What Works? A Study of Effective Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Programs

Examines factors that lead to desirable outcomes in mental health consultation programs: solid program infrastructure, highly qualified consultants, and quality support services. Analyzes targeted outcomes, measurements, and intensity of interventions

Environmentally sustainable food consumption : a review and research agenda from a goal-directed perspective

The challenge of convincing people to change their eating habits toward more environmentally sustainable food consumption (ESFC) patterns is becoming increasingly pressing. Food preferences, choices and eating habits are notoriously hard to change as they are a central aspect of people's lifestyles and their socio-cultural environment. Many people already hold positive attitudes toward sustainable food, but the notable gap between favorable attitudes and actual purchase and consumption of more sustainable food products remains to be bridged. The current work aims to (1) present a comprehensive theoretical framework for future research on ESFC, and (2) highlight behavioral solutions for environmental challenges in the food domain from an interdisciplinary perspective. First, starting from the premise that food consumption is deliberately or unintentionally directed at attaining goals, a goal-directed framework for understanding and influencing ESFC is built. To engage in goal-directed behavior, people typically go through a series of sequential steps. The proposed theoretical framework makes explicit the sequential steps or hurdles that need to be taken for consumers to engage in ESFC. Consumers need to positively value the environment, discern a discrepancy between the desired versus the actual state of the environment, opt for action to reduce the experienced discrepancy, intend to engage in behavior that is expected to bring them closer to the desired end state, and act in accordance with their intention. Second, a critical review of the literature on mechanisms that underlie and explain ESFC (or the lack thereof) in high-income countries is presented and integrated into the goal-directed framework. This contribution thus combines a top-down conceptualization with a bottom-up literature review; it identifies and discusses factors that might hold people back from ESFC and interventions that might promote ESFC; and it reveals knowledge gaps as well as insights on how to encourage both short- and long-term ESFC by confronting extant literature with the theoretical framework. Altogether, the analysis yields a set of 33 future research questions in the interdisciplinary food domain that deserve to be addressed with the aim of fostering ESFC in the short and long term

The Evidence Base for How and Why Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultations Works

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) is an evidence-based service in which consultants build capacity for early childhood professionals and programs to promote the social-emotional development of infants and young children. This paper describes the current state of the evidence for IECMHC, mapping the evidence to a new theory of change from the Center of Excellence (CoE) for IECMHC. There is a substantial literature base regarding the effects of consultation on outcomes for infants and young children; yet the evidence for consultation’s specific mechanisms of change, moderators of impact, and reductions in disparities have been understudied. The authors identify gaps in the scholarly literature, articulate next steps for research, and conclude with a call to action for IECMHC researchers to expand rigorous studies to the range of settings in which IECMHC is implemented and to center social justice in the research questions, methods, and dissemination

Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences and their cumulative impact associated lifetime health outcomes in the Emirate of Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Background Adverse Childhood Experiences have been associated with poor health outcomes later in life. Objective The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between cumulative ACEs, risky health behaviors, chronic diseases, and mental health among a large-scale sample from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Participants and setting A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed with 922 participants over the age of 18, living in Abu Dhabi. Methods The Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) was used to assess ACEs, alongside a survey of adult health outcomes, mental health outcomes, and risk-taking behaviors. Results Logistic regression models examined the association between retrospective ACEs and these outcomes. The respondents reported an average of 1.74 ACEs. The most prevalent ACEs were household violence, parental death or divorce, and community violence. The accumulation of ACEs significantly predicts increases in the risk of a variety of adult-onset health morbidities, all measured mental health morbidities, and all measured risk-taking behaviors, with evidence of thresholds of ACE accumulation dictating risk. Conclusions The baseline presence of ACEs among this Abu Dhabi sample, along with the associated risks of physical and mental health morbidities, and risk-taking behaviors play a significant role in understanding the extent, nature, and associated sequalae of ACEs in this population; providing nuanced context for early intervention. Our findings will inform the planning and implementation of specific prevention and awareness raising programs while promoting safe environments where children are healthy and can thrive

Initial validation of the Health Environment Rating Scale-Early Childhood Consultation-Classroom (HERS-ECC-C)

The present study validated a newly developed easy-to-use observational instrument, the Health Environment Rating Scale-Early Childhood Consultation-Classroom version (HERS-ECC-C), to measure the quality of the classroom environment within early care and education centers participating in a mental health consultation program in a diverse area of the southeastern United States. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, three factors emerged capturing critical aspects of a high-quality classroom environment and demonstrated good reliability: (1) Supportive Practices, Positive Socioemotional Practices, and Classroom Management (α = .88), (2) Health and Family Communication (α = .79), and (3) Individualizing to Children's Needs (α = .80). Criterion-related validity was established through concurrent associations between the three HERS-ECC-C subscales and the domains of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and predictive associations with the Childcare Worker Job Stress Inventory. The HERS-ECC-C Supportive Practices and Health and Family Communication subscales were associated with all three CLASS domains, and the Individualizing to Children's Needs subscale was associated with the CLASS Instructional support domain. Higher HERS-ECC-C subscale scores were associated with lower teacher-reported job stress. Findings provide initial evidence to support the use and continued development of the HERS-ECC-C as a tool to evaluate programs and classrooms engaged in mental health consultation professional development interventions

Magnetic signatures of serpentinization at ophiolite complexes

International audienceWe compare magnetic properties of 58 variably serpentinized peridotites from three ophiolite complexes (Pindos, Greece; Oman; Chenaillet, France) and the mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Kane fracture zone (MARK). The Pindos and Oman sites show low susceptibility and remanence (K 250–3008C) occurring at the axis (i.e., Chenaillet, similar to serpentinites from magmatically poor mid-ocean ridges), from lower temperature serpentinization (<200–2508C), likely occurring off axis and possibly during obduction (i.e., Pindos and Oman). At both settings, serpentinization can result in significant hydrogen release