Bericht über die Evaluation: Flächendeckende Sprachförderung für Migrantenkinder und Kinder in der Landeshauptstadt Hannover

Im Frühling 2007 beauftragte die Landeshauptstadt Hannover die damalige Evangelische Fachhochschule Hannover (jetzt: Fachhochschule Hannover, Fakultät V, Soziale Arbeit) mit der Evaluation zur „flächendeckenden Sprachförderung für Migrantenkinder und Kinder mit Sprachschwierigkeiten“. In der Zeit vom Mai 2007 bis zum April 2009 führte Frau Rosemarie Lüters unter Leitung von Joachim Romppel die Forschungsarbeiten durch

Bericht über das Kooperative Forschungsprojekt: Kinder - und Jugendarbeit in der Stadt Seelze

Bericht über ein Forschungsprojekt zur Kinder- und Jugendarbeit in der Stadt Seelze

Großtagespflegestellen in Niedersachsen : Abschlussbericht des EFRE-Forschungsprojektes

Ein Forschungsteam unter Leitung von Prof. Dr. Romppel hat zwischen 1.8.2011 und 31.7.2014 die Betreuung von Kindern in der Großtagespflege untersucht. Mit der Neufassung des § 24 Abs. 2 SGB VIII zum 1. August 2013 besteht für alle Kinder ab dem 2. Lebensjahr ein Rechtsanspruch auf individuelle Förderung. Der erwarteten wachsenden Nachfrage nach Plätzen für Kinder unter 3 Jahren soll neben dem Krippenausbau auch mit einem Ausbau der Kindertagespflege, in Niedersachsen besonders auch der Großtagespflege, begegnet werden. Großtagespflegestellen sind rechtlich ein gleichwertiges Angebot zur Krippe. Die vorliegende Untersuchung in Niedersachsen geht zum einen der Frage nach, ob die Qualität der pädagogischen Arbeit in den Großtagespflegestellen diesem Anspruch genügen kann. Mit der TAS-R, einem Beobachtungs- und Bewertungsverfahren werden ausgewählte Großtagespflegestellen beurteilt und mit strukturierten Interviews zu ihrer Arbeit befragt. Zudem wird die telefonische und schriftliche Befragung aller Jugendämter Niedersachsens zur Organisation der Fachberatung sowie zur Struktur der finanziellen und fachlichen Unterstützung der Großtagespflegestellen vor Ort vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse und Empfehlungen für die Verantwortlichen verweisen auf Handlungsbedarf

Locus of control moderates

Workplace bullying is regarded as one of the most devastating stressors at work for those targeted, and the bullying-mental health relationship is well-documented in the literature, even under lower levels of exposure. However, less is known about when and for whom these negative behaviors have more effect. Perceived control over outcomes in life (i.e., internal locus of control) has normally been related to good health and well-being, while relying on chance and/or powerful others (i.e., external locus of control) have been related to stress and poor health. In situations with reduced individual control like bullying, however, these mechanisms may act differently. Hence, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether internal and external locus of control, respectively, moderates the bullying-mental health relationship. Data were gathered in 2014-2015 from 1474 Russian employees (44% response rate), and analyzed using Mplus and SEM modeling. Included measurement scales were the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, the General Health Questionnaire-12, and Levenson's Locus of Control scale. Although the prevalence of high intensity bullying was low, the results showed the expected positive relationship between exposure to bullying behaviors and psychological strain. Furthermore, this relationship was moderated by locus of control. In line with our expectations, internal locus of control did not have the generally assumed positive effect on strain when exposed to bullying behaviors. On the other hand, external locus of control seems relatively beneficial when facing bullying behaviors. The results of this study thus support that exposure to bullying and its associated behaviors are unique stressors where personal characteristics seem to play a different role than normally expected when facing other kinds of stressors

Computerized adaptive testing of population psychological distress : simulation-based evaluation of GHQ-30

PURPOSE: Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) items are frequently used to assess psychological distress but no study to date has investigated the GHQ-30's potential for adaptive administration. In computerized adaptive testing (CAT) items are matched optimally to the targeted distress level of respondents instead of relying on fixed-length versions of instruments. We therefore calibrate GHQ-30 items and report a simulation study exploring the potential of this instrument for adaptive administration in a longitudinal setting. METHODS: GHQ-30 responses of 3445 participants with 2 completed assessments (baseline, 7-year follow-up) in the UK Health and Lifestyle Survey were calibrated using item response theory. Our simulation study evaluated the efficiency of CAT administration of the items, cross-sectionally and longitudinally, with different estimators, item selection methods, and measurement precision criteria. RESULTS: To yield accurate distress measurements (marginal reliability at least 0.90) nearly all GHQ-30 items need to be administered to most survey respondents in general population samples. When lower accuracy is permissible (marginal reliability of 0.80), adaptive administration saves approximately 2/3 of the items. For longitudinal applications, change scores based on the complete set of GHQ-30 items correlate highly with change scores from adaptive administrations. CONCLUSIONS: The rationale for CAT-GHQ-30 is only supported when the required marginal reliability is lower than 0.9, which is most likely to be the case in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies assessing mean changes in populations. Precise measurement of psychological distress at the individual level can be achieved, but requires the deployment of all 30 items

The association of adverse life events and parental mental health with emotional and behavioral outcomes in young adults with autism spectrum disorder

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk of developing co-occurring mental health difficulties across the lifespan. Exposure to adverse life events and parental mental health difficulties are known risk factors for developing a range of mental health difficulties. This study investigates the association of adverse life events, parental stress and mental health with emotional and behavioral problems in young adults with ASD. One hundred and fifteen young adults with ASD derived from a population-based longitudinal study were assessed at three time-points (12-, 16-, and 23-year) on questionnaire measures of emotional and behavioral problems. Parent-reported exposure to adverse life events and parental stress/mental health were measured at age 23. We used structural equation modeling to investigate the stability of emotional and behavioral problems over time, and the association between adverse life events and parental stress and mental health and emotional and behavioral outcomes at 23-year. Our results indicate that exposure to adverse life events was significantly associated with increased emotional and behavioral problems in young adults with ASD, while controlling for symptoms in childhood and adolescence. Higher reported parental stress and mental health difficulties were associated with a higher frequency of behavioral, but not emotional problems, and did not mediate the impact of adverse life events. These results suggest that child and adolescent emotional and behavioral problems, exposure to life events and parent stress and mental health are independently associated, to differing degrees, with emotional or behavioral outcomes in early adulthood. Lay Summary: People with autism experience high rates of mental health difficulties throughout childhood and into adult life. Adverse life events and parental stress and mental health may contribute to poor mental health in adulthood. We used data at three time points (12-, 16-, and 23-year) to understand how these factors relate to symptoms at 23-year. We found that emotional and behavioral problems in childhood, adverse life events and parent mental health were all associated with increased emotional and behavioral problems in adulthood