Early Childhood Stimulation Interventions in Developing Countries: A Comprehensive Literature Review

This report reviews the effectiveness of early childhood stimulation interventions in developing countries. The report aims to answer the questions: What works in terms of early stimulation for young children in developing countries? For whom and under what conditions do these programs work and why do they work. The report is divided into several sections. Firstly, a brief discussion of the importance of early stimulation for young children in developing countries is provided. Secondly, the methods used to identify and characterize studies are provided and a review of randomized or quasi-experimental trials is presented. Thirdly, a review of the evidence for who benefits most from early interventions is presented followed by a review of program characteristics that affect the success of interventions and an examination of potential mechanisms through which interventions achieve their effects. Finally, recommendations for practice and future research are provided.child development, early stimulation, mothers, parenting, developing countries

Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1993

MelanesiaFijiNew CaledoniaPapua New GuineaSolomon IslandsVanuat

Delivering Parenting Interventions through Health Services in the Caribbean: Impact, Acceptability and Costs

Integrating early childhood interventions with health and nutrition services has been recommended, however there is limited information on interventions that are effective and feasible for delivery through health services. In this trial we developed and evaluated a parenting program that could be integrated into primary health center visits. The intervention used group delivery at five routine visits from age 3-18 months, and comprised: short films of child development messages, shown in the waiting area; discussion and demonstration led by community health workers; and mothers' practice of activities. Nurses gave out and reviewed message cards with mothers, together with a few play materials. A cluster randomized trial was conducted in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Antigua and St Lucia) in 29 health centers. Centers, stratified by the 3 countries, were randomized to control (n=15) or health center intervention (n=14). We also adapted the Jamaica home visit intervention to increase feasibility at scale, and evaluated this together with the group intervention in Jamaica only. Participants were recruited at the 6-8 week child health visit. Primary outcomes were child cognition, language and hand-eye coordination, and secondary outcomes caregiver knowledge, practices, maternal depression, and child growth, measured after the 18 month visit. Multilevel analyses comparing health center only with control in all 3 countries showed significant benefits for cognitive development from the health center intervention with effect size of 0.3 SD and benefits to parenting knowledge with effect size 0·4. In analyses of the two interventions in Jamaica, both benefited cognitive development with effect sizes of 0.34 SD (home visit) and 0.38 SD (health center). Qualitative interviews showed mothers and health staff perceived intervention benefits for themselves and the children. The main implementation challenges reported were staff workload and managing groups. The most conservative analyses found benefit cost ratios of 5.3 for the health center intervention and 3.8 for home visits. The interventions evaluated were effective and feasible for delivery through child health services. Integrating parenting interventions (through groups in clinics or home visits) into health services has the potential to reach a large number of children with benefits substantially higher than required investments.Se ha recomendado integrar las intervenciones de desarrollo de la primera infancia a los servicios de salud y nutrición. Sin embargo, la información que existe sobre las intervenciones que son efectivas y factibles de ser entregadas a través de los servicios de salud es limitada. En este ensayo se desarrolla y evalúa un programa de apoyo parental que podría ser incorporado a las visitas a los centros de salud de atención primaria

Blak, Bi+ and Borderlands: An Autoethnography on Multiplicities of Indigenous Queer Identities Using Borderland Theory

Indigenous queer people often experience a conflict in identity, feeling torn between long-standing cultures and new LGBTIQA+ spaces; however, conflicts are being reframed by new generations of Indigenous queer academics who consider decolonising ideas about white heteronormativity. The following autoethnography of my own Indigenous queer journey (muru) uses narrative analysis to explore the challenges of living between worlds as well as the difficulties in gaining acceptance from multiple cultures. This story, like many others, highlights the power of narrative as it reflects the nuanced experiences of Indigenous queer people with identity multiplicity via the application of borderland theory. The narrative analysis forefronts the wide impact of internalised phobias (homophobia, biphobia, and racism) and its impact on performative self-expression of sexual identity, self-sabotage, institutionalized racism and shadeism, and community acceptance, particularly for bi+ sexual identities. This article will explore existing literature which illustrates how navigating the multiplicity of identities may result in poorer social and emotional wellbeing, particularly for Indigenous queer youth. The article concludes with final comments and suggests future directions in mixed method research with Indigenous queer Australians to better understand and improve their social and emotional wellbeing

Some Australian official views of New Caledonia’s Melanesians, 1941 to 1953

In the decade or so from 1941, Australian military officers and government officials paid some attention, for the first time, to the Melanesians of New Caledonia. Their comments illuminate Australian attitudes in that period, and offer perspectives on a significant stage in the history of New Caledonia, in terms particularly of the partial enfranchisement of the Melanesians.Pendant les années de 1941 à 1953, les officiers militaires et les fonctionnaires australiens, pour la toute première fois, ont porté une certaine attention aux Mélanésiens de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Leurs commentaires éclairent les perspectives australiennes de cette époque, et documentent une phase importante dans l’histoire de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, concernant notamment l’accession d’une partie des Mélanésiens au droit de vote

An efficient, chemically-defined semisynthetic lipid-adjuvanted nanoparticulate vaccine development system

A novel vaccine development platform that enables the site-specific conjugation of synthetic lipid adjuvants to recombinant proteins was produced. This technology facilitates the simple and efficient production of homogeneous, chemically-defined, semisynthetic lipoprotein vaccines. Using a polytope 'string-of-beads' approach, a synthetic gene incorporating seven Streptococcus pyogenes M protein strain-specific antigens, and a conserved M protein antigen (J14) was produced, expressed, and attached to a lipoamino acid based adjuvant (lipid core peptide; LCP). Nanoparticles (40 nm diameter) of an optimal size for stimulating antibody-mediated immunity were formed upon the addition of these lipoproteins to aqueous buffer (PBS). Systemic antigen-specific IgG antibodies were raised against all eight antigens in C57BL/6 J mice, without the need to formulate with additional adjuvant. These antibodies bound cell surface M proteins of S. pyogenes strains represented within the polytope sequence, with higher antibody levels observed where a dendritic cell targeting peptide (DCpep) was incorporated within the LCP adjuvant. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Estrategias de apoyo parental a través de los servicios de salud en el Caribe: Impacto, aceptabilidad y costos

Se ha recomendado integrar las intervenciones de desarrollo de la primera infancia a los servicios de salud y nutrición. Sin embargo, la información que existe sobre las intervenciones que son efectivas y factibles de ser entregadas a través de los servicios de salud es limitada. En este ensayo se desarrolla y evalúa un programa de apoyo parental que podría ser incorporado a las visitas a los centros de salud de atención primaria.Integrating early childhood interventions with health and nutrition services has been recommended, however there is limited information on interventions that are effective and feasible for delivery through health services. In this trial we developed and evaluated a parenting program that could be integrated into primary health center visits

Born This Way: The Healthcare, Sexuality, and Social Experiences of People with Intersex Variations

Surgical intervention on infants with intersex variations is done largely for social reasons to create a ‘typical’ boy or girl at an age where the individual cannot express their consent. The literature review identified that individuals who had non-consensual surgical intervention as infants were more likely to experience mental distress, trauma, and poor sexual satisfaction and experiences in adulthood. Sex assignments may create social issues subjecting them to potential discrimination; creating difficulties accessing some health services, discrimination at school, from peers, or within their families. This thesis reports on a study via a critical lens used to challenge the essentialist paradigm used by health professionals and institutions that operate under the two-sex binary. The aim of this study was to explore the long-term psychosocial repercussions of interventions on intersex infants and other lived experiences from adult, retrospective voices; reflecting on experiences in healthcare, in school, on forming friendships, family relationships, reflecting on their reared gender experience, navigating dating and intimacy, and sexual satisfaction, experiences, and desires. This study obtained data via an online survey (n=86) and included those who did and did not experience interventions on an international scale. The dataset was investigated via a qualitative process using a modified ground theory approach, in addition to a quantitative approach via SPSS. Almost all participants found surgical intervention to be inappropriate. The appropriateness of their reared gender was another strong predictor of negative life experiences. Participants reported a greater need for education for healthcare providers, including better transitions from adolescent to adult care. Some participants often preferred to be alone or have few close friends at school, and some harboured negative feelings towards their parents regarding their interventions or imposed genders in childhood. Results showed that the imposition of sex and gender, and unwanted interventions had negative impacts on intersex people. By gaining a greater understanding of these impacts, health professionals, schools and families may be able to improve their practices, policies and attitudes to become more supportive of bodily diversity

Effect of Transporting an Evidence-Based, Violence Prevention Intervention to Jamaican Preschools on Teacher and Class-wide Child Behaviour:A Cluster Randomised Trial

Introduction.Based on extensive piloting work, we adapted the Incredible Years (IY) teacher-training programme to the Jamaican preschool setting and evaluated this adapted version through a cluster-randomised trial.Methods.Twenty-four community preschools in Kingston, Jamaica were randomly assigned to intervention (12 schools, 37 teachers) or control (12 schools, 36 teachers). The intervention involved training teachers in classroom management through eight full-day training workshops and four individual 1-h in-class support sessions. Outcome measurements included direct observation of teachers’ positive and negative behaviours to the whole class and to high-risk children and four observer ratings: two measures of class-wide child behaviour and two measures of classroom atmosphere. Measures were repeated at a six-month follow-up.Results.Significant benefits of intervention were found for teachers’ positive [effect size (ES) = 3.35] and negative (ES = 1.29) behaviours to the whole class and to high-risk children (positive: ES = 0.83; negative: ES = 0.50) and for observer ratings of class-wide child behaviour (ES = 0.73), child interest and enthusiasm (ES = 0.98), teacher warmth (ES = 2.03) and opportunities provided to share and help (ES = 5.72). At 6-month follow-up, significant benefits of intervention were sustained: positive behaviours (ES = 2.70), negative behaviours (ES = 0.98), child behaviour (ES = 0.50), child interest and enthusiasm (ES = 0.78), teacher warmth (ES = 0.91), opportunities to share and help (ES = 1.42).Conclusions.The adapted IY teacher-training programme produced large benefits to teacher's behaviour and to class-wide measures of children's behaviour, which were sustained at 6-month follow-up. Benefits were of a similar magnitude to those found in a pilot study of the minimally adapted version that required significantly more in-class support for teachers.</jats:sec