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Caregiver Experience with Bicultural, Bilingual Family Navigators to Support Early Childhood Development

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Abstract

Recognizing the inequities in developmental screening and services for children in immigrant families, a pediatric primary care clinic in partnership with a community-based early childhood program co-created a bicultural, bilingual early childhood developmental (ECD) family navigator program in Seattle, Washington. The primary aim of this study is to explore caregivers’ perspectives about this program. Twenty-seven caregivers of young children participated in semi-structured interviews that were thematically analyzed. Three key themes were identified: 1) sharing language and culture, 2) facilitating accessibility, and 3) promoting development. Caregivers valued linguistic and cultural concordance between the navigator and the family, the navigator’s approach to screening to improve accessibility and reduce barriers, and the focus on supporting early childhood development. Understanding caregivers’ experience with the ECD family navigator development program and the aspects they value, informs clinic-based approaches to ensure families of diverse language and cultural backgrounds have accessible development screening and connection to services.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the King County Best Starts for Kids Initiative, https://kingcounty.gov/depts/community-human-services/initiatives/best-starts-for-kids.aspx.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, 325 Ninth Ave, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Abigail R. Grant & Elizabeth Dawson-Hahn

  2. Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Abigail R. Grant & Elizabeth Dawson-Hahn

  3. School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Brenna Cockburn

  4. Childhaven, Seattle, WA, USA

    Farhiyo Ahmed, Rachel Dumanian, Jon Gould & Fernanda Martinez-Novoa

  5. Seattle Children’s Research Division, Seattle, WA, USA

    Yesenia Garcia

  6. School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Madeline McFarland

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  1. Abigail R. Grant
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Correspondence to Abigail R. Grant.

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Abigail Grant is on the board of directors of Childhaven and receives no compensation as a member of the board of directors.

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Grant, A.R., Cockburn, B., Ahmed, F. et al. Caregiver Experience with Bicultural, Bilingual Family Navigators to Support Early Childhood Development. J Immigrant Minority Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-024-01591-9

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