Behavioral Tools can Increase Parental Engagement: Evidence from a Field Experiment (The PACT Study)

The PACT (Parents and Children Together) Study was a six-week
experimental intervention developed for English- and Spanishspeaking parents with children enrolled in Head Start programs in
Chicago. Participating parents borrowed an electronic tablet with an
application called A Story Before Bed, a recordable storybook app
with over 500 books in its digital library.
The parents who were randomly assigned to the experimental group
set weekly goals for the amount of time they intended to spend
reading a book from the digital library to their children. They received
daily text message reminders of their goals. At the end of each week,
experimental group parents received visual feedback on the actual
time they spent reading in the prior week via a goal-setting app on
the tablet.
Experimental group parents received recognition for meeting their
time-use goals in two ways: personally on the tablet and among
their peers via group text messaging. Control group parents received
the tablet with A Story Before Bed and instructions for how to use
it, but none of the behavioral “nudges” (i.e., the goal setting, text
message reminders, feedback, or recognition). A total of 169 parents
participated in the PACT intervention.<br><br><br>DOI:10.3368/jhr.54.4.0617.8835R