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BACKGROUND The association between school and home is fundamental to sustainable education: parents’ understanding of the school’s priorities and teachers’ understanding of their pupils’ home environment are both vital for children to remain in school and succeed academically. The relationship between parents and teachers is closest in preschool settings, providing a valuable opportunity to build bridges between home and school. In this protocol paper, we outline our planned methods for identifying beneficial home and school behaviors. OBJECTIVE Our project aims to identify culture-specific structures and behaviors in home and school settings, which influence the quantity and quality of child-directed speech and identify positive experiences that can help improve children’s linguistic development and nutrition. METHODS Using a mixed methods approach and focusing on early language learning, nutrition, and responsive caregiving, we will video-record and analyze mealtime language and eating behaviors at home and in school, targeting 80 preschool children and their families in rural Kenya and Zambia. In addition, we will assess children’s language skills through audio recordings and use questionnaire-based interviews to collect extensive sociodemographic and dietary data. RESULTS Between the start of our project in January 2020 and the end of December 2021, we had collected complete sets of sociodemographic, observational, and food recall data for 40 children in Kenya and 16 children in Zambia. By the end of May 2022, we had started data collection for an additional 24 children in Zambia and transcribed and coded approximately 85% of the data. By the end of September, 2022, we plan to complete data collection, transcription, and coding for the entire sample of 80 children across both countries. From September 2022 onwards, we will focus on analyzing our language data, and we hope to have results ready for publication in early 2023. By relating children’s language outcomes and nutritional intake to the observed mealtime behaviors, we hope to identify practices that increase the quantity and quality of child-directed speech and improve children’s nutritional intake. CONCLUSIONS Good nutrition and the promotion of language learning are key issues in early childhood development. By using a cross-cultural approach, combining a variety of methods, and working closely with stakeholders and policy makers throughout the project, we hope to find and share best practices for improving children’s linguistic outcomes and nutrition and lay the foundation for the development of practitioner networks and parent outreach programs. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/36925

Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, evidence-based direction, especially with regard to child protection and child custody decision-making. The article is divided into two parts. In the first, we address problems related to the use of attachment theory and research in family courts, and discuss reasons for these problems. To this end, we examine family court applications of attachment theory in the current context of the best-interest-of-the-child standard, discuss misunderstandings regarding attachment theory, and identify factors that have hindered accurate implementation. In the second part, we provide recommendations for the application of attachment theory and research. To this end, we set out three attachment principles: the child’s need for familiar, non-abusive caregivers; the value of continuity of good-enough care; and the benefits of networks of attachment relationships. We also discuss the suitability of assessments of attachment quality and caregiving behaviour to inform family court decision-making. We conclude that assessments of caregiver behaviour should take center stage. Although there is dissensus among us regarding the use of assessments o attachment quality to inform child custody and child-protection decisions, such assessments are currently most suitable for targeting and directing supportive interventions. Finally, we provide directions to guide future interdisciplinary research collaboration. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Lower- and middle-income countries (LAMICs) are under-resourced and have limited intervention services for children with developmental differences and their families. A logical method to address service gaps within resource-scarce contexts is to train caregivers as interventionists, specifically using empirically-supported parent-mediated Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (P-M NDBIs; Kasari et al., 2010; IngersollWainer, 2013).The study implemented the first P-M NDBI in Zambia and aimed to train caregivers and improve children's social-communication skills.The current study utilized a mixed-methods, pre-post design and implemented Project ImPACT (IngersollDvortcsak, 2010, 2019). Participants included 19 Zambian caregivers of children (n = 20) with developmental differences including autism spectrum condition, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy.Findings indicated that children's language skills and pretend play skills significantly improved from pre- to post-assessment, and caregivers most frequently used intervention strategies for modeling communication and prompting communication.The success and feasibility of implementing Project ImPACT in Zambia, and recommendations for culturally adapting and implementing P-M NDBIs in LAMICs, were discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to food security in many countries, including Kenya. However, the impact of this on food provision to children at an individual level is unknown. This small study aimed to provide a qualitative snapshot of the diets of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. During completion of 24-h food recalls, with 15 families with children aged 5–8 years, caregivers were asked about changes they had made to foods given to their children due to the pandemic. Food recalls were analysed to assess nutrient intakes. Qualitative comments were thematically analysed. Most of the families reported making some changes to foods they provided to their children due to COVID-19. Reasons for these changes fell into three themes, inability to access foods (both due to formal restriction of movements and fear of leaving the house), poorer availability of foods, and financial constraints (both decreases in income and increases in food prices). The COVID-19 pandemic has affected some foods parents in rural Kenya can provide to their children.

This study, the first in Zambia using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to observe attachment relationships and the "very first" observational study of infant-sibling attachment, examined patterns of infant-mother and infant-sibling attachment, and tested their association. We included siblings who were substantially involved in caregiving activities with their younger siblings. We hypothesized that infants would develop attachment relationships to both mothers and siblings; the majority of infants would be classified as securely attached to both caregivers, and infant-mother and infant-sibling attachment would be unrelated. The sample included 88 low-income families in Lusaka, Zambia (average of 3.5 children; SD = 1.5). The SSP distributions (infant-mother) were 59% secure, 24% avoidant and 17% resistant, and 46% secure, 20% avoidant, 5% resistant and 29% disorganized for three- and four-way classifications, respectively. The infant-sibling classifications were 42% secure, 23% avoidant and 35% resistant, and 35% secure, 23% avoidant, 9% resistant and 33% disorganized for three- and four-way classifications, respectively. Infant-mother and infant-sibling attachment relationships were not associated.

Whereas child care by grandmothers is widespread in the African cultural context, few studies have examined predictors of the quality of grandmaternal care in Africa. In the current study, we collected observational data to investigate predictors of the quality of grandmother–grandchild interactions in Zambia. Data were collected from 46 grandmothers and their 12 to 27-month-old infant grandchildren. The results revealed that grandmothers with fewer children and those who enjoyed the grandparenting tasks more were more sensitive in their interactions with their grandchildren. Unexpectedly, parenting beliefs favoring sensitive parenting predicted lower observed sensitivity in grandmothers. Further, grandmothers with a more individualistic cultural orientation were more intrusive toward their grandchildren. The results underscore the importance of time and emotional resources as predictors of sensitive parenting among grandmothers.

In this paper we test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal mother are convergent across cultures and that these beliefs overlap considerably with attachment theory’s notion of the sensitive mother. In a sample including 26 cultural groups from 15 countries around the globe, 751 mothers sorted the Maternal Behavior Q-Set to reflect their ideas about the ideal mother. The results show strong convergence between maternal beliefs about the ideal mother and attachment theory’s description of the sensitive mother across groups. Cultural group membership significantly predicted variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores, but this effect was substantially accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors. Mothers living in rural versus urban areas, with a low family income, and with more children were less likely to describe the ideal mother as highly sensitive. Cultural group membership did remain a significant predictor of variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores above and beyond socio-demographic predictors. The findings are discussed in terms of the universal and culture-specific aspects of the sensitivity construct., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion