Reach out and Read: Expanding Child Immunization and Oral Health Literacy Using Quick Response Codes in Pediatric Clinics in North Carolina.

Abstract

Health literacy is essential for positive patient health outcomes. Low literacy among parents, guardians, and patients negatively affects health choices that impact overall health. Reach out and Read (ROR) partners with primary care and pediatric clinics to enhance early literacy by providing age-appropriate books to patients ages zero to five during well-child visits. Child oral health and immunizations were established as two areas of low literacy within North Carolina with the potential to explore ways of increasing knowledge and education for parents and guardians. This project utilized a Quick Response (QR) code placed on the books provided by ROR within participating clinics. Once scanned, the QR code would lead to an educational webpage with evidence-based information on child oral health and immunizations among children aged zero to five arranged per age group and a parental feedback survey. This project was implemented in four clinics within Johnston County and Mecklenburg County as an expansion of the pilot project initiated from November 2020 to April 2021. Web page visits and parental survey responses were monitored every three weeks and analyzed to synthesize and evaluate project impact and goals.