (mDiHERS) to measure digital health readiness.
OBJECTIVE: We aim to develop and validate a scale that assesses digital health readiness, encompassing literacy and equity, and to ensure the effective use of mobile-centered digital health services.
METHODS: This study was conducted from October 2021 to October 2022 to develop and validate the mDiHERS. Participants included patients with inflammatory bowel disease, which is a chronic condition requiring continuous management, and experts in medical and nursing informatics. The scale development involved a literature review, focus group interviews, and content validity evaluations. A total of 440 patients with inflammatory bowel disease were recruited for the validation phase, with 403 completing the survey. The scale\'s validity and reliability were assessed through exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach α. The scale was translated into English by translators and bilingual and native researchers, ensuring its applicability in diverse settings.
RESULTS: The mDiHERS consists of 36 items across 6 domains, with a 5-point Likert scale for responses. The validation process confirmed the scale\'s construct validity, with 4 factors explaining 65.05% of the total variance. The scale\'s reliability was established with Cronbach α values ranging from 0.84 to 0.91. The scale\'s development considered the technical proficiency necessary for engaging with health mobile apps and devices, reflecting the importance of subjective confidence and objective skills in digital health literacy.
CONCLUSIONS: The mDiHERS is a validated tool for measuring patients\' readiness and ability to use digital health services. The mDiHERS assesses user characteristics, digital accessibility, literacy, and equity to contribute to the effective use of digital health services and improve accessibility. The development and validation of the mDiHERS emphasize the importance of confidence and competence in managing health digitally. Continuous improvements are necessary to ensure that all patients can benefit from digital health care.

There is a strong, positive relationship between childhood literacy and physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. Through primary care-based literacy interventions, pediatricians reach children and their families long before they enter traditional education venues. In so doing, pediatricians play a key role in children\'s school readiness and in turn health outcomes. The current state of childhood literacy in United States defines an increasingly urgent platform for the healthcare profession generally, and pediatricians specifically, to embrace. Through reviewing the existing literature on the impact of childhood literacy on physical, mental, and social-emotional health outcomes, we hope to highlight the need for increased collaboration between the education and medical fields to further promote the literacy interventions in pediatric healthcare settings.

The speech amplitude envelope carries important acoustic information required for speech intelligibility and contains sensory cues (amplitude rise times, ARTs) that play a key role in both sensory rhythm perception and neural speech encoding. Individual differences in children\'s sensitivity to ARTs have been related to the development of children\'s phonological processing skills across languages by the Temporal Sampling theory. Impaired processing of ARTs also characterises children with dyslexia. However, different ART tasks have been employed in different studies, in different languages, and at different ages. Here, we compare the sensitivity of three frequently used ART tasks (based on synthetic syllables, sine tones, and speech-shaped noise) in a longitudinal study of English-speaking children with and without dyslexia. Children\'s ability to discriminate rising frequency, duration, and intensity was also tested. ART discrimination in all 3 tasks was significantly inter-related, but different relations to phonology and literacy were found for different ART tasks at different ages. In particular, the often-used sine tone and speech-shaped noise ART tasks showed greater sensitivity in older children, while the synthetic syllable task (/ba/ rise) showed greater sensitivity in younger children. Sensitivity to rising frequency was also related to phonology and literacy across ages. The data are interpreted with respect to the Temporal Sampling theory of developmental dyslexia.

BACKGROUND:  South African children from low-income households are at higher risk of cognitive-linguistic difficulties because of multiple risk factors. Early language stimulation minimises the effects of risk factors and prepares children for literacy and learning. Understanding caregivers\' perceptions of language stimulation is important because perceptions shape practices, which determine child language outcomes.
OBJECTIVE:  This study explored the existing perceptions of language stimulation among 15 isiZulu-speaking caregivers from KwaDabeka township.
METHODS:  A qualitative, descriptive research design was adopted and the caregivers were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The NVivo software programme supported the inductive, thematic analysis of the data.
RESULTS:  Although the caregivers held positive perceptions of language stimulation, their perceptions of benefit focussed on meeting children\'s basic physiological needs with less reference to the long-term benefits for literacy, employment and social integration. Providing language models, watching television, singing songs, and reading books were perceived to be examples of language-stimulating activities and techniques. The caregivers expressed a need to improve their knowledge of language stimulation and queried how they could be supported to achieve this outcome.
CONCLUSIONS:  This group of caregivers needed support to increase their awareness of the long-term benefits of language stimulation and their knowledge and use of evidence-based activities, stimuli and facilitation techniques.Contribution: Caregivers\' existing perceptions could serve as a barrier to the effective language stimulation of children from low-income households in South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy (HL) refers to an individual\'s ability to access, understand, and apply health information to make informed decisions about their health. On the contrary, oral health literacy (OHL) focuses on an individual\'s ability to understand and utilize oral health information to maintain good oral health.
OBJECTIVE: This study presents a comprehensive literature review that explores the theoretical foundations and practical applications of HL and OHL.
METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted using keywords on the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
RESULTS: The existing literature on various aspects of HL, including the most common used definitions of HL, conceptual frameworks, and consequences of limited health and OHL, was summarized. Additionally, the review discussed the significance of HL and OHL. Also, the relation between parent level of OHL and children\'s oral health was described. It further highlights modern approaches that have been shown in previous studies to improve the OHL of primary caregivers.
CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the significance of HL and OHL is crucial in developing effective interventions that can address disparities and improve oral health outcomes for individuals of all backgrounds.

We created and tested a family-based intervention with families of children in Grades 1 and 2 with reading and behavioral difficulties to investigate its impact on text comprehension. Developed with input from parents, reading experts, and behavior specialists, Family-RISE (Reading Intervention with Supports for Engagement) integrates evidence-based practices for enhancing students\' knowledge of narrative texts with effective behavioral supports to maximize student engagement and minimize disruptive behaviors to help parents engage successfully in shared storybook reading. We assessed the effects of Family-RISE on children\'s narrative text comprehension using a multiple-baseline design. A functional relation was established between Family-RISE and narrative text comprehension, indicating Family-RISE substantially improved narrative text comprehension. Furthermore, nonoverlap of all pairs, Tau-U, and standard mean difference effect sizes were all considered large in favor of the intervention. Family members reported that the intervention was highly usable, feasible to implement, and socially valid. These findings underscore the promise of the Family-RISE intervention and the value of developing interventions that simultaneously support reading and behavior for children with co-occurring difficulties in these areas.

Community-led, shared book reading programs may help improve refugee children\'s reading abilities and attitudes towards reading. We Love Reading (WLR)-a light-touch, community-led, shared book reading program-was evaluated in a pre-registered, wait-listed, randomised controlled trial (AEARCTR-0006523). 322 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads (children: 4-8-year-olds, 50.0% female) in Jordan were tested at two timepoints, 15 weeks apart. WLR did not significantly affect child literacy or child-reported child attitudes toward reading (ps > 0.05). Mothers did report improved child attitudes toward reading from WLR (p = 0.046, η2 = 0.013). The intervention did not lead to improvements in family relationships (ps > 0.05). WLR may have promise in improving attitudes toward reading in forcibly displaced children but did not affect literacy or child-reported attitudes toward reading; these results provide insight into what changes are needed for effective shared book reading interventions in this population.

BACKGROUND: As a group, autistic children with high support needs (with adaptive functioning in the range of an intellectual disability) are at risk of significant literacy difficulties. We investigated the parent-reported home literacy environment of this group of children.
METHODS: Sixty-two parents of autistic children (4.5 to 18.25 years) attending an autism-specific school completed a home literacy survey reporting on their child\'s: (1) alphabet knowledge, (2) interest in reading, (3) activities/interactions around books, (4) reading ability, and (5) writing ability.
RESULTS: We found significant positive correlations between parent-reported child interest in reading and literacy-related interactions and skills, but not with child age. Children using spoken words to communicate obtained significantly greater scores on four home-literacy subscales, but not on reading interest.
CONCLUSIONS: A better understanding of the home literacy activities of autistic children with high-support needs is needed to inform educational practices aimed at promoting literacy development in this vulnerable population.