Prevention Action

Picking out the active ingredients

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:47:07 +0000

The two keys to school-based substance misuse prevention programs are problem solving skills training and social skills training, a new study finds. And the best outcomes happen when the two “active ingredients” are used together.

When homelessness “overwhelms” young people’s resilience

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The mental health risks of homelessness are high – and they may get higher the longer a young person has been without stable housing. Youth who had been homeless longer than six months tended to have greater distress and lower resilience than those more recently homeless, a recent Canadian study found.

When homelessness “overwhelms” young people’s resilience

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Is kids’ yoga ready for the big time?

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Contemplative practices for children have boomed in recent years. Advocates say they help kids improve attention and decrease stress. Critics say their popularity is driven more by marketing than solid evidence. Here, two Penn State researchers set out a program to build the evidence base.

The research is fine, shame about the reporting

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:44:59 +0000

Is the ability to report research clearly just as important as choosing the most rigorous research design? A recent review argues that criminologists can take inspiration from medical trials to give fellow academics and policy makers a clearer picture of how they found their results.

Contagion: nothing spreads like crime

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Living in close proximity to repeat offenders dramatically increases the risk that teenage boys who have committed a crime will re-offend. And this “peer contagion” can also encourage them to specialize in specific types of crime, a new study finds.

Small kids, big problems: can we treat depression in preschoolers?

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

A new treatment offers tentative hope to families of depressed preschoolers, a pilot study has found. The tried-and-tested intervention Parent-Child Interaction Therapy has been adapted to treat preschool depression – with promising early results.

Preventing child abuse: A big problem with little evidence

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:14:45 +0000

A US initiative that works with mothers who have not been reported for child maltreatment may hold the key to how evidence can be collected and agencies can work together to prevent abuse.

Child protection policy: guided by the head or the heart?

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:36:42 +0000

“There is no evidence that child protection systems get to the right children, or that they are having any effect on the incidence of maltreatment.” This is the claim of Michael Little, director of the Social Research Unit, and colleagues in a forthcoming review of the state of child protection in the UK. They say that the “heart” has shaped social policy, and argue for listening to the “head” instead.

A rare view into the designers’ workshop

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:07:10 +0000

How does an idea get from the drawing board into the real world of family interventions? The story of the Helping Families Programme offers a unique view into the designers’ world.