School readiness and social determinants of health: A collaboration with community teachers and parents.

PURPOSE: To explore perceptions of community dwelling caregivers of preschool-aged children regarding the influence of social determinants of health (SDOH) on children's school readiness. Parents' perspectives regarding solutions to enhance school readiness in preschool-aged children are also explored.

METHODS: This study employed a qualitative, descriptive design and a community based participatory research (CBPR) approach. An academic institution collaborated with parents, teachers, and administrators at a community-based preschool learning center. Ten young-adult to middle-aged mothers and caregivers attended two separate focus groups and completed open-ended questionnaires. Inductive and deductive thematic analysis of text were employed.

FINDINGS: Three themes emerged 1) Families described the vast lack of appropriate community resources and inability to access those resources that are available to prepare their children for school 2). Family members need help processing information about social resources 3) Community, individual and systemic level solutions to enhance school readiness.

CONCLUSIONS: Academic-Community partnerships provide an opportunity to (1) identify solutions to remove systemic barriers that impede children's readiness for school, and (2) design interventions to support families through that process. Interventions to enhance school readiness should be family-focused and can be informed by understanding the influence of SDOH during the planning stages. SDOH create barriers and prevent parents from prioritizing their children's school, health-care, and developmental needs.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Interventions to enhance school readiness should be family-based and can be informed by understanding the influence of SDOH during the planning stages. Social advocacy is also needed to enhance the ability of parents to enhance their children's school readiness.