Educational Television Program for Children of Immigrant Households

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The language barrier between immigrant parents and their English-dominant children is a daily and relatively unnoticed problem in 12 million U.S. households. The intergenerational language gap often leads to adverse health outcomes for both children and adults: (1) it hinders young children's ability to communicate with their parents when they feel sick; and (2) as children are inevitably relied upon as interpreters for family members during office visits and medical emergencies, they are ill-prepared both linguistically and mentally for the difficult task. This proposal seeks to develop a television program that can bridge the intergenerational language gap and improve the health status of all members of an immigrant household. During Phase I, treatments (blueprint) for a 10-episode television series will be created for Mandarin-speaking Chinese viewers, with one particular treatment fully developed into an animated pilot episode. A sample population of 60 participants, including children, parents, educators and health providers will view the pilot episode and assess its effectiveness using a variety of test instruments. Their feedback will be used to determine the project's feasibility.