Project Grant R01HD121994

Federal Grant Award Summary

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) received a $522,708 Project Grant award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031. The award funds a Type 1 Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation randomized controlled trial evaluating the "Kinder Coaching" program, a school readiness intervention delivered through primary care clinics serving low-income families on Medicaid. The research will engage approximately 240 parents of three- to four-year-old children across two safety-net primary care clinics in Oregon, comparing high-touch coaching delivered by community health workers against enhanced usual well-child care that includes school readiness checklists reviewed by providers.

The primary deliverables include assessment of child school readiness outcomes (measured by the Brigance III assessment) and child social-emotional development (measured by the DECA assessment), along with secondary outcomes measuring parental school readiness behaviors, confidence, resources, and barriers to implementation. The project will employ the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) implementation framework to evaluate delivery fidelity, cost-benefit analysis, and other implementation metrics. By leveraging trusted pediatric clinic relationships to identify and address school readiness needs in underserved populations, the research aims to generate evidence supporting the integration of school readiness coaching into primary care settings as a feasible and effective early childhood intervention strategy.