Validation and calibration of the activPAL™ for estimating METs and physical activity in 4-6 year olds

Examine the predictive validity of the activPAL™ metabolic equivalents equation, develop an activPAL™ threshold value to define moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activities, and examine the classification accuracy of the developed moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activities threshold value in 4- to 6-year-old children.

Sources and correlates of sodium consumption in the first 2 years of life

High sodium intake during infancy and early childhood can change salt preference and blood pressure trajectories across life, representing a modifiable cardiovascular risk factor. Describing young children's sodium intake is important for informing effective targets for sodium reduction.

Physical environments, policies and practices for physical activity and screen-based sedentary behaviour among preschoolers within child care centres in Melbourne, Australia and Kingston, Canada

Characteristics of preschool and child care centres have previously been shown to be associated with children's health behaviours such as physical activity and screen-based sedentary behaviour. This paper investigates differences in physical environments, policies and practices between child care centres in Melbourne, Australia and Kingston, Canada which may be associated with such behaviours.

Mixed-age grouping in early childhood – creating the outdoor learning environment

Children attending centre-based early childhood care and education programmesacross Australia are most likely to be grouped according to age anddevelopment. While multi- or mixed-age grouping has been seen to havepositive benefits on young children’s learning and pro-social behaviours, thisapproach is not usually adopted in the organisation of children’s grouping inmost long day care settings across the county. This paper reports on a case studywhich explored one urban children’s setting where the outdoor learning spacehas been specifically designed to enable a mixed-age approach for children. Thefindings suggest that while the educators see many benefits across the age groupsin engaging in this approach, there is still a preference to segregate the veryyoung children arising from concerns for their safety. The study also found thatplanning for learning especially in regards pro-social learning with the olderchildren has been problematic

First-time offender, productive offender, offender with dependents: why the profile of offenders (sometimes) matters in sentencing

Should a single mother of four young children who commits theft be sentenced to a lesser sanction than a woman who commits the same crime but has no dependents? Should a billionaire philanthropist be sentenced to a lesser penalty than the average citizen for assaulting a random bystander? Should a first-time thief receive a lighter sanction than a career thief for the same theft? The relevance of an offender’s profile to sentencing is unclear and is one of the most under-researched and least coherent areas of sentencing law. Intuitively, there is some appeal in treating offenders without a criminal record, those who have made a positive contribution to society, or who have dependents more leniently than other offenders. However, to allow these considerations to mitigate penalty potentially licenses offenders to commit crime and decouples the sanction from the severity of the offense, thereby undermining the proportionality principle. This article analyzes the relevance that an offender’s profile should have in sentencing. We conclude that a lack of prior convictions should generally reduce penalty because the empirical data shows that, in relation to most offenses, first-time offenders are less likely to reoffend than recidivist offenders. The situation is more complex in relation to offenders who have made worthy social contributions. They should not be given sentencing credit for past achievements given that past good acts have no relevance to the proper objectives of sentencing and it is normally not tenable, even in a crude sense, to make an informed assessment of an individual’s overall societal contribution. However, offenders should be accorded a sentencing reduction if they have financial or physical dependents and if imprisoning them is likely to cause harm to their dependents. Conferring asentencing discount to first-time offenders and those withdependents does not license them to commit crime or unjustifiablyencroach on the proportionality principle. Rather, it recognizes thedifferent layers of the legal system and the reality that sentencinglaw should not reflexively overwhelm broader maxims of justice,including the principle that innocent people should not suffer. Thisarticle argues that fundamental legislative reform is necessary toproperly reflect the role that the profile of offenders should have inthe sentencing regime.

Cultural influence on peer relationships in early childhood settings

This paper presents a cultural perspective of young children’s peer relationships. Through reporting on a study of a group of Chinese immigrant children’s learning experiences with peers of the same cultural backgrounds in English dominant early childhood contexts, it reveals that the sharing of a similar cultural heritage may play an important role in the development of relationships for young children in diverse cultural learning communities. This paper is written from the perspectives of socioculture and culture theory. Central to my argument is the contextual dimension of culture. This dimension provides an explanatory structure for understanding immigrant children’s formation of home-culture oriented peer togetherness and peer culture within the paradigm of English dominant spheres. My position is to recognize that the children’s responses to peers are both subject to the influences of their home cultures, and the relationship between different cultures. The notion of cultural relationship is important in this paper, leading to the suggestion that early childhood settings should create an enabling and empowering sociocultural milieu that provides immigrant children with opportunities for intercultural ways of learning and development.

Systematic research review of observational approaches used to evaluate mother-child mealtime interactions during preschool years.

The family meal and social interactions during the meal are important events in a child's life. Specifically, mealtime interactions have been linked to child weight status, the development of children's eating patterns, and socialization. Mealtime interactions may be observed and evaluated to provide insights into this important event beyond self-reported measurements.

Obesity prevention in early life: an opportunity to better support the role of Maternal and Child Health Nurses in Australia

BACKGROUND: Because parents with young children access primary health care services frequently, a key opportunity arises for Maternal and Child Health (MCH) nurses to actively work with families to support healthy infant feeding practices and lifestyle behaviours. However, little is known regarding the extent to which MCH nurses promote obesity prevention practices and how such practices could be better supported. METHODS: This mixed methods study involved a survey of 56 MCH nurses (response rate 84.8 %), 16 of whom participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Both components aimed to examine the extent to which nurses addressed healthy infant feeding practices, healthy eating, active play and limiting sedentary behavior during routine consultations with young children 0-5 years. Key factors influencing such practices and how they could be best supported were also investigated. All data were collected from September to December 2013. Survey data were analysed descriptively and triangulated with qualitative interview findings, the analysis of which was guided by grounded theory principles. RESULTS: Although nurses reported measuring height/length and weight in most consultations, almost one quarter (22.2 %) reported never/rarely using growth charts to identify infants or children at risk of overweight or obesity. This reflected a reluctance to raise the issue of weight with parents and a lack of confidence in how to address it. The majority of nurses reported providing advice on aspects of infant feeding relevant to obesity prevention at most consultations, with around a third (37 %) routinely provided advice on formula preparation. Less than half of nurses routinely promoted active play and only 30 % discussed limiting sedentary behaviour such as TV viewing. Concerns about parental receptiveness and maintaining rapport were key barriers to more effective implementation. CONCLUSION: While MCH nurses are well placed to address obesity prevention in early life, there is currently a missed public health opportunity. Improving nurse skills in behaviour change counseling will be key to increasing their confidence in raising sensitive lifestyle issues with parents to better integrate obesity prevention practices into normal MCH service delivery.

Does maternal psychopathology increase the risk of pre-schooler obesity? A systematic review

The preschool years may be a critical period for child obesity onset; however, literature examining obesity risk factors to date has largely focused on school-aged children. Several links have been made between maternal depression and childhood obesity risks; however, other types of maternal psychopathology have been widely neglected. The aim of the present review was to systematically identify articles that examined relationships between maternal psychopathology variables, including depressive and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, and risks for pre-schooler obesity, including weight outcomes, physical activity and sedentary behaviour levels, and nutrition/diet variables. Twenty articles meeting review criteria were identified. Results showed positive associations between maternal depressive symptoms and increased risks for pre-schooler obesity in the majority of studies. Results were inconsistent depending on the time at which depression was measured (i.e., antenatal, postnatal, in isolation or longitudinally). Anxiety and body dissatisfaction were only measured in single studies; however, both were linked to pre-schooler obesity risks; self-esteem was not measured by any studies. We concluded that maternal depressive symptoms are important to consider when assessing risks for obesity in preschool-aged children; however, more research is needed examining the impact of other facets of maternal psychopathology on obesity risk in pre-schoolers.

Prevalence and risk factors for stunting and severe stunting among under-fives in North Maluku province of Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Adequate nutrition is needed to ensure optimum growth and development of infants and young children. Understanding of the risk factors for stunting and severe stunting among children aged less than five years in North Maluku province is important to guide Indonesian government public health planners to develop nutrition programs and interventions in a post conflict area. The purpose of the current study was to assess the prevalence of and the risk factors associated with stunting and severe stunting among children aged less than five years in North Maluku province of Indonesia. METHODS: The health and nutritional status of children aged less than five years was assessed in North Maluku province of Indonesia in 2004 using a cross-sectional multi-stage survey conducted on 750 households from each of the four island groups in North Maluku province. A total of 2168 children aged 0-59 months were used in the analysis. RESULTS: Prevalence of stunting and severe stunting were 29% (95%CI: 26.0-32.2) and 14.1% (95%CI: 11.7-17.0) for children aged 0-23 months and 38.4% (95%CI: 35.9-41.0) and 18.4% (95%CI: 16.1-20.9) for children aged 0-59 months, respectively. After controlling for potential confounders, multivariate analysis revealed that the risk factors for stunted children were child's age in months, male sex and number of family meals per day (

The population cost-effectiveness of a parenting intervention designed to prevent anxiety disorders in children

BACKGROUND: Prevention and early intervention for anxiety disorders has lagged behind many other forms of mental disorder. Recent research has demonstrated the efficacy of a parent-focussed psycho-educational programme. The programme is directed at parents of inhibited preschool children and has been shown to reduce anxiety disorders at 1 and 3 years following intervention. The current study assesses the cost-effectiveness of this intervention to determine whether it could provide value-for-money across a population. METHOD: A cost-utility economic framework, using Disability-Adjusted-Life-Years (DALYs) as the outcome, was adopted. Economic modelling techniques were used to assess the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of the intervention within the Australian population context, which was modelled as add-on to current practice. The perspective was the health sector. Uncertainty was measured using multivariate probabilistic testing and key assumptions were tested using univariate sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: The median ICER for the intervention was AUD$8,000 per DALY averted with 99.8% of the uncertainty iterations falling below the threshold value-for-money criterion of AUD$50,000 per DALY averted. The results were robust to sensitivity testing. CONCLUSIONS: Screening young children in a preschool setting for an inhibited temperament and providing a brief intervention to the parents of children with high levels of inhibition appears to provide very good value-for-money and worth considering in any package of preventive care. Further evaluation of this intervention under routine health service conditions will strengthen conclusions. Acceptability issues associated with this intervention, particularly to preschool staff and parents, need to be considered before wide-scale adoption is undertaken.

Iron intakes of Australian infants and toddlers: findings from the Melbourne Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT) Program

Fe deficiency remains the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide and young children are at particular risk. Preventative food-based strategies require knowledge of current intakes, sources of Fe, and factors associated with low Fe intakes; yet few data are available for Australian children under 2 years. This study’s objectives were to determine intakes and food sources of Fe for Australian infants and toddlers and identify non-dietary factors associated with Fe intake. Dietary, anthropometric and socio-demographic data from the Melbourne Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial Program were analysed for 485 infants (mean age: 9·1 (sd 1·2) months) and 423 toddlers (mean age: 19·6 (sd 2·6) months) and their mothers. Dietary intakes were assessed via 24-h recalls over 3 non-consecutive days. Prevalence of inadequate Fe intake was estimated using the full probability approach. Associations between potential non-dietary predictors (sex, breast-feeding status, age when introduced to solid foods, maternal age, maternal education, maternal employment status and mother’s country of birth) and Fe intakes were assessed using linear regression. Mean Fe intakes were 9·1 (sd 4·3) mg/d for infants and 6·6 (sd 2·4) mg/d for toddlers. Our results showed that 32·6 % of infants and 18·6 % of toddlers had inadequate Fe intake. Main food sources of Fe were Fe-fortified infant formula and cereals for infants and toddlers, respectively. Female sex and current breast-feeding were negatively associated with infant Fe intakes. Introduction to solid foods at or later than 6 months was negatively associated with Fe intake in toddlers. These data may facilitate food-based interventions to improve Australian children’s Fe intake levels.

Becoming a 21st century literacy teacher:provocations, perceptions and possibilities in teacher education

This paper reports on a study that investigated pre-service teachers’ digital funds of knowledge and their perceptions of the digital pedagogies and practices in early years literacy classrooms. It also explores pre-service teachers’ experiences of “produsing” a cumulative multimodal portfolio (in the form of a wiki) and its application for future literacy teaching and learning. Specifically, 123 education students enrolled in their second year of an undergraduate initial-teacher education course at an Australian university completed an anonymous survey. The resultsshow that this group of students were active users of technology-based tools, but had limited experience with using participatory user-led knowledge creation tools (such as Web 2.0 technologies) although many observed the use of these tools in early years literacy classrooms while on professional experience school placements. Further findings show thatalthough the majority of this group of pre-service teachers felt more confident after creating a wiki and reported that they would use them in future literacy teaching and learning, their understandings of the pedagogical and creative potential of these digital tools in supporting literacy learning in young children appeared limited. The findings suggest that there is a need for educators in higher education to understand their students’ digital funds of knowledge and to provide rich opportunities to support these students’ use and understandings of the affordances of these new technologies as vehicles to explore and enrich 21st century literacy learning in early years digital environments.

Psychological wellbeing among same-sex attracted and heterosexual parents: Role of connectedness to family and friendship networks

© 2015 Australian Association of Family Therapy. Increasing numbers of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults are entering into parenthood. Previous studies indicate many of these parents receive little or no support from their families of origin due to family members' negative attitudes toward homosexuality. This study looks at the extent to which LGB parents report a lower sense of connectedness to family of origin and friendship networks than heterosexual parents and whether this has an impact on psychological wellbeing in either of these groups. Data were derived from two studies of parents: Work, Love, Play, a study of Australian and New Zealand LGB parents (n=324); and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a population-based study of young children and parents (n=6460). Structural equation modelling was used to explore the relationships between: parent sexuality and family/friendship connectedness, family/friendship connectedness and psychological wellbeing, parent sexuality and psychological wellbeing. LGB parents reported feeling less connected to their families of origin but more connected to their friendship groups than heterosexual parents. Counter to previous studies, we found no difference in the psychological wellbeing of LGB parents compared to heterosexual parents when examining the direct effect of sexuality on psychological wellbeing. Clinical implications for counsellors and family therapists are discussed.