Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Fostering Effective Early Learning: A Review Of The Current International Evidence Considering Quality In Early Childhood Education And Care Programmes - In Delivery, Pedagogy And Child Outcomes, Iram Siraj, Denise Kingston, Cathrine Marguerite Neilsen-Hewett, Steven J. Howard, Edward Melhuish, Marc De Rosnay, Elisabeth Duursma, Betty Luu

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Executive Summary There is a large body of international academic research literature which examines the relationship between (i) early childhood education and care (ECEC) and (ii) children's developmental and learning outcomes. Decades of sustained international research by many different research groups demonstrate that children who attend ECEC are likely to experience better behavioural and learning outcomes than those who do not attend. The research findings are, of course, not always consistent, and are more robust over shorter measurement periods. Nevertheless, major national surveys (e.g. OECD, 2011) and ambitious longitudinal research projects (e.g. the EPPSE study, Sylva et al., 2014) document …

Effectiveness Of Alcohol Media Literacy Programmes: A Systematic Literature Review, Chloe Gordon, Sandra C. Jones, Lisa K. Kervin

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Alcohol media literacy is an emerging field that aims to address the link between exposure to alcohol advertising and subsequent expectancies and behaviours for children and adolescents. The design, rigour and results of alcohol media literacy programmes vary considerably, resulting in a number of unanswered questions about effectiveness. To provide insight into some of these questions, a systematic literature review of alcohol media literacy studies was conducted. The review was guided by the following research question: What considerations are needed to develop an effective school-based alcohol media literacy programme? On the basis of a critical synthesis of 10 interventions (published …

Acteurs, Usagers Et Evaluation Des Dispositifs De Prevention Precoce: L'Example Des Programmes Eppe Et Sure Start Au Royaume-Uni, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Study Protocol: Using The Q-Steps To Assess And Improve The Quality Of Physical Activity Programmes For The Elderly, Ana I. Marques, Maria J. Rosa, Marlene Amorim, Pedro Soares, Antonio Oliveira-Tavares, Rute Santos, Jorge Mota, Joana Carvalho

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background Aging is one of the most important and obvious phenomenon observed in our society. In the past years, there has been a growing concern in designing physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people, because evidence suggests that such health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. Accordingly, a growing body of literature points to the importance of a sound approach to planning and evaluation in order to improve the quality of PA programmes. However, while numerous PA programmes have been designed for the elderly in recent years, their evaluation has been scarce. Quality management processes …

The Impact Of Sure Start Local Programmes On Seven Year Olds And Their Families, Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky, Alastair H. Leyland, Angela Anning, Zarrina Kurtz, Jane Tunstill, Mog Ball, Pamela Meadows, Jacqueline Barnes, Martin Frost, Beverley Botting

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), the forerunners to Sure Start Children's Centres, aimed to support young children and their families by integrating early education, childcare, healthcare and family support services in disadvantaged areas. The programmes' objectives were to improve the health and well-being of families and young children, so that the children would have a greater opportunity to do well in school and later in life. This study investigates child and family functioning in over 5000 families recruited from 150 SSLP areas, and makes comparisons with children and families in similarly disadvantaged areas not having a SSLP in order to …

Evaluation Of Physical Activity Programmes For Elderly People - A Descriptive Study Using The Efqm' Criteria, Ana I. Marques, Maria J. Rosa, Pedro Soares, Rute Santos, Jorge Mota, Joana Carvalho

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: In the past years, there has been a growing concern in designing physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people, because evidence suggests that such health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. Quality is an important issue when designing a PA programme for older people. Some studies support the Excellence Model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) as an operational framework for evaluating the quality of an organization. Within this context, the aim of this study was to characterize the quality management models of the PA programmes developed by Portuguese Local Administration to …

Evaluation Of Physical Activity Programmes For The Elderly - Exploring The Lessons From Other Sectors And Examining The General Characteristics Of The Programmes, Ana I. Marques, Pedro Soares, Luisa Soares-Miranda, Carla Moreira, Antonio Oliveira-Tavares, Paula Clara-Santos, Susana Vale, Rute Santos, Joana Carvalho

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

In Portugal, there are several physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people developed by the local government. The importance of these programmes has been increasing since the evidence has shown that this type of health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. However, no study has already identified the general characteristics of these programmes nor if they use any scheme to assess the quality of the service provided. A widely-used scheme is the EFQM Excellence Model, which will be in the core of our present work. Thus, the main aims of this preliminary study were …

A Proposed Adaptation Of The European Foundation For Quality Management Excellence Model To Physical Activity Programmes For The Elderly - Development Of A Quality Self-Assessment Tool Using A Modified Delphi Process, Ana I. Marques, Leonel Santos, Pedro Soares, Rute Santos, Antonio Oliveira-Tavares, Jorge Mota, Joana Carvalho

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background There has been a growing concern in designing physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people, since evidence suggests that such health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. Complete programme evaluations are a necessary prerequisite to continuous quality improvements. Being able to refine, adapt and create tools that are suited to the realities and contexts of PA programmes for the elderly in order to support its continuous improvement is, therefore, crucial. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a self-assessment tool for PA programmes for the elderly. Methods A 3-round Delphi process was …

The Impact Of Sure Start Local Programmes On 5-Year-Olds And Their Families, Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky, Alastair H. Leyland, Angela Anning, David Hall, Jane Tunstill, Mog Ball, Pamela Meadows, Jacqueline Barnes, Martin Frost, Mark Hibbett, Andrew Cullis

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The ultimate goal of Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) was to enhance the life chances for young children growing up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Children in these communities are at risk of doing poorly at school, having trouble with peers and agents of authority (i.e., parents, teachers), and ultimately experiencing compromised life chances (e.g., early school leaving, unemployment, limited longevity). This has profound consequences not just for the children but for their families, communities, and for society at large.

The Impact Of Sure Start Local Programmes On Three Year Olds And Their Families, Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky, Alastair H. Leyland, Angela Anning, Zarrina Kurtz, Jane Tunstill, Mog Ball, Pamela Meadows, Jacqueline Barnes, Martin Frost, Beverley Botting

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), now Sure Start Children's Centres, aim to support young children and their families by integrating early education, childcare, healthcare and family support services in disadvantaged areas. The programmes aim to improve the health and well-being of families and young children, so that the children will have a greater opportunity to do well in school and later in life. This study investigates child and family functioning in over 9000 families in 150 SSLP areas, and makes comparisons with children and families in similarly disadvantaged areas not having a SSLP in order to evaluate whether there are …

Effects Of Fully-Established Sure Start Local Programmes On 3-Year-Old Children And Their Families Living In England: A Quasi-Experimental Observational Study, Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky, Alastair H. Leyland, Jacqueline Barnes

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) are area-based interventions to improve services for young children and their families in deprived communities, promote health and development, and reduce inequalities. We therefore investigated whether SSLPs affect the wellbeing of 3-year-old children and their families.

Methods

In a quasi-experimental observational study, we compared 5883 3-year-old children and their families from 93 disadvantaged SSLP areas with 1879 3-year-old children and their families from 72 similarly deprived areas in England who took part in the Millennium Cohort Study. We studied 14 outcomes—children's immunisations, accidents, language development, positive and negative social behaviours, and independence; parenting risk; …

Effects Of Sure Start Local Programmes On Children And Families: Early Findings From A Quasi-Experimental, Cross Sectional Study, Jay Belsky, Edward Melhuish, Jacqueline Barnes, Alastair H. Leyland, Helena Romaniuk

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective To evaluate the effects of Sure Start local programmes (SSLPs) on children and their families. To assess whether variations in the effectiveness of SSLPs are due to differences in implementation. Design Quasi-experimental cross sectional study using interviews with mothers and cognitive assessment of children aged 36 months who speak English. Setting Socially deprived communities in England: 150 communities with ongoing SSLPs and 50 comparison communities. Participants Mothers of 12 575 children aged 9 months and 3927 children aged 36 months in SSLP areas; mothers of 1509 children aged 9 months and 1101 children aged 36 months in comparison communities. …

Towards Understanding Sure Start Local Programmes: Summary Of Findings From The National Evaluation, Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky, Alastair H. Leyland, Alice Mcleod, Jacky Saul, Alyson Ashton, Angela Anning, Zarrina Kurtz, Jane Tunstill, Mog Ball, Pamela Meadows, Jacqueline Barnes, Martin Frost, Beverley Botting

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Sure Start is the Government's programme to support children, families and communities through the integration of early education, childcare, health and family support. Sure Start local programmes are one element of this, based in areas of disadvantage, whose aim is to improve the health and well being of young children under 4 and their families, so that children have a greater opportunity to flourish when they start school. The National Evaluation of Sure Start local programmes has now been in place for 3 years, during which a large amount of information has been collected and reported. This summary draws together …

The Impact Of Sure Start Local Programmes On Child Development And Family Functioning: A Report On Preliminary Findings, Edward Melhuish, Jay Belsky, Alastair H. Leyland, Angela Anning, Zarrina Kurtz, Jane Tunstill, Mog Ball, Pamela Meadows, Jacqueline Barnes, Martin Frost, Beverley Botting

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

A principal goal of Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) is to enhance the functioning of children and families by improving services provided in the local programme areas. As a first step in assessing the impact of SSLPs on child and family functioning, the Impact module of the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) is studying 9- and 36-month old children and their families in 150 SSLP areas and in 50 comparison communities (i.e. areas designated to become SSLP later). In 2003, home visits were carried out in more than 8000 families in the first 75 SSLP areas and 3000 families …

The National Evaluation Of Sure Start Local Programmes In England, Angela Anning, Mog Ball, Jacqueline Barnes, Jay Belsky, Beverley Botting, Martin Frost, Zarrina Kurtz, Alastair H. Leyland, Pamela Meadows, Edward Melhuish, Jane Tunstill

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In the latter part of the 20th century evidence was accumulating about the effectiveness of various intervention programmes for young children in disadvantaged families. Some small-scale interventions were evaluated by randomised control trials as in the case of the Abecedarian project (Ramey et al., 2000), the High/ Scope Perry Preschool Project (Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart, 1993) and evaluations of home visiting (e.g. Olds, 1997). Others were evaluated by quasi-experimental methods as with the large-scale Head Start project (e.g. Barnett, 1995; Kresh, 1998). Despite some weaknesses in the evidence for large-scale interventions, the accumulating evidence of the benefits of early intervention …