Where do we start? A proposed post-disaster intervention framework for children and young people

The impact of disasters on the mental health, well-being and social inclusion of children and young people is well established. However, there is very limited evidence about effective community-based interventions to support positive outcomes. In this paper, we review the empirical and theoretical evidence and propose a conceptual framework to guide longer term community-based interventions, modified from an already developed multidimensional framework for refugee integration. We demonstrate its relevance, with some adjustments, through alignment with the disaster literature, particularly as it relates to children and young people. We also pilot the framework by applying it to an analysis of the services and initiatives delivered to support children and young people following the 2009 Victorian bushfires in Australia. The results suggested a concentration of funding on individually oriented, mental health programmes targeting secondary school-aged students. This may indicate under-resourcing of initiatives for younger children. There also appeared to be very limited inclusion of programmes aiming to re-establish a sense of safety and stability. Despite recognition of the important role of schools in supporting children and young people post-disaster, the analysis of initiatives indicated there was limited external funding support for school-based programmes. There were promising indications of programmes providing opportunities for children and young people to develop citizenship in the post-disaster recovery context, and scope for this to be extended to preparedness and response roles.     

Embodied Action Scaffolds Dialogic Reading

Educational Psychology Review - Might dialogic reading require previous or concurrent embodied activities to be effective? Twenty-nine preschool children, ages 3–5 years, were randomly...     

The importance of school culture in supporting student mental health in secondary schools. Insights from a qualitative study

Schools have the potential to provide a place of education and sanctuary for children and young people of all backgrounds. The rise in mental health problems in children and young people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in relation to growing inequities, means that identifying ways in which schools can help respond to this growing mental health crisis demands urgent attention. This paper reports on case studies carried out in two London comprehensive schools, exploring how aspects of school culture impact (both positively and negatively) on student mental health. Methods comprised in-depth interviews with school staff and parents, focus groups with students and documentary analysis of relevant materials. Fieldwork was conducted during spring 2021 as schools were returning to face-to-face learning following national periods of lockdown. Our study shows how schools might attempt to drive positive mental health outcomes through aspects of school culture and uses a system framework to explore complexities around cause and effect in this area. Key findings include the considerable differences in school mental health provision, challenges in the identification of student mental health needs and the importance of recognising how the mental health of teachers must be considered alongside that of students. Overall, we highlight particular dilemmas of the post-lockdown era that our findings indicate for the education sector, and suggest there may be value in reframing the apparent conflict between ‘attainment gaps’ and personal development, moving towards an educational approach with greater complementarity of these aims.     

Sleep and the body mass index and overweight status of children and adolescents

Associations between sleep and the body mass index (BMI) and overweight status of children and adolescents were estimated using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of 2,281 children aged 3–12 years at baseline. Controlling for baseline BMI, children who slept less, went to bed later, or got up earlier at the time of the first assessment had higher BMIs 5 years later and were more likely to be overweight. Child age moderated the relationship between bedtime and BMI. In addition, the study reports nationally representative data on the sleep habits of American children aged 3–18 years. This study underscores the likely importance of sleep on children's physical health and suggests that sleep is important for understanding childhood weight problems.     

Maternal Sensitivity and the Security of Infant-Mother Attachment: A Q-Sort Study

40 mothers and their 12-month-old infants were observed twice at home by 2 observers for 2 hours. After the second visit, the observers described the infant using the Waters Attachment Behavior Q-sort and the mother's interactive behavior with the Maternal Behavior Q-sort developed by the present authors and Ainsworth's rating scales. Maternal sensitivity was unrelated to maternal age, income, or SES, but correlated positively with maternal education. Mothers of more difficult children were less sensitive. A strong relation was found between infant attachment and maternal sensitivity as measured by the Maternal Behavior Q-sort and by the Ainsworth scales. Using the Q-sort procedure, mothers of more secure infants were more frequently characterized as noticing their babies' signals and using these signals to guide their behavior; they also were more knowledgeable about their infant and appeared to enjoy them more than mothers of less secure infants.     

The geometric module in the rat: independence of shape and feature learning in a food finding task

Rats found food in a rectangular enclosure in three experiments testing how learning about a distinctive feature near a goal interacts with learning based on the geometry of an enclosure. Rats trained to follow a feature in square and triangular enclosures and to use geometry in the rectangle followed the feature when it was in the rectangle (Experiment 1). Rats trained with the feature in a geometrically consistent corner of the rectangle learned about both geometry and the feature (Experiment 2). Training with the feature in the square did not block learning of geometry when both predicted the location of food in the rectangle (Experiment 3). The “geometric module” (Cheng, 1986) may have a special status in spatial learning.     

A systematic review of controlled trials evaluating interventions in adult literacy and numeracy

This paper reports a systematic review of the quasi‐experimental literature in the field of adult literacy and numeracy, published between 1980 and 2002. We included 27 controlled trials (CTs) that evaluated strategies and pedagogies designed to increase adult literacy and numeracy: 18 CTs with no effect sizes (incomplete data) and 9 CTs with full data. These nine trials are examined in detail for this paper. Of these nine trials, six evaluated interventions in literacy and three evaluated interventions in literacy and numeracy. Three of the nine trials showed a positive effect for the interventions, five trials showed no difference and one trial showed a positive effect for the control treatment. The quality of the trials was variable, but many of them had some methodological problems. There was no evidence of publication bias in the review. There have been few attempts to expose common adult literacy or numeracy programmes to rigorous evaluation and therefore in terms of policy and practice it is difficult to make any recommendations as to the type of adult education that should be supported. In contrast, however, the review does provide a strong steer for the direction to be taken by educational researchers: because of the present inadequate evidence base rigorously designed randomised controlled trials and quasi‐experiments are required as a matter of urgency.