Search

Introduction The first years of school are critical in establishing a foundation for positive long-term academic, social and well-being outcomes. Mindfulness-based interventions may help students transition well into school, but few robust studies have been conducted in this age group. We aim to determine whether compared with controls, children who receive a mindfulness intervention within the first years of primary school have better: (1) immediate attention/short-term memory at 18 months post-randomisation (primary outcome); (2) inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility at 18 months postrandomisation; (3) socio-emotional well-being, emotionregulation and mental health-related behaviours at 6 and 18 months post-randomisation; (4) sustained changes in teacher practice and classroom interactions at 18 months post-randomisation. Furthermore, we aim to determine whether the implementation predicts the efficacy of the intervention, and the cost effectiveness relative to outcomes. Methods and analysis This cluster randomised controlled trial will be conducted in 22 primary schools in disadvantaged areas of Melbourne, Australia. 826 students in the first year of primary school will be recruited to detect between groups differences of Cohen’s d=0.25 at the 18-month follow-up. Parent, teacher and child-assessment measures of child attention, emotion-regulation, executive functioning, socio-emotional well-being, mental healthrelated behaviour and learning, parent mental well-being, teacher well-being will be collected 6 and 18 months postrandomisation. Implementation factors will be measured throughout the study. Intention-to-treat analyses, accounting for clustering within schools and classes, will adopt a two-level random effects linear regression model to examine outcomes for the intervention versus control students. Unadjusted and analyses adjusted for baseline scores, baseline age, gender and family socioeconomic status will be conducted. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been received by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Melbourne. Findings will be reported in peerreview publications, national and international conference presentations and research snapshots directly provided to participating schools and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the associations of hearing thresholds and slight to mild hearing loss with academic, behavioural and quality of life outcomes in children at a population level.Methods: Design and participants:children aged 11-12 years in the population-based cross-sectional Child Health CheckPoint study within the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Audiometry:mean hearing threshold across 1, 2 and 4 kHz (better and worse ear); slight/mild hearing loss (threshold of 16-40 decibels hearing loss (dB HL)). Outcomes: National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy, language, teacher-reported learning, parent and teacher reported behaviour and self-reported quality of life. Analysis:linear regression quantified associations of hearing threshold/loss with outcomes.Results: Of 1483 children (mean age 11.5 years), 9.2% and 13.1% had slight/mild bilateral and unilateral hearing loss, respectively. Per SD increment in better ear threshold (5.7 dB HL), scores were worse on several academic outcomes (eg, reading 0.11 SD, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.16), parent-reported behaviour (0.06 SD, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.11) and physical (0.09 SD, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.14) and psychosocial (0.06 SD, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.11) Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Compared with normally hearing children, children with bilateral slight/mild losses scored 0.2-0.3 SDs lower in sentence repetition, teacher-reported learning and physical PedsQL but not other outcomes. Similar but attenuated patterns were seen in unilateral slight/mild losses.Conclusions: Hearing thresholds and slight/mild hearing loss showed small but important associations with some child outcomes at 11-12 years. Justifying hearing screening or intervention at this age would require better understanding of its longitudinal and indirect effects, alongside effective management and appropriate early identification programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To provide accurate population normative data documenting cross-sectional, age-specific sleep patterns in Australian children aged 0-9 years. Design and setting: The first three waves of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, comprising two cohorts recruited in 2004 at ages 0-1 years (n=5107) and 4-5 years (n=4983), and assessed biennially. Participants: Children with analysable sleep data for at least one wave. Measures: At every wave, parents prospectively completed 24-h time-use diaries for a randomly selected week or weekend day. 'Sleeping, napping' was one of the 26 precoded activities recorded in 15-min time intervals. Results: From 0 to 9 years of age, 24-h sleep duration fell from a mean peak of 14 (SD 2.2) h at 4-6 months to 10 (SD 1.9) h at 9 years, mainly due to progressively later mean sleep onset time from 20:00 (SD 75 min) to 21:00 (SD 60 min) and declining length of day sleep from 3.0 (SD 1.7) h to 0.03 (SD 0.2) h. Number and duration of night wakings also fell. By primary school, wake and sleep onset times were markedly later on weekend days. The most striking feature of the centile charts is the huge variation at all ages in sleep duration, sleep onset time and, especially, wake time in this normal population. Conclusions: Parents and professionals can use these new centile charts to judge normalcy of children's sleep. In future research, these population parameters will now be used to empirically determine optimal child sleep patterns for child and parent outcomes like mental and physical health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The transition to primary school appears crucial for a child's future academic and psychological well-being. Addressing conditions which negatively affect children during this period, such as poor sleep, may improve these outcomes. Sleep problems are common and in a previous efficacy randomised controlled trial, we demonstrated that sleep problems can be identified and improved using schoolbased screening followed by a brief behavioural intervention. This trial will determine whether the same intervention is beneficial and cost-effective when delivered by an existing school-based health workforce. Methods/design: We will recruit 334 children with sleep problems from approximately 40 schools after screening for behavioural sleep problems in the first year of formal education (Grade Prep). Schools in Melbourne, Australia will be invited to participate from a randomly ordered list of eligible schools and we will approach all caregivers of Grade Prep children. Children who have a parent-reported moderate or severe sleep problem will be randomised into either 'usual care' or 'intervention' groups. Trained nurses from the Primary School Nursing programme will deliver the sleep intervention programme. Intervention: Two to three contacts between the nurse and the parent; initial 45 min face-to-face meeting or phone call, 15 min phone call 2 weeks later and an optional second 30 min face-to-face meeting. Follow-up: 6 and 12 months postrandomisation using parent and teacher surveys and child face-to-face assessments. Primary outcome: child psychosocial functioning at 6 months. Secondary outcomes: child psychosocial functioning at 12 months and child sleep, behaviour, working memory, academic achievement and parent mental health at 6 and 12 months. Cost-effectiveness analysis will compare incremental costs to difference in child psychosocial functioning at 6 months. Registration: International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number Register (ISRCTN92448857). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Higher adult blood pressure, even without hypertension, predicts cardiovascular outcomes, and is predicted by childhood blood pressure. Regular dark chocolate intake lowers blood pressure in adults, but effects in children are unknown. Aim To examine the feasibility of school-based provision of dark chocolate and its short-term efficacy in reducing mean group blood pressure. Methods 194 children (aged 10-12 years) were randomised by class to intervention (7 g dark chocolate daily for 7 weeks, n=124) or control (n=70) groups; 98% and 93% provided baseline and follow-up measurements, respectively. Results Intervention and control students had similar systolic (mean difference 1.7 mm Hg, 95% CI -0.6 to 4.1) and diastolic (-1.2 mm Hg, 95% CI -3.6 to 1.3) blood pressure, anthropometry and well-being at outcome. Conclusion Results show that providing dark chocolate is feasible and acceptable in the school setting. For a definitive trial, the authors recommend a larger sample, endovascular function measures, and consideration of higher antioxidant 'dose' by virtue of duration and/or content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Literacy is fundamental for educational achievement, and in the longer term contributes substantially to a range of life skills. Literacy difficulties during the early years of school are associated with long-term impacts on academic success, with differences in academic achievement sustained through children's schooling. Therefore, addressing literacy difficulties during the early years of school is essential in reducing the risk of children progressing onto negative academic, psychosocial and vocational trajectories. This trial will determine whether a phonics-based reading intervention can improve the reading comprehension of students identified as low-progress readers in the second year of primary school., Methods/design: We recruited 236 students fromnine schools after screening for reading difficulties in the second year of primary school (Year 1). Schools in Sydney and Central Coast of New South Wales will be invited to participate via an opt-out consent process. All children identified as being in the bottom 25th percentile using the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Lists will be eligible for the trial. These children will be randomised into either 'usual teaching' or 'intervention' groups. Trained school support teachers will deliver the MiniLit intervention. Intervention: In groups of four, children will complete a daily 1-hour lesson with their MiniLit teacher over 20 school weeks. Follow-up : Immediately after intervention completion and 6 months later using child face-to-face assessments. Primary outcome : Reading comprehension at 6 months after intervention completion. The study will have an embedded process and cost-effectiveness evaluation., Discussion: The Building Better Readers trial will be the first efficacy randomised controlled trial comparing usual teaching with a phonics-based reading intervention for children with reading difficulties in Year 1 of primary school in Australia. The randomised design will limit the effect of bias on outcomes seen in other studies., Trial Registration Number: ACTRN12617000179336., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.