The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether Talk Parenting, a voice-based program delivered through an Amazon Echo Dot (Alexa), can help parents and caregivers of children ages 3-5 years improve challenging bedtime and morning routines. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Does using Talk Parenting improve families' bedtime and morning experiences and children's sleep/wake habits?
Does using Talk Parenting improve parents' routine-related parenting practices and confidence, strengthen the parent-child relationship, and reduce children's behavior problems and parents' stress?
Researchers will compare families who receive Talk Parenting right away to families who wait 6 weeks to receive the program (a waitlist control group receiving usual services during the wait).
Participants will:
Complete online questionnaires at the start of the study and again about 6 weeks later (and a follow-up questionnaire later in the study).
Receive a pre-configured Amazon Echo Dot (to keep) and instructions to use Talk Parenting routines at home, including a bedtime routine, a brief calming routine, and a morning routine (enabled after the first 2 weeks).
Referred by a participating agency
Child 3-5 years old who lives with the parent at least half time
The primary parent in the home (typically the mother but not always)
Speaks English
Families of target-age children with a developmental disability severe enough that the child cannot speak or follow simple directions will be excluded
Families of target-age children whose needs are beyond the scope of Talk Parenting will be excluded
Oregon Research Behavioral Intervention Strategies, Inc.
Lead sponsor
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Collaborator
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Collaborator