Learning outcomes in primary school children with emotional problems: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Academic difficulties are common in adolescents with mental health problems. Although earlier childhood emotional problems, characterised by heightened anxiety and depressive symptoms are common forerunners to adolescent mental health problems, the degree to which mental health problems in childhood may contribute independently to academic difficulties has been little explored.

Methods: Data were drawn from a prospective cohort study of students in Melbourne, Australia (N = 1239).

Acceptability and Outcomes of the Cool Little Kids Parenting Group Program for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families Within an Australian Population-Based Study.

This feasibility study explored suitability of a preventive intervention for internalising problems in young children for culturally and linguistically diverse families in Australia. A subsample of 62 families whose main language at home was other than English was selected from a population-based randomised trial of the Cool Little Kids parenting program. The population trial recruited 545 inhibited preschool children.

Prediction of clinical anxious and depressive problems in mid childhood amongst temperamentally inhibited preschool children: a population study.

Shy/inhibited young children are at risk for internalising difficulties; however, for many, this temperamental style does not result in mental health problems. This study followed a population-based sample of temperamentally inhibited preschool children into mid childhood to explore the aetiology of clinical-level anxious and depressive problems. Amongst inhibited preschool children, we aimed to predict each of clinical child anxiety and depressive problems in mid childhood from a broad range of potential risks (demographics, traumatic events and broader recent stressors, parents' well-being, and parenting practices).

Follow-up of the Cool Little Kids translational trial into middle childhood.

Background: Public health advocates have highlighted internalising problems as a leading cause of global burden of disease. Internalising problems (anxiety/depression) affect up to 20% of school-age children and can impact peer relations, school engagement and later employment and mortality. This translational trial aimed to determine whether a selective/indicated parenting group programme to prevent internalising distress in shy/inhibited preschool children had sustained effects in middle childhood.

Preventing internalising problems in preschoolers with chronic physical health conditions.

This pilot study aimed to explore the suitability of a preventative intervention for internalising problems in young children with chronic physical health conditions. The pilot study focused on a subsample of 27 children with chronic physical health conditions within a population-level randomised controlled trial of the Cool Little Kids parenting programme. The Cool Little Kids parenting programme aims to prevent the development of internalising problems in inhibited (shy/anxious) preschool children by educating parents to reduce young children's avoidant coping styles and manage their anxiety/distress.

Cool Little Kids translational trial to prevent internalising: two-year outcomes and prediction of parent engagement.

Background: The aim was to determine outcomes in the first year of school of a population-delivered parenting program to prevent internalising problems in temperamentally inhibited preschool children and predictors of engagement in parenting groups.

Method: Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: 307 preschool services across eight socio-economically diverse government areas in Melbourne, Australia.

Online Assessment of Preschool Anxiety: description and initial validation of a new diagnostic tool.

Background: The Online Assessment of Preschool Anxiety (OAPA) is a newly developed measure that assesses anxiety disorders in preschool children aged 3-6 years. This study aimed to explore the OAPA's initial psychometric properties with a particular focus on examining its construct validity, both convergent and discriminant.

Method: The OAPA was completed online by a community sample of 319 Australian parents of temperamentally inhibited preschool children (M: 5.

Exploring the stress sensitization theory with temperamentally inhibited children: a population-based study.

Background: This study explored whether temperamentally inhibited children who experience early trauma are vulnerable to developing internalizing problems in the face of later life-stressors.

Methods: A validated screen for temperamental inhibition was distributed to parents of young children attending preschools in six government regions of Melbourne, Australia. Screening identified 11% of children as inhibited (703 of 6347 screened) and eligible for a prevention study.

Cost-effectiveness of preventing child internalising problems: Results from the translational trial of Cool Little Kids at school entry.

Objective: A translational trial evaluated the effectiveness of screening for inhibited childhood temperament, followed by a preventive parenting program -Cool Little Kids. This study determined the cost-effectiveness from societal and health sector perspectives using trial data.

Method: Resources to deliver the screening and parenting sessions were determined from study records.

Diet quality and mental health problems in late childhood.

There is evidence that diet quality is associated with mental health problems in adults and adolescents. Yet the extent to which overall diet quality (not individual nutrients or dietary patterns) may be associated with mental health problems in pre-adolescent children, a common time for first onset of symptoms, remains unclear. This study examined associations between overall diet quality, using a brief measure, and mental health problems during late childhood, in a large community sample.

Gender-informed psycho-educational programme to promote respectful relationships and reduce postpartum common mental disorders among primiparous women: long-term follow-up of participants in a community-based cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: What Were We Thinking (WWWT) is a gender-informed, psychoeducational programme to promote respectful relationships and skilled management of unsettled infant behaviours and thereby reduce postpartum common mental disorders. It comprises a highly structured seminar for couples and babies, usual primary care from a WWWT-trained nurse and take-home print materials. The aim was to assess long-term outcomes after a cluster randomised controlled trial of WWWT.

Bullying, mental health and friendship in Australian primary school children.

Background: Frequent bullying predicts adolescent mental health problems, particularly depression. This population-based study with young Australian primary school children aimed to determine the frequency and mental health correlates of bullying, and whether friendship could be protective.

Method: Participants were a population-based sample of 1221 children aged 8-9 years attending 43 primary schools in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.

Prevalence, comorbidity and factors associated with sleeping, crying and feeding problems at 1 month of age: A community-based survey.

Aim: To examine, in a community cohort of healthy one-month-old infants, (i) the prevalence of early infant sleeping, crying and feeding problems; (ii) the extent to which they co-exist; and (iii) infant and mother characteristics associated with each problem alone and with comorbid problems.

Methods: A survey at 4 weeks of infant age examined the presence of infant sleeping, crying and feeding problems (yes/no); parenting self-efficacy; rating of self as a tense person; and doubts about parenting at bedtime.

Results: A total of 770 mothers (39% of those approached) with a total of 781 infants (11 twins) took part.

Predicting Temperamentally Inhibited Young Children's Clinical-Level Anxiety and Internalizing Problems from Parenting and Parent Wellbeing: a Population Study.

The aim of this study was to explore how some temperamentally inhibited young children and not others in the general population develop anxiety disorders and broader clinical-level internalizing (anxious/depressive) problems, with a focus on the family. A brief screening tool for inhibition was universally distributed to parents of children in their year before starting school across eight socioeconomically diverse government areas in Melbourne, Australia (307 preschool services). Screening identified 11% of all children as inhibited.

Acceptability and caregiver-reported outcomes for young children with autism spectrum disorder whose parents attended a preventative population-based intervention for anxiety: A pilot study.

This pilot study explored acceptability to parents and outcomes for children of a preventive intervention for anxiety problems in pre-schoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who were an identified sub-group within a population-based randomised trial of the Cool Little Kids parenting group programme. The population trial included 545 temperamentally inhibited pre-schoolers recruited across eight economically diverse areas of Melbourne, Australia. Within this sample, 26 parents reported that their child had received an ASD diagnosis.

Predicting Response to an Internet-Delivered Parenting Program for Anxiety in Early Childhood.

Previous research has identified factors related to outcome in child anxiety treatment and parent training programs for child behavior problems. However, it is unclear what factors predict outcomes in interventions delivered online to parents of young children at risk of anxiety. This study investigated predictors of child anxiety outcomes among 433 families with young children (3-6 years) who participated in a randomized controlled trial of Cool Little Kids Online, an eight-module early intervention program for child anxiety based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

Psychometric properties of the Child Anxiety Life Interference Scale - Preschool Version.

Despite growing recognition of childhood anxiety as a common and often debilitating clinical concern, we have limited knowledge of the particular ways in which anxiety interferes with daily life for young children who have not yet entered formal schooling. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Child Anxiety Life Interference Scale - Preschool Version (CALIS-PV). The CALIS-PV is a brief (18 item) parent-report measure of the impacts of a young child's anxiety on their own life and that of her or his parent.

Preventing Preschool Mental Health Problems: Population-Based Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Prevention of child behavior problems may reduce later mental health problems. We compared the effectiveness, at the population level, of an efficacious targeted prevention program alone or following a universal parenting program.

Methods: Three-arm, cluster randomized controlled trial.

Translational delivery of Cool Little Kids to prevent child internalising problems: Randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To determine whether a population-delivered parenting programme assists in preventing internalising problems at school entry for preschool children at-risk with temperamental inhibition.

Methods: Design: a randomised controlled trial was used.

Setting: the setting was 307 preschool services across eight socioeconomically diverse government areas in Melbourne, Australia.

Academic Performance in Primary School Children With Common Emotional and Behavioral Problems.

Background: Many emotional and behavioral problems first emerge in primary school and are the forerunners of mental health problems occurring in adolescence. However, the extent that these problems may be associated with academic failure has been explored less. We aimed to quantify the association between emotional and behavioral problems with academic performance.

Internet-Delivered Parenting Program for Prevention and Early Intervention of Anxiety Problems in Young Children: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: The Cool Little Kids parenting group program is an effective intervention for preventing anxiety disorders in young children who are at risk because of inhibited temperament. The program has six group sessions delivered by trained psychologists to parents of 3- to 6-year-old children. An online adaptation (Cool Little Kids Online) has been developed to overcome barriers to its wide dissemination in the community.

Increasing response rates to follow-up questionnaires in health intervention research: Randomized controlled trial of a gift card prize incentive.

Background/aims Achieving a high response rate to follow-up questionnaires in randomized controlled trials of interventions is important for study validity. Few studies have tested the value of incentives in increasing response rates to online questionnaires in clinical trials of health interventions. This study evaluated the effect of a gift card prize-draw incentive on response rates to follow-up questionnaires within a trial of an online health intervention.

Preconception personality disorder and antenatal maternal mental health: A population-based cohort study.

Background: Prior anxiety and depression have been identified as risk factors for maternal perinatal mental health problems, but other preconception mental disorders have not been prospectively examined. This study investigated prospectively whether women with preconception personality disorder have increased rates of antenatal anxiety and/or depressive symptoms.

Methods: 244 women in a population cohort were assessed for personality disorder at age 24 using the Standardised Assessment of Personality.

Utility-based quality of life in mothers of children with behaviour problems: A population-based study.

Aim: To examine the relationship between mothers' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and child behaviour problems at age 2 years. To investigate whether the relationship between maternal HRQoL and child behaviour problems is independent of maternal mental health.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey nested within a population-level, cluster randomised trial, which aims to prevent early child behaviour problems.

Prevention and early intervention of anxiety problems in young children: A pilot evaluation of Cool Little Kids Online.

Anxiety disorders are common, debilitating, and begin early in life. Early intervention to prevent anxiety disorders in children who are at risk could have long-term impact. The 'Cool Little Kids' parenting group program has previously been shown to be efficacious in preventing anxiety disorders in temperamentally inhibited young children.