Sand Play for 0-8-Year-Old Children's Health and Development: A Systematic Review Protocol.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Iivonen S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8508018 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:TheoryYoung children have an understanding of basic science concepts such as stability, yet their theoretical assumptions are often not concerned with stability. The literature on theory theory and theory-evidence coordination suggests that children construct intuitive theories about their environment which can be adjusted in the face of counterevidence that cannot be assimilated into the prior theory. With increasing age, children acquire a Center theory when balancing objects and try to balance every object at their middle, succeeding with symmetrical objects. Later, they acquire the basic science concept of stability through learning that the weight distribution of an object is of importance. Thus, they acquire a Mass theory and succeed in balancing asymmetrical objects as well. Fluid and crystallized intelligence might contribute to children's acquisition of Mass theory. Moreover, their Mass theory might be supported by implementing a playful intervention including (a) material scaffolds and (b) verbal scaffolds.AimsWe investigated which theories children have about stability and whether these theories can be adjusted to Mass theory by implementing a playful intervention.MethodA total of 183 5- to 6-year-old children took part in the study with a pre-post-follow-up intervention design. Children's Mass theory was assessed with an interview in which children explained constructions' stabilities. The children received a playful intervention with two differing degrees of scaffolding (material scaffolds or material + verbal scaffolds) or no scaffolding.ResultsAt first few children used a Mass theory to explain their reasoning. However, after being confronted with counterevidence for the asymmetrical constructions, children changed their explanation and applied a Mass theory. More children in the play group with the highest degree of scaffolding, i.e., material + verbal scaffolds, acquired a Mass theory compared to the other groups. Fluid as well as crystallized intelligence contributed to children's acquisition of a Mass theory.DiscussionCounterevidence can support children in their acquisition of a Mass theory. A playful intervention with scaffolding supports children even more.
| S-EPMC7372995 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThere is increasing recognition of the importance of children's play from a public health perspective, given the links between play and children's physical and mental health. The present research aimed to develop and evaluate a new parent-report questionnaire that measures the time children spend playing across a range of places and includes a supplement to evaluate how adventurously children play.MethodsThe questionnaire was developed with input from a diverse group of parents and experts in children's play. It was designed to yield a range of metrics including time spent playing per year, time spent playing outside, time spent playing in nature and level of adventurous play. The reliability of the questionnaire was then evaluated with 245 parents (149 mothers, 96 fathers) of 154 children aged 5-11 years. All participants completed the measure at time 1. At time 2, an average of 20 days later, 184 parents (111 mothers and 73 fathers) of 99 children completed the measure again.ResultsCross-informant agreement, evaluated using Concordance Correlation Coefficients (CCCs), ranged from 0.36 to 0.51. These fall in the poor to moderate range and are largely comparable to cross-informant agreement on other measures. Test-retest reliability for mothers was good (range 0.67-0.76) for time spent playing metrics. For fathers, test-retest reliability was lower (range 0.39-0.63). For both parents the average level of adventurous play variable had relatively poor test retest reliability (mothers = 0.49, fathers = 0.42). This variable also showed a significant increase from time 1 to time 2. This instability over time may be due to the timing of the research in relation to the Covid-19 lockdown and associated shifts in risk perception.ConclusionsThe measure will be of value in future research focusing on the public health benefits and correlates of children's play as well as researchers interested in children's outdoor play and play in nature specifically. The development of the measure in collaboration with parents and experts in children's play is a significant strength. It will be of value for future research to further validate the measure against play diaries or activity monitors.
| S-EPMC8103430 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Pediatrics associations recommend avoiding the use of mobile devices (MDs) in children aged 0-2 years and limiting them to one hour per day for children aged 3-5 years. This study aimed to explore public risk perception on MDs use by children aged 0-5 years and attitudes of parents to children's use. Participants were recruited on a voluntary basis by social media using a self-administered survey. The study included 3115 participants, most of whom were parents of children aged under 5 years (n = 1901; 61%). Most of the respondents (74%) considered that MDs use could be harmful for children's health. The awareness on a correct use did not always translate into avoiding MDs use as recommended, especially in parents of children aged 0-2 years. Half of the sample (54%) received or sought information on risks related to MDs use. The most consulted information sources were the web (78%), and pediatricians in only 22% of cases. Understanding the determinants of parents' risk perception and behavior is necessary to design effective family-based interventions in order to guide parents to a moderate and more careful use of MDs by their children. To do so, public health actions must aim to strengthen awareness about conscious use of MDs.
| S-EPMC8037713 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Air pollution, noise, and green space are important environmental exposures, having been linked to a variety of specific health outcomes. However, there are few studies addressing overall early life development. To assess their effects, associations between developmental milestones for a large population of 0-4-year old children in The Netherlands and environmental exposures were explored. Developmental milestones and background characteristics were provided by Preventive Child Health Care (PCHC) and supplemented with data from Statistics Netherlands. Milestones were summarized and standardized into an aggregate score measuring global development. Four age groups were selected. Environmental exposures were assigned to geocoded addresses using publicly available maps for PM2.5, PM10, PMcoarse, NO2, EC, road traffic noise, and green space. Associations were investigated using single and multiple-exposure logistic regression models. 43,916 PCHC visits by 29,524 children were available. No consistent associations were found for air pollution and road traffic noise. Green space was positively associated in single and multiple-exposure models although it was not significant in all age groups (OR 1.01 (0.95; 1.08) (1 year) to 1.07 (1.01; 1.14) (2 years)). No consistent associations were found between air pollution, road traffic noise, and global child development. A positive association of green space was indicated.
| S-EPMC8345559 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe healthcare setting is stressful for many people, especially children. Efforts are needed to mitigate children's healthcare-related anxiety. Medical play using the Teddy Bear Hospital (TBH) concept can expose children to healthcare settings and help them develop positive experiences in these settings. In this role-playing game, children bring their soft toys and act as parents to the 'sick' teddies in a pretend hospital or clinic play setting. The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of the TBH in improving children's health outcomes and well-being.MethodsWe searched the reference lists of included studies from four electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and Google Scholar) from inception until November 2020. We included pre-post, quasiexperimental and case-control studies, as well as randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that discussed medical play using the TBH concept as an intervention. Studies that involved sick patients and used interventions unlike the TBH were excluded. We assessed the quality of the included studies using the Cochrane Collaboration's 'Risk of bias' tool.ResultsTen studies were included in this systematic review. Five specifically investigated the TBH method, while the others involved the same concept of medical play. Only three studies were RCTs. All of the studies report more than one outcome-mostly positive outcomes. Two report lower anxiety levels after intervention. Two found better healthcare knowledge, with one reporting increased feelings of happiness regarding visiting a doctor. Two studies found no change in anxiety or feelings, while another two found increased levels of fear and lowered mood after the medical play (which involved real medical equipment).ConclusionsThe practice of TBH has mostly positive outcomes, with lower anxiety levels and improved healthcare knowledge. Its effectiveness should be verified in future studies using a more robust methodology.Prospero registration numberCRD42019106355.
| S-EPMC7818823 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND: German societies of pediatricians and dentists disagree about oral health-related preventive recommendations (use of fluoride supplements, fluoride-containing toothpaste) for children aged 0-3 years. After failure to reach a consensus, there is no study that has evaluated the guidelines that pediatricians use in daily practice. METHODS: A standardized questionnaire was sent to all 167 practicing pediatricians in the state of Thuringia, Germany, to assess the current oral health-related preventive recommendations. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The response rate was 52.0%. More than 9.0% of the pediatricians advise parents with regard to diet, use of baby bottles, oral hygiene and dental visits. The majority of pediatricians recommend to start tooth-brushing after the 1st birthday and recommend the use of toothpaste and a 1st dental visit after the 2nd birthday (78.0%). Additionally, 23.3% (n?=?20) of pediatricians prescribe solely vitamin D, and 20.9% (n?=?18) prescribe vitamin D combined with fluoride. Fluoride supplements are given as required by 37.2% (n?=?32) of pediatricians, primarily between the 1st and 6th birthdays. The guidelines of the Pediatric Society were used by 1.2% of the pediatricians, the guidelines of the dentists were used by 5.8%, and a mix of both was used by 93.0%. The simultaneous use of fluoride supplements and fluoride toothpaste in the first three years was recommended by 45.9% of the pediatricians. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatricians' oral health recommendations are based on a mix of the guidelines from the German societies of pediatricians and dentists and led to no use or possible overdose of fluoride. Against the background of early childhood caries and dental fluorosis, there is a need for uniform guidelines.
| S-EPMC4021417 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundEarly interventions to support young children's language development through responsive parent-child interaction have proven efficacy but are not currently delivered universally. A potential universal delivery platform is the Health Visitor (HV)-led 2-2½-year-old review in England's Healthy Child Programme. It is unclear if it is feasible to offer such interventions through this platform. We report an intervention development process, including extensive stakeholder consultation and co-design which aimed to develop an acceptable, feasible and equitable early language intervention for delivery in this context.MethodsThe study involved five phases including 13 stakeholder co-design workshops with 7 parents and 39 practitioners (HVs, early years practitioners and speech and language therapists): (1) Identification of existing intervention evidence, (2) qualitative review of intervention studies extracting candidate target behaviours for intervention and intervention techniques, (3) co-design workshops with parents and practitioners examining acceptability, barriers and enablers to those behaviours and techniques (particular attention was paid to diverse family circumstances and the range of barriers which might exist), (4) findings were analysed using COM-B and theoretical domains frameworks and a prototype intervention model designed, and (5) co-design workshops iteratively refined the proposed model.ResultsPractitioners were committed to offering language intervention at the 2-2½-year-old review but were not sure precisely how to do so. Parents/caregivers wanted to be proactive and to have agency in supporting their own children and to do this as soon as possible. For equitable intervention, it must be proportionate, with higher 'intensity' for higher levels of disadvantage, and tailored, offering differing approaches considering the specific barriers and enablers, assets and challenges in each family. The importance and potential fragility of alliances between parent/caregiver and practitioner were identified as key, and so, strategies to engender successful collaborative partnership are also embedded in intervention design.ConclusionIt is possible to develop a universal intervention which parents and practitioners judge would be acceptable, feasible and equitable for use at the 2-2½-year review to promote children's language development. The result is one of the most explicitly developed universal interventions to promote children's language development. Further development and piloting is required to develop materials to support successful widespread implementation.
| S-EPMC8822642 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionDesert dust concentrations raise concerns about adverse effects on human health. During the last decade, special attention has been given to mineral dust particles from desert dust and sand storms. However, evidence from previous reviews reported inconclusive results on their health effects and the biological mechanism remains unclear. We aim to systematically synthesise evidence on the health effects of desert dust and sand storms accounting for the relevant desert dust patterns from source areas and emissions, transport and composition.Methods an analysisWe will conduct a systematic review that investigated the health effects of desert dust and sand storms in any population. The search will be performed for any eligible studies from previous reviews and selected electronic databases until 2018. Study selection and reporting will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Data from individual studies will be extracted using a standardised data extraction form. Quality of the studies will be assessed using a risk of bias tool for environmental exposures developed by experts convened by the WHO. A meta-analysis will be performed by calculating the appropriate effect measures of association for binary and continuous outcomes from individual studies. Subgroup analyses will be performed by geographical areas to account for desert dust patterns.Ethics and disseminationNo primary data will be collected. For this reason, no formal ethical approval is required. This systematic review will help to fill the research gaps in the knowledge of desert dust on human health. The results will be disseminated through a WHO peer-reviewed publication and a conference presentation.Prospero registration numberCRD42018091809.
| S-EPMC6677997 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The role of dreaming in childhood and in adulthood are still equally enigmatic fields yet to be fully explored. However, while there is a consensus at least about the typical content and formal characteristics of adult dream reports, these features are still a matter of debate in the case of young children. Longitudinal developmental laboratory studies concluded that preschoolers' dreams usually depict static images about mostly animals and body states of the dreamer but they basically lack the active representation of the self, human characters, social interactions, dream emotions and motion imagery. Due to methodological arguments these results became the reference points in the literature of developmental dream research, in spite of the significantly different results of numerous recent and relevant studies using extra-laboratory settings. This study aims to establish a methodologically well-controlled and valid way to collect children's dreams for a representative period of time in a familiar home setting to serve as a comparison to the laboratory method. Pre trained parents acted as interviewers in the course of a 6 week-period of dream collection upon morning awakenings. Our results suggest that even preschoolers are likely to represent their own self in an active role (70%) in their mostly kinematic (82%) dream narratives. Their dream reports contain more human, than animal characters (70 and 7% of all dream characters respectively), and social interactions, self-initiated actions, and emotions are usual part of these dreams. These results are rather similar to those of recent extra-laboratory studies, suggesting that methodological issues may strongly interfere with research outcomes especially in the case of preschoolers' dream narratives. We suggest that nighttime awakenings in the laboratory setting could be crucial in understanding the contradictory results of dream studies in case of young children.
| S-EPMC4415323 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This paper investigates the ontogeny of human's naive concept of truth. Surprisingly, children find it hard to treat assertions as false before their fifth birthday. Yet, we show in six studies (N = 140) that human's concept of falsity develops early. Two-year-olds use truth-functional negation to exclude one term in an alternative (Study 1). Three-year-olds can evaluate discrepancies between the content of a representation and what it aims at representing (Study 2). They use this knowledge to treat beliefs and assertions as false (Study 3). Four-year-olds recognise the involutive nature of falsity ascriptions: they properly infer 'p' from 'It is not true that "It is not true that "p""' (Study 4), an inference that rests on second-order representations of representations. Controls confirm that children do not merely equate being mistaken with failing to achieve one's goal (Studies 5 and 6). These results demonstrate remarkable capacities to evaluate representations, and indicate that in the absence of formal training, young children develop the building blocks of a theory of truth and falsity-a naive epistemology. We suggest that children's difficulties in discarding false assertions need not reflect any conceptual lacuna, and may originate from their being trustful.
| S-EPMC4618725 | biostudies-literature