Tablet showing Mis Hijos y Yo course on screen

Mis Hijos Y Yo

Challenge:

Latinx families experiencing separation and divorce lack access to resources to provide support and guidance. A lack of internet service in many families’ homes make it difficult for families to access the online program, and for researchers to retrieve user data from this behavioral intervention.

Solution:

Create a multimedia-based user-centered program that is culturally relevant and easily accessible. To overcome lack of internet service, preload the program onto mobile tablets. The tablets store usage data locally and use a SIM card to push information to the Learning Record Store when an internet connection is available.

Low connectivity required a novel delivery method

Process:

Conduct extensive discovery before designing the research intervention and developing the curriculum.

  • Use a cloud-based authoring tool to create the intervention, which was then embedded in a native Android app.
  • Load the app on a flexible, self-contained, digital platform—a mobile tablet—for reliable performance and data collection, regardless of internet access.
  • Purchase refurbished Android tablets to manage costs and be kind to our planet.
  • Utilize data aggregation APIs provided by Trifoia’s Learning Record Store Data to generate a detailed report for project researchers.
  • Incentive study participants with an item of significant value. After the course is marked complete, the tablet’s SIM card is turned off, the full functionality of the tablet is unlocked, and families keep the unlocked tablet as a thank you for participating in the project.
The course used acombination of self assessment and audio prompts to help solidifylearning outcomes.

The efficacy of Mis Hijos y Yo was tested in a randomized controlled trial funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Tablets were distributed to Latinx parents in the United States from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Colombia. More than 100,000 xAPI statements containing survey answers, knowledge check scores, and usage data were collected.

Mis Hijos Y Yo was developed through support from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44MD008583. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.