The role of Kilimani Sesame in the healthy development of Tanzanian preschool children

• Published in: Journal of applied developmental psychology Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 298 - 305
• Main Authors: Borzekowski, Dina L.G., Macha, Jacob E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Inc 01.07.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: African children; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Development; Child Health; Developmental psychology; Educational Media; Educational television; Emotional Development; Foreign Countries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Promotion; Hygiene; Intervention; Literacy; Mass Media Effects; Media receptivity; Preschool Children; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Receptivity; Rural Areas; Rural communities; Sesame Street; Social Development; Tanzania; Television; Urban Areas; Tanzania; Media receptivity; African children; Educational television; Preschool children; Literacy; Sesame Street; Human; Preschool age; Affect affectivity; Health; Emotion emotionality; African; Social development; Television program; Language; Number; Television; Education; Language development; Mass media; Child; Hygiene
• ISSN: 0193-3973; 1873-7900
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2010.05.002

Kilimani Sesame, a media intervention that employs print, radio, and television, was developed to entertain and educate preschool children in Tanzania. This study examined the effects of a six-week intervention delivering Kilimani Sesame material to 223 children in the rural district of Kisarawe and the city of Dar es Salaam. Results offer evidence that literacy and numeracy, social and emotional development, and health and hygiene significantly improved from baseline to post-intervention; those with the greatest receptivity to Kilimani Sesame performed the best after the intervention, controlling for baseline scores, sex, age, location, and general media receptivity. This study shows that an educational media intervention directed towards very young children can have an impact on their healthy development, even in locales where populations have minimal resources and face extreme hardships.