Early childhood social-developmental interventions

Do trials of preventive social-developmental interventions in childhood, implemented in their early childhood years, have positive outcomes on behavioural and health outcomes into adulthood? Are these changes sustained years after the end of the intervention and do these benefits continue to have an impact across generations? In a non-randomised, controlled, longitudinal interventional study, Hill GK et al [JAMA Pediatr 2020;174(8):764–771.doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1310] examined outcomes on the offspring of individuals who participated in the Raising Healthy Children preventive intervention as children in the 1980s. These subjects were now adults with their own children. This fascinating study showed significant differences in the offspring of individuals who had received the intervention in childhood who were observed across four domains: improved early-childhood developmental functioning, lower teacher-rated behavioural problems, higher teacher-rated academic skills and performance, and lower child-reported risk behaviours. This study occurred in public elementary schools serving high-crime areas in Seattle, Washington. The panel originated...

from Archives of Disease in Childhood current issue https://ift.tt/33DSGRF