Co-designing a shared book reading environment at a community hub

Abstract

Purpose

Community hubs often provide support to families in areas of high vulnerability and can provide unique opportunities for delivering early literacy programs. This study used a co-design process to engage families, staff, and community partners within a community hub to design an environment that supported shared book reading.

Method

Co-design was enacted in four phases: 1) interviews to understand user experiences relating to shared book reading; 2) focus groups to refine ideas into actions to support shared book reading and prioritise these actions; 3) implementation of changes; and 4) understanding of participants’ experiences of involvement.

Result

Participant identified changes were implemented within four categories: 1) changing how books are organised, 2) showing families how to share books, 3) giving families information about how books can be borrowed, and 4) running more activities about books. Participants indicated they enjoyed being a part of a co-design process to affect change at the community hub.

Conclusion

Co-design enabled the development of collaborative changes to support book reading that were valued and owned by families, staff, and community partners. Community hubs can provide unique opportunities to engage with families in areas of vulnerability to support the development of early language and literacy skills.

Keywords:

• early intervention
• co-design
• shared book reading
• emergent literacy
• children
• families

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the family members, community partners, and community hub staff who participated in this study, for their time and willingness to share their experiences of shared book reading with children. This research was funded by a Speech Pathology Australia Queensland Registration Board Legacy Grant.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).