I urval från Stockholms universitets publikationsdatabas

• A Cluster Randomized Trial of Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS®) With Swedish Preschool Children

  2021. Lilianne Eninger (et al.). Frontiers in Psychology 12

  Artikel

  The preschool edition of Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS(R)) is a school-based, teacher implemented universal intervention developed in the United States designed to promote social emotional competence (SEC) in children as a foundation for improved mental health. PATHS is delivered as a curriculum and it is based on theories and research regarding SEC, brain development, and optimal school environments. A majority of children in Sweden attend preschool, which is government-subsidized and follows a national curriculum focusing on both academic and social emotional learning. However, there is not so much focus on formal instruction nor manual-based lessons. The purpose of this study was to assess the short-term (pre- to post-test) effects of PATHS in the Swedish preschool setting. Using a two-wave cluster randomized trial with multi-method and informant assessment (N = 285 4 and 5-year-old Swedish children; n = 145 wait-list control; n = 140 intervention; K = 26 preschools; k = 13 intervention; k = 13 control) we assessed changes in child emotional knowledge, emotional awareness, social problem solving, prosocial play, inhibitory control, and working memory using structural equation modeling (SEM). We included schools with at least one classroom of 4-5-year-old children from three municipalities. We excluded open preschools, parent cooperative preschools, and family day homes. After random assignment, schools were informed of condition assignment. Research team members were not blind to assignment. We hypothesized that relative to children in control schools, children in intervention schools would evidence improvements in social emotional competence as well as other outcomes. Children in PATHS, relative to children in the control, evidenced improvements in working memory and prosocial play, but also showed an increase in hyperactive behaviors. Girls in PATHS, relative to girls in the control, showed improvement in emotional knowledge and reduced anxiety. These results are considered in light of efforts to promote positive development and mental health.

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• Implementation of a Swedish effectiveness trial of preschool PATHS

  2019. Laura Ferrer-Wreder (et al.).

  Konferens

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• Neighborhood conditions in a Swedish context: Reliability and validity of virtual systematic social observation with Google Street View

  2022. Ingela Clausén Gull. EARLI SIG15 Conference. A village to teach a child: The influence of contextual factors on learning and development, 96-97

  Konferens

  Contextual resources are important for the positive development of children and youth. Growing up in socio-economically vulnerable neighborhoods has been associated with, for instance, children´s health outcomes (Brzoska & Razum, 2015), anti-social behavior (Odgers et al., 2009) and school achievement (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). However, the role of physical neighborhood characteristics, like safety, orderliness and well-kept buildings, and their importance to child development is understudied (Christian et al., 2015; Villanueva et al., 2016).

  Assessment of the physical environment has been made through, often subjective, in-person observation and coding of contextual conditions (Clarke et al., 2010; Mooney et al., 2014). With support of recent digital geographical tools such as Google Street View (GSV), Systematic Social Observation (SSO) can to a large extent be performed from a distance and with fewer resources than in person observations. Virtual SSO is considered to be a reliable and cost-effective method to study neighborhood conditions (Bader et al., 2017; Brunton-Smith, 2018; Odgers et al., 2012), and has previously been used in the United States and United Kingdom. However, this method has not yet been used in Sweden - a context which may be expected to differ from those previously studied using SSO.

  Sweden is a social welfare state, with a social and political fabric that aims to support the rights of children and families to thrive under the best living conditions that are practically possible. Yet, there are variations in contextual factors within contemporary Swedish neighborhoods that are not well studied nor understood. Given the need to understand how contextual conditions relate to children’s learning and development, e.g., their socio-emotional competence, new tools that can measure contextual conditions, and that are culturally relevant and rooted in Swedish neighborhoods are needed. Thus, the study aim was to determine if virtual SSO is a reliable and valid method that may provide assessment of meaningful neighborhood contextual factors that are relevant and reflective of life in a Swedish context.

  In study 1, two raters performed in-person and virtual data collection with the same assessment protocol, in the same 24 neighborhoods within four postal code areas. The research question was to establish if the in-person and GSV could be reliable indicators across raters, and if the GSV and in-person data collection were comparable in this sample of Swedish suburban neighborhoods. On an item level, we analyzed inter-rater reliability with Fleiss Kappa, Intra Class Correlation (ICC) and percentage of agreement, and used Pearson correlations to estimate concurrent validity across methods. Results showed high consistency between raters (on in person and GSV items) and high consistency across methods, on the included items. GSV was thus regarded as a method that was comparable with in-person data collection, and possible to use as an index of neighborhood conditions in this Swedish context. Thereafter, at the scale level, we developed virtual SSO scales for neighborhood contextual conditions. Scales for Physical Decay, Neighborhood Dangerousness and Physical Disorder, proved to be reliable, with high consistency across methods, and high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha). In study 2, we wanted to establish if the virtual SSO measures developed in Study 1, could be linked to levels of income in the same Swedish neighborhoods that were rated using the GSV method and scales. Virtual data collection using GSV was performed by two raters, for a total of 137 neighborhoods (the 24 neighborhoods in Study 1 were included) in 22 postal code areas. We estimated internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for virtual SSO measures in this larger sample, and results showed that scales for Physical Decay and Neighborhood Dangerousness had high internal consistency. Concurrent validity was estimated through correlation between virtual SSO ratings of neighborhoods aggregated to postal code level, and level of household income of all residents at postal code level. An independent t-test revealed that mean values of scales for observed Physical Decay, Neighborhood Dangerousness and a single item measuring signs of garbage or litter in the streets were significantly higher in low-income areas than in high-income areas. We conclude that virtual SSO with GSV is a reliable and valid measure of several key objective neighborhood contextual conditions and that the GSV scales distinguish between postal code areas that have residents with high or low income.

  Neighborhood contextual conditions have been difficult to measure objectively and reliably, and the nature of measures have limited the ability to capture the actual contextual conditions in children’s daily life. Virtual SSO is an observational tool that offers a possibility to objectively assess not only neighborhood physical conditions, but also provide information about neighborhood assets and contextual factors critical for academic achievement as well as socio-emotional development. This could, in turn, contribute to a deeper understanding of how Specific contextual factors influence children´s potential for learning and development, especially for children in most need.

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• Neighborhood conditions in a Swedish context - Two studies of reliability and validity of virtual systematic social observation using Google Street View

  2023. Ingela Clausén Gull (et al.). Frontiers in Psychology 14

  Artikel

  Introduction: The goal of these studies was to investigate the reliability and validity of virtual systematic social observation (virtual SSO) using Google Street View in a Swedish neighborhood context.

  Methods: This was accomplished in two studies. Study 1 focused on interrater reliability and construct validity, comparing ratings conducted in-person to those done using Google Street View, across 24 study sites within four postal code areas. Study 2 focused on criterion validity of virtual SSO in terms of neighborhoods with low versus high income levels, including 133 study sites within 22 postal code areas in a large Swedish city. In both studies, assessment of the neighborhood context was conducted at each study site, using a protocol adapted to a Swedish context.

  Results: Scales for Physical Decay, Neighborhood Dangerousness, and Physical Disorder were found to be reliable, with adequate interrater reliability, high consistency across methods, and high internal consistency. In Study 2, significantly higher levels of observed Physical Decay, Neighborhood Dangerousness, and signs of garbage or litter were observed in postal codes areas (site data was aggregated to postal code level) with lower as compared to higher income levels.

  Discussion: We concluded that the scales within the virtual SSO with Google Street View protocol that were developed in this series of studies represents a reliable and valid measure of several key neighborhood contextual features. Implications for understanding the complex person-context interactions central to many theories of positive development among youth were discussed in relation to the study findings.

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