Northern Ireland research: Bookstart+ packs improve parental reading and sharing of books with children.

Health visitors in the Northern Trust have taken part in a pilot programme which gifted Bookstart+ packs to all two-year-old children.  Bookstart+ is not universally funded in Northern Ireland but many Sure Start projects use the packs successfully as part of their programme for two-year-olds.

The Bookstart+ intervention has two key elements. The first is a pack of books and associated reading materials provided in a bag and presented by a health visitor on the standard visit to families with a two-year-old child. The second element is that the health visitor also provides a demonstration of the pack to encourage parents to share books, stories and rhymes with their two-year-old child.

The Centre for Effective Education at Queen's University Belfast was commissioned by Booktrust Northern Ireland to undertake a rigorous and independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the Bookstart+ bookgifting intervention as delivered in Northern Ireland.

Favourable findings

Overall, parents responded very favourably to receiving a Bookstart+ pack. Two thirds of parents (66%) stated that they had used the book frequently and nearly all of the remaining parents (33%) said that they had at least made some use of the books. Only a marginal number of parents (1%) stated that they had not made any use of the packs.

In terms of the parents' perceptions of the pack's benefits, over half (55%) felt that receiving the Bookstart+ Pack had had a positive effect on their own behaviour. More specifically, a small proportion (7%) said that they were previously unaware of the benefits of reading with babies/toddlers and the packs have encouraged them to read more frequently with their child/children. Nearly half (48%) said that they were aware of the benefits but that receiving the Bookstart+ pack had led them to read more frequently with their children.

The findings will be presented by Dr Liam O Hare and Professor Paul Connolly in June at Queen's University Belfast. If you would like an invitation to attend please email liz.canning@booktrust.org.uk

The full report is available at:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofEducation/CentreforEffectiveEducation/Publications