A systematic review and meta-analysis of psychosocial interventions for 6–12-year-old children who have been forcibly displaced

Background: Children who have been forcibly displaced are likely to experience psychosocial challenges given they may be dealing with past trauma and challenges of adapting to their new environment. Effective psychosocial interventions are needed to promote psychosocial wellbeing. Literature identifies the ages of 6–12 years (middle childhood), as key to addressing psychosocial development. To date, systematic reviews identifying effective psychosocial interventions for children have focused on adolescents. Aim: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to: 1) identify psychosocial interventions conducted in middle childhood with forcibly displaced children; 2) summarize the characteristics of the included interventions; 3) identify the methodological quality of the studies; and 4) identify effectiveness of the interventions. Method: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across four databases and supplementary literature. Study design was classified according to the National Health and Medical Research Council Hierarchy of Evidence. Methodological quality was assessed using the QualSyst appraisal checklist. Intervention approaches were classified into activity codes using the ‘Who is Where When doing What’ (4Ws) tool. Intervention effects were explored through meta-analysis. Results: Nineteen studies with 2386 children met the eligibility criteria. A total of 19 intervention approaches were identified. The interventions found to be most promising were Narrative Exposure Therapy for children and adolescents (KidNET), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Child-Centred Play Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and creative interventions. Unstructured play or education alone did not produce a beneficial intervention effect. Conclusions: Middle childhood presents a unique opportunity to address psychosocial wellbeing with forcibly displaced children. While psychological-based activities in this review demonstrated effectiveness for symptom reduction, future intervention options should expand to include strengths- and resilience-based. Further research evaluating the effectiveness of psychosocial intervention for forcibly displaced children is required using randomised control designs, greater sample sizes, and longitudinal data

Source levels of dugong (dugong dugon) vocalizations recorded in Shark Bay

Dugongs (Dugong dugon) spend significant time in shallow, turbid waters and are often active at night, conditions which are not conducive to visual cues. In part, as a result, dugongs vocalize to gain or pass information. Passive acoustic recording is a useful tool for remote detection of vocal marine animals, but its application to dugongs has been little explored compared with other mammals. Aerial surveys, often used to monitor dugong distribution and abundance, are not always financially or logistically viable and involve inherent availability and perception bias considerations. Passive acoustic monitoring is also subject to sampling biases and a first step to identifying these biases and understanding the detection or communication range of animal calls is to determine call source level. In March 2012, four dugongs were fitted with satellite tags in Shark Bay, Western Australia by the Department of Environment and Conservation. During this, acoustic recordings were taken at 5.1 m range. Source levels for each of five call types (two types of chirp, bark, squeak, and quack) were estimated, assuming spherical spreading as the transmission loss. Mean source levels for these call types were 139 (n = 19), 135 (12), 142 (2), 158 (1), and 136 (9) dB re 1 μPa at 1 m, respectively

Stress, Coping, and Quality of Life in Families with a Child with ASD Living Regionally

Objectives: The present study aimed to explore whether regionality is associated with differing stress levels, coping, QOL and daily routines for parents and families of a child with ASD (aged 2–18 years) in Western Australia using validated outcome measures and compare the stress levels and QOL of this group to population norms. Methods: A sample of 278 families living in Western Australia who have a child or adolescent (2–18 years old) with a clinical diagnosis of ASD participated in a cross-sectional survey. Multivariate logistic regression modelling was conducted to determine key factors associated between regionality and demographic variables, quality of life, coping styles, time use, and stress levels. Results: Parents living in low densely populated areas were more likely to adopt avoidant coping mechanisms, compared to those living in densely populated areas. Fathers with children on the autism spectrum were less likely to be educated above diploma level in regional and remote areas. Stress, QOL or daily routines did not differ by regionality; however, the total sample (i.e., parents from both LDP and DP areas) experienced significantly higher levels of stress and lower QOL when compared to the general population. Conclusions: The findings suggest that despite having higher levels of stress and lower QOL compared to the general population, residing in a geographically LDP area in Western Australia has a small association on preferred coping style preference and has no association on stress levels, QOL or daily routines for parents who have a child with ASD

Appropriateness of the TOBY Application, an iPad Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Thematic Approach

This study aimed to explore the appropriateness of an ICT intervention, the Therapeutic Outcomes by You application (TOBY app), from the perspectives of the parents. Parental experiences of twenty-four parents of a child with ASD who had participated in a three-month trial using the TOBY app were collected using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was conducted and themes were mapped against an appropriateness framework. Collectively, parents felt the TOBY app was relevant and important to them and their children’s needs, while expressing partial support of the TOBY app as: a positive experience for them and their children, beneficial for them and their children, a socially and ecological valid intervention, and an intervention that supported change and continuation in the skills learnt

The Geodynamic Significance of Continental UHP Exhumation: New Constraints From the Tso Morari Complex, NW Himalaya

The burial and exhumation of continental crust to and from ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) is an important orogenic process, often interpreted with respect to the onset and/or subduction dynamics of continent‐continent collision. Here, we investigate the timing and significance of UHP metamorphism and exhumation of the Tso Morari complex, North‐West Himalaya. We present new petrochronological analyses of mafic eclogites and their host‐rock gneisses, combining U‐Pb zircon, rutile and xenotime geochronology (high‐precision CA‐ID‐TIMS and high‐spatial resolution LA‐ICP‐MS), garnet element maps, and petrographic observations. Zircon from mafic eclogite have a CA‐ID‐TIMS age of 46.91 ± 0.07 Ma, with REE profiles indicative of growth at eclogite facies conditions. Those ages overlap with zircon rim ages (48.9 ± 1.2 Ma, LA‐ICP‐MS) and xenotime ages (47.4 ± 1.4 Ma; LA‐ICP‐MS) from the hosting Puga gneiss, which grew during breakdown of UHP garnet rims. We argue that peak zircon growth at 47–46 Ma corresponds to the onset of exhumation from UHP conditions. Subsequent exhumation through the rutile closure temperature, is constrained by new dates of 40.4 ± 1.7 and 36.3 ± 3.8 Ma (LA‐ICP‐MS). Overlapping ages from Kaghan imply a coeval time‐frame for the onset of UHP exhumation across the NW Himalaya. Furthermore, our regional synthesis demonstrates a causative link between changes in the subduction dynamics of the India‐Asia collision zone at 47–46 Ma and the resulting mid‐Eocene plate network reorganization. The onset of UHP exhumation therefore provides a tightly constrained time‐stamp significant geodynamic shifts within the orogen and wider plate network

A twelve-month follow-up of an information communication technology delivered intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder living in regional Australia

This study investigated the long-term follow-up of an information communication techonology based intervention, the Therapeutic Outcomes By You application, for children with autism spectrum disorder living in regional Australia. Fifteen participants who completed a three-month randomised controlled trial of the Therapeutic Outcomes By You were assessed at least 12 months post-intervention to determine the maintenance or continued improvement of their language and social communication skills. Findings demonstrate the receptive language, social skills, pragmatic language and playfulness of children with autism spectrum disorder improved during the three-month intervention period and were maintained at least 12 months after ceasing the Therapeutic Outcomes By You app intervention