Starting in 2024, Reach Out and Read will embark on a long-term research project in partnership with the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University and the Institute for Child Success. The project is designed to strengthen the evidence base that supports universal promotion of healthy early relationships through delivery of Reach Out and Read in well-child visits.
Working with our clinic network, we will enroll 5,000 families in a longitudinal cohort that will examine early childhood development and family well-being outcomes in response to strategies that promote healthy early relationships through pediatric primary care.
We will also engage our clinic network in quality improvement projects and community-based research, which will tell us what works, for whom and under what conditions. Based on discussions with parents and caregivers — who tell us that their relationship with their doctor is the most influential factor in supporting their relationship with their young children — our first project is to pilot strategies that improve the parent-caregiver well-child visit experience using a parent co-designed exam room experience survey.