Barriers in Education of Children from Socially Disadvantaged Environment

The paper discusses and summarizes the knowledge in the field of education of socially disadvantaged children with an em- phasis on the Roma ethnic group in Slovakia. It focuses on the issue of pre-primary education of these children and points to the specifics that have a negative impact on the adaptation to the school educational process. The paper addresses the risk aspects of poverty, social exclusion, child development and the need for early intervention for families with children. Further- more, in the article we focus on the support of children at the community level and on possible forms of aid that can help to achieve a more favorable development of the overall Roma family within specific projects. We also deal with early care, which is very important for the bio-psycho-social development of children and youth.

INCLUSIVE DIAGNOSTICS AND STIMULATION OF SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN OF A PRE-SCHOOL AGE: EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

The research focuses on the diagnostics and stimulation of socially disadvantaged children of a pre-school age, which is a crucial component of inclusive education. The aim of the research was to experimentally verify through input and output orientation diagnostics the effectiveness of the stimulation program for 5 to 6 year old socially disadvantaged children in kindergartens. The results of the input and output orientation screening of 5 to 6 year old children from the experimental and control groups were analysed. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the stimulation program intended for the training of areas of deficits of partial functions and symptoms in the experimental group was verified, and conclusions and recommendations for pedagogical theory and practice in the area of inclusive approaches at the pre-primary stage of the school system were formulated. The research demonstrated that the experimental group of children achieved statistically significantly better results in the post-test, focused on the area of symptoms measured by the t-test, than the control group. It was also confirmed that both groups of socially disadvantaged children (control and experimental) achieved statistically significantly better results in the post-test, focused on the area of deficits of partial functions, than in the pre-test. Keywords: inclusive diagnostics, inclusive education, pre-school age, socially disadvantaged children

Parenting and Emotional and Behavioral Responses of Children and Adolescents to the COVID-19 Epidemic: A Cross-sectional Survey in China

To investigate parenting and children’s emotional and lifestyle responses to the COVID-19 epidemic, we conducted an online survey of random, representative sample of residents with children aged 3–17 years in mid-March, 2020 in China. 1655 parents were surveyed with 80.1% response rate. During the epidemic, half (49%) of children had stress symptoms and 10% had emotional problems; children had higher screen time, less exercise and worse sleep than before. Socially disadvantaged children were more vulnerable to the epidemic. Children whose parents communicated about the epidemic more frequently, who had irritable parents and experienced worse parent-child closeness had higher probabilities of emotional problems, stress symptoms and worse lifestyles. Improve parenting skills and communication quality is necessary during the epidemic.

15 Jahre Panelstudie zur (Medien-)Sozialisation

This book deals with the role of media in the period of transition from youth to adulthood. It thus continues the (media) socialisation study with socially disadvantaged children and their families, and follows on from the previous volumes in this series. What has happened to those children, who were five years old at the beginning of the study in 2005? How do young people position themselves in the face of new social challenges and new media offerings, in terms of not only their private lives, but also and in particular their professional careers? What courses of action and blueprints and capacity for action are now available to them as young adults? Furthermore, how are their closest attachment figures? On the basis of a 7th phase of research, which was conducted in 2020, this book deals with these questions.

The STOP project

The STOP project aims at expanding and consolidating the multi-disciplinary evidence base upon which effective and sustainable policies can be built to prevent and manage childhood obesity. STOP also aims at creating the conditions for evidence to translate into policy and for policy to translate into impacts on the ground. The primary focus of STOP is on the cumulative impacts of multiple and synergistic exposures in vulnerable and socially disadvantaged children and their families, which must be a priority target for the fight against childhood obesity in Europe to reach a tipping point and succeed. STOP will identify critical stages in childhood at which interventions can be most effective and efficient. STOP is covering the whole umbrella of different research disciplines, to be able to understand and produce useful policy recommendations for complex issues such as childhood obesity. It is providing basic clinic research insights, comprehensive epidemiological data, study and overview of different public health-oriented measurements, understanding of stakeholders networking and effective communication. It builds on the observation that many interventions deployed by governments have failed to improve health-related behaviours in a sustained way over the life cycle. Little has been done to combine and triangulate different sources of biological, socio-economic and behavioural data to look at the overall, long-term consequences of an intervention on nutrition and metabolic health. Therefore, among other things, STOP focuses on the core idea that obesity has multiple and diverse characterisations, and therefore that one-size-fits-all policy approaches to childhood obesity are bound to fail, and the scientific component of the project is designed to recognise diversity and support the development of tailored solutions.

Challenges and Solutions for Improved Oral Health: Examples from Motivational Interviewing Trials

Knowledge Transfer Statement: Irrespective of country, socially disadvantaged children experience greater levels of preventable dental disease than their more socially advantaged peers. Motivational interviewing (MI) is recognized as a potential intervention tool for reducing prevalence of child dental disease. The challenges of implementing MI in 4 trials involving socially vulnerable children are highlighted in this commentary, with some potential solutions offered.

Health concepts among socially disadvantaged children in France, Germany and Switzerland

Summary As health concepts develop through exposure to, and experience with particular contexts, and as health concepts influence health behaviour, it is important for actors in health promotion programmes to understand an individual’s health concepts. This study focussed on health concepts among socially disadvantaged children in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland—a hitherto less researched population group. We conducted focus groups with a total of 167 children aged 7–11 years (mean=8.76 years, SD=0.68). The aim of this study was to explore if the life situation across four different countries leads to similar health concepts, and how the particular, national health discourses are reflected in the children’s health concepts. The data were analysed through a structured qualitative content analysis and revealed four categories: ‘Symbols/symptoms of health/illness’, ‘Emotionality’, ‘Healthy/unhealthy practices’, and ‘Consequences of health problems’. The children’s health concepts are linked to concrete events and objects, and they are able to think in logical sequences. However, the children’s causal argumentation is uni-dimensional; they do not cover the complexity of the development of health problems. In particular, overweight stands for illness and is exclusively the result of unhealthy practices. In their concepts, the children reflect the national health promotion programme discourses about overweight. They seem to understand the messages of health education as ‘behaving well means being healthy’; however, such a health education message initiates accusations of ‘unhealthy persons’. In consequence, challenges for sensitive health education programmes (at school) are discussed.