Psychometric properties of the preschool strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) in UK 1-to-2-year-olds.

Unlabelled: Early identification of emotional and behavioural difficulties in very young children is crucial for intervention and prevention. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widely used measure of child and adolescent mental health that is brief, cost-effective, and easy to administer. The aims of this study were to establish the validity and reliability of the preschool SDQ in UK 1-2-year-olds.

Centring children's lived experiences in understanding the importance of play in hospitals.

Background: Children have a right to participate in matters affecting their lives. With increasing regularity, children's perspectives are being sought regarding their health and health care experiences. Though there is evidence that children find play to be one of the 'best' aspects of hospitalisation, studies rarely focus on children's perspectives on play in hospital.

Establishing consensus on principles and competencies for the use of play in clinical practice in hospitals: An international Delphi study.

Although play has existed in paediatric hospitals for decades, a shared understanding of why and how healthcare professionals use play in clinical practice is lacking. This study aims to reach consensus on a common set of principles and competencies for play interventions and practices in hospitals. We conducted a three-round Delphi study that included healthcare professionals selected by hospital management.

Can guidance during play enhance children's learning and development in educational contexts? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis considered evidence of guided play compared to direct instruction or free play to support children's learning and development. Interventions from 39 studies were reviewed (published 1977-2020); 17 were included in meta-analysis (N  = 3893; M  = 1-8 years; M 49.8%; M White 41%, African American/Black 28%, Hispanic 19%).

Assessing behavior in children aged 12-24 months using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Behavioral and emotional problems in infants and toddlers are common, often persist and put children at risk of later mental health problems. Reliable, efficient, and sensitive tools are needed to identify young children who may benefit from further assessment and support. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), offers a brief, convenient means of screening for early problems, however, it lacks psychometric validation in infants.

A video-feedback parenting intervention to prevent enduring behaviour problems in at-risk children aged 12-36 months: the Healthy Start, Happy Start RCT.

Background: Behaviour problems emerge early in childhood and place children at risk for later psychopathology.

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a parenting intervention to prevent enduring behaviour problems in young children.

Design: A pragmatic, assessor-blinded, multisite, two-arm, parallel-group randomised controlled trial.

Maternal anxiety and depression and their associations with mother-child pretend play: a longitudinal observational study.

Background: Parental anxiety and depression have been associated with changes to parent-child interactions. Although play constitutes an important part of parent-child interactions and affords critical developmental opportunities, little is known regarding how parental anxiety and depression are related to parent-child play. This is an important knowledge gap because parents play a crucial role in children's early play experience.

A Brief Home-Based Parenting Intervention to Reduce Behavior Problems in Young Children: A Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Behavior problems are one of the most common mental health disorders in childhood and can undermine children's health, education, and employment outcomes into adulthood. There are few effective interventions for early childhood.

Objective: To test the clinical effectiveness of a brief parenting intervention, the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD), in reducing behavior problems in children aged 12 to 36 months.

A rapid review of the impact of quarantine and restricted environments on children's play and the role of play in children's health.

Amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there is uncertainty regarding potential lasting impacts on children's health and educational outcomes. Play, a fundamental part of childhood, may be integral to children's health during crises. We undertook a rapid review of the impact of quarantine, isolation and other restrictive environments on play and whether play mitigates adverse effects of such restrictions.

Does a video clip enhance recruitment into a parenting trial? Learnings from a study within a trial.

Background: Reaching recruitment targets in randomised controlled trials is a challenge. Media tools are increasingly used to engage participants, yet there is a paucity of research into the use of video to optimise recruitment. We therefore tested whether adding a participant information video clip to a standard participant information sheet improved recruitment into a parenting trial.

Association of Maternal and Paternal Depression in the Postnatal Period With Offspring Depression at Age 18 Years.

Importance: Paternal depression during the postnatal period has been associated with adverse child outcomes. Family environment has been reported as a pathway for risk transmission from fathers to children. The influence of paternal depression during the postnatal period on offspring depression remains to be clarified.

Parenting and child mental health.

Unlabelled: This paper reviews parenting programmes and their effectiveness with families of young children and highlights additional resources for primary care practitioners. Typically, 30% of GP consultations concern child behaviour problems and established behaviour problems can have lasting effects on children's life chances. These problems can be identified in infancy and toddlerhood.

Preventing enduring behavioural problems in young children through early psychological intervention (Healthy Start, Happy Start): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Behavioural problems are common in early childhood, and can result in enduring costs to the individual and society, including an increased risk of mental and physical illness, criminality, educational failure and drug and alcohol misuse. Most previous research has examined the impact of interventions targeting older children when difficulties are more established and harder to change, and have rarely included fathers. We are conducting a trial of a psychological intervention delivered to families with very young children, engaging both parents where possible.

Can Early Intervention Improve Maternal Well-Being? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: This study estimates the effect of a targeted early childhood intervention program on global and experienced measures of maternal well-being utilizing a randomized controlled trial design. The primary aim of the intervention is to improve children's school readiness skills by working directly with parents to improve their knowledge of child development and parenting behavior. One potential externality of the program is well-being benefits for parents given its direct focus on improving parental coping, self-efficacy, and problem solving skills, as well as generating an indirect effect on parental well-being by targeting child developmental problems.

Can Targeted Intervention Mitigate Early Emotional and Behavioral Problems?: Generating Robust Evidence within Randomized Controlled Trials.

Unlabelled: This study examined the impact of a targeted Irish early intervention program on children's emotional and behavioral development using multiple methods to test the robustness of the results. Data on 164 Preparing for Life participants who were randomly assigned into an intervention group, involving home visits from pregnancy onwards, or a control group, was used to test the impact of the intervention on Child Behavior Checklist scores at 24-months. Using inverse probability weighting to account for differential attrition, permutation testing to address small sample size, and quantile regression to characterize the distributional impact of the intervention, we found that the few treatment effects were largely concentrated among boys most at risk of developing emotional and behavioral problems.

"Bursting" to Go and Other Experiences.

Children's use of the toilet at school, although rarely explored, is an important facet of school experience with consequences for physical and psychological health. A mixed methods study investigated views of 25 children (4-5 years) regarding potential stressors in the first school year, including views of toileting, in Dublin, Ireland. Despite very positive responses to school, most responses to toileting (15 of 25) were mixed or negative.

Brief report: a comparison of saliva collection methods with preschool children: the perspectives of children, parents, and childcare practitioners.

Saliva offers developmental researchers and pediatric clinicians significant opportunities to measure numerous biological markers. However, many preschool-aged children refuse to participate in saliva collection. Identifying collection methods known to be acceptable to participants may help in maximizing participation.