SIBTime: Media-enhanced Technology for Promoting the Behavioral Health and Family Relationships of Typically Developing Young Siblings

Project Summary/Abstract Individuals who have disabilities and health impairments frequently have typically developing (TD) siblings who share high levels of involvement throughout their lifespan. Increasingly, siblings are being recognized by parents, government, and disability service providers as the next generation of caregivers for people with disabilities, yet the risks and stressors they experience and their needs for attentive parenting and support are frequently overlooked. While a small number of effective programs and an emerging body of research informs best practices to address the behavioral health needs of siblings across the lifespan, minority and rural siblings face significant barriers to accessing these programs. Our team of researchers, developers, and Sibling Support Project consultants propose to build and evaluate a bilingual assistive mobile app technology for families with sibling children (ages 3-6) that delivers engaging and interactive support for TD siblings’ social-emotional health and well-being. Age- and culturally inclusive multimedia content and interactive behavioral skill-building features will allow families to easily access and engage in the program at the time and place that best meets their needs. In Phase I, we developed and pilot tested an English/Spanish- language prototype of the SIBTime mobile app/web program, with six modules on establishing parent/child connection routines. Each 10-minute learning experience included animated stories; narrated reflection questions; brief guided audio exercise for parents/caregivers; and graphic charts to prompt and reinforce connection routines. Phase I pilot study results showed the modest 5-week intervention was associated with statistically significant medium-large effects on parenting nurturance and parental adjustment with regard to their TD child. Results also showed medium-large increases from pretest to posttest in the frequency of parents’ engagement in and self-efficacy for targeted parenting practices with the TD child. This included increased frequency of one-to-one involvement and of listening, talking, and helping their TD child learn about the disability, and increased self-efficacy for these practices as well as for thinking through considerations for parenting their TD child and providing the child positive attention and affection. Parents’ ratings of usability and satisfaction with SIBTime were also high. In Phase II, we aim to complete development and test the full- scale dual-language SIBTime program in an RCT evaluation with a sufficiently powered sample size (N = 160 families). The complete program will include 12 modules that address common concerns among young siblings (3-6 years), provide age-appropriate information on high-incidence disabilities, and provide parents with tools for healthy family functioning. In response to parent feedback, the tool’s interactivity will be further developed, with activities that help children learn and practice language for talking about disability and sibling concerns. We will test the efficacy of SIBtime in improving parent-child relationships, parent and child adjustment, and parents’ engagement in and self-efficacy for the targeted parenting practices.