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Schools are often seen as a key setting for the provision of mental health support for children. This study aimed to explore the professional perspectives of primary school educators in Victoria, Australia, regarding how schools can support the mental health of their students. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 17 primary school educators, from four schools. Thematic analysis was used to generate themes from the data. This study indicates that educators report significant concerns about the complexities of their role and their capacity to support children's mental health due to a lack of resources, overwhelming demands, and inadequate training. Educators highlighted the importance of partnership and communication with families and of a school culture that prioritises mental health. This study provides insights into external factors that can undermine effective support of children's mental health within primary schools and indicates a need for a more integrated approach to supporting children's mental health across education and healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first 5 years of a child's life are crucial in laying the foundation for their health and developmental trajectory into adulthood. These early years are especially influenced by the surrounding environments in which children live and grow. A large international body of evidence demonstrates that children who experience disadvantage tend to fall increasingly behind over time. At the societal level, these inequities can cause substantial social burdens and significant costs across health, education, and welfare budgets. A contributing factor is that children experiencing adversity are less likely to have access to the environmental conditions that support them to thrive. Many of these factors are modifiable at the community or place level. We argue for three key—though not exhaustive—ideas that collectively could achieve more equitable outcomes for children facing disadvantage and experiencing adversity: 1. Adopt a social determinants approach to conceptualizing disadvantage; 2. Stack existing, evidence-based government and nongovernment service interventions/programs that operate at the local or community level; and 3. Use data and evidence to focus improvements for more equitable and adaptive systems. We conclude that if adopted, these 3 ideas could contribute to the ability of local communities and networks to identify and respond to factors that address early childhood inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to early adversity carries long term harmful consequences for children's health and development. This study aims to 1) estimate the prevalence of childhood adversity for Australian children from infancy to 10–11 years, and 2) document inequalities in the distribution of adversity according to socioeconomic position (SEP), Indigenous status, and ethnicity. Adversity was assessed every 2 years from 0–1 to 10–11 years in the nationally representative birth cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 5107). Adversity included legal problems; family violence; household mental illness; household substance abuse; harsh parenting; parental separation/divorce; unsafe neighborhood; family member death; and bullying (from 4 to 5 years). Adversities were examined individually and summed for a measure of multiple adversity (2+ adverse experiences). By 10–11 years, 52.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 51.0–54.7) of children had been exposed to 2 or more adversities. When combined with low SEP, children from ethnic minority and from Indigenous backgrounds had 4 to 8 times the odds of exposure to 2 or more adversities than children from higher SEP Anglo-Euro backgrounds, respectively (odds ratio [OR] 4.3, 95% CI 2.8–6.6 and OR 8.1, 95% CI 4.4–14.8). Ethnic minority and Indigenous children from higher SEP backgrounds had increased odds of exposure to multiple adversity than similarly advantaged Anglo-Euro children (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4–2.3 and OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.3–4.3, respectively). Addressing early adversity is a significant opportunity to promote health over the life course, and reduce health inequalities experienced by marginalized groups of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Children's additional health and developmental needs are often first identified by teachers when they begin school. This study estimates the Grade 3 literacy and numeracy outcomes of children with teacher‐identified additional needs emerging in the first year of school, including the added burden conferred by socioeconomic disadvantage. Methods: Population linked data (n = 42,619) were analysed from the Australian Early Development Census, which include teacher reports on children's health and development at school entry, and the National Assessment Program–Literacy and Numeracy, a direct assessment of reading and numeracy skills at Grade 3. Linear regression analyses were used to estimate associations between emerging needs and learning outcomes, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. The combined effect of emerging needs and low maternal education (an indicator of socioeconomic disadvantage) on academic outcomes was examined by estimating the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). Results: Emerging health and developmental needs at school entry were associated with lower reading (b = −26.86, 95% CI = −29.19, −24.52) and numeracy (b = −24.39, 95% CI = −26.43, −22.35) outcomes at Grade 3. The combined effect of emerging needs and socioeconomic disadvantage was greater than expected when their individual effects are summed (RERI = 0.38, 95% CI 0.22, 0.55 for reading and RERI = 0.27, 95% CI 0.10, 0.43 for numeracy). Conclusion: In the current study, emerging health and developmental needs identified by teachers at the outset of schooling were associated with poorer literacy and numeracy skills at Grade 3, and family socioeconomic disadvantage appeared to further amplify this effect. Meeting the needs of these children will require timely and coordinated supports across the health and education systems, particularly for those children who are also disadvantaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disadvantage rarely manifests as a single event, but rather is the enduring context in which a child's development unfolds. We aimed to characterize patterns of stability and change in multiple aspects of disadvantage over the childhood period, in order to inform more precise and nuanced policy development.Methods: Participants were from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children birth cohort (n = 5107). Four lenses of disadvantage (sociodemographic, geographic environment, health conditions and risk factors), and a composite of these representing average exposure across all lenses, were assessed longitudinally from 0 to 9 years of age. Trajectory models identified groups of children with similar patterns of disadvantage over time for each of these lenses and for composite disadvantage. Concurrent validity of these trajectory groups was examined through associations with academic performance at 10-11 years.Results: We found four distinct trajectories of children's exposure to composite disadvantage, which showed high levels of stability over time. In regard to the individual lenses of disadvantage, three exhibited notable change over time (the sociodemographic lens was the exception). Over a third of children (36.3%) were exposed to the 'most disadvantaged' trajectory in at least one lens. Trajectories of disadvantage were associated with academic performance, providing evidence of concurrent validity.Conclusions: Children's overall level of composite disadvantage was stable over time, whereas geographic environments, health conditions and risk factors changed over time for some children. Measuring disadvantage as uni-dimensional, at a single time point, is likely to understate the true extent and persistence of disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in a preschool program in the year before starting school can promote children’s healthy development, and has the potential to reduce inequities in developmental outcomes for at-risk subpopulations. In Australia, boosting preschool attendance has emerged as a national policy priority. In this paper, we draw on data from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to describe preschool attendance in two sequential population cohorts, with preschool experiences in 2008 and 2011 reported retrospectively by teachers of children in their first year of school. Overall, findings show that the proportion of children attending preschool remained relatively stable between the two AEDC cohorts (in 2008, preschool attendance ranged from 57.0% to 85.8% across the states and territories, while in 2011, attendance ranged from 49.2% to 93.7%). At a subpopulation level, children from non-English speaking and Indigenous backgrounds and children living in disadvantaged communities all had substantially higher odds of not attending preschool in both 2008 and 2011. These findings highlight the need to maintain policy attention on efforts to further reduce barriers to preschool access for at-risk subpopulations, and the value of monitoring population trends in preschool attendance to better inform policy and service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who enter school with limited proficiency in the language of instruction face a range of challenges in negotiating this new context, yet limited data have been available to describe the early developmental outcomes of this subpopulation in the Australian context. The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) is a teacher-rated checklist that measures five important domains of child development: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. In 2009, the AEDI was completed for 97.5% of Australian children in their first year of schooling (N = 261,147; M = 5 years, 7 months of age), providing a unique opportunity to explore the cross-sectional associations between language background, proficiency in English, and early developmental outcomes at the population-level. Logistic regression analyses revealed that, compared to their peers from English-speaking backgrounds, bilingual children who were not yet proficient in English had substantially higher odds of being in the “vulnerable” range (bottom 10th percentile) on the AEDI domains (OR = 2.88, p < .001, to OR = 7.49, p < .001), whereas English-proficient bilingual children had equal or slightly lower odds (OR = .84, p < .001, to OR = .97, ns). Future research with longitudinal data is now needed to establish causal pathways and explore long term outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Mental health inequities can emerge early in life and are shaped by the daily conditions and environments where children develop, including neighbourhoods. Synthesizing evidence around neighbourhoods, disadvantage, and early childhood mental health can advance understandings of neighbourhood features (e.g. housing, parks) associated with (1) optimal mental health and (2) narrowing inequities. Methods We systematically searched and critically reviewed the international quantitative literature investigating associations between the neighbourhood built environment and young children's (0-8 years) mental health, including positive aspects ('competence') and difficulties. Results Eight of the 14 included studies examined nature or public open space (parks); seven found some association between greater access to neighbourhood nature or parks and better mental health. Significant gaps included few studies investigating: (1) social infrastructure (e.g. services, childcare), (2) competence, (3) the extent to which the neighbourhood built environment closed the gap (versus benefiting children generally), and (4) pathways between neighbourhoods, disadvantage, and mental health. Conclusions Emerging evidence suggests that features of the neighbourhood are associated with young children's mental health. Future research should unpack the neighbourhood's role in narrowing inequities in early childhood. Availability of population linked geospatial and child development data in Australia offers opportunities to address these gaps and is prioritized as the next step in this research program. Key messages The neighbourhood built environment holds potential for promoting young children's mental health. Future research should examine its potential to reduce inequities during early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of evidence suggests that engagement with quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs such as preschool can enhance children’s early development. The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) provides a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between ECEC and children’s developmental outcomes in a full population cohort of Australian school entrants. The AEDC is a teacher-rated checklist that provides data on ECEC experiences in the year before starting school, as well as five important domains of child development at school entry: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. In 2009, the AEDC was completed for 97.5% of Australian children in their first year of formal schooling ( N = 261,147; M = 5 years, 7 months of age). Logistic regression analyses revealed that attendance at preschool was associated with reduced odds (OR = 0.69, p < 0.001 to OR = 0.40, p < 0.001) of being in the vulnerable range (<10th percentile) on four of the five AEDC domains (with the exception of emotional maturity; OR = 0.89, p = 0.002), compared to other ECEC experiences, or care exclusively by parents. Subsequent analyses revealed that this effect was evident for children living in both advantaged and disadvantaged communities. Together, the results suggest that engagement with preschool programs in Australia may present a plausible, equitable, and modifiable approach to improving children's developmental outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]