Category: Child Health

The next generation: how intergenerational interaction improves life chances of children and young people

United for All Ages, January 2019
This report looks at how intergenerational interaction can have benefits for children and young people who currently face a growing crisis of confidence, loneliness and anxiety, often fearful about the future, fragmented families, segregated by age, with cuts in services and financial support.  The report finds that interaction between older and younger people can help address these issues – starting at an early age with nurseries and care homes linking, through schools, colleges and universities, to mentoring and community projects.

Click here to view the full report.

The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry – February 2019

The February issue of The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has been published.  This issue includes articles on the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage, the effects of cesarean delivery and antibiotic use in early childhood on risk of later attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and developmental changes in longitudinal associations between academic achievement and psychopathological symptoms from late childhood to middle adolescence.
Click here to view the table of contents.
Click here to request an article from the Library.

State of Child Health: Two Years On

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, January 2019
This report provides and update on progress made against the policy recommendations in the RCPCH State of Child Health 2017 report.  The RCPCH congratulates the Government on its commitment to child health, commending them on bold pledges in areas such as obesity, mental health and the integration of children’s health services.  However, the report also shows that England continues to lag behind other Western European countries on a range of child health outcomes including reducing child poverty and inequality, infant mortality, tobacco and alcohol control, and breastfeeding.
Click here to view the full report.

Overview of the 6 early years and school aged years high impact areas: Health visitors and school nurses leading the Healthy Child Programme

Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England, December 2018
The purpose of this report is to illustrate the contribution of health visitors to the Healthy Child Programme (0-5) and school nurses to the Healthy Child Programme (5-19) and to describe areas where health visitors and school nurses have a significant impact on health and wellbeing and improving outcomes for children, young people, families and communities.
Click here to view the full report.

Evidence-based early years intervention

House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, November 2018
This report urges the Government to develop a new national strategy to capitalise on the opportunity that early intervention provides to transform the lives of those who suffer adversity in childhood, while also saving long-term costs to Government.
The Committee’s Report identifies examples of early intervention working well around the country, but also the challenges that local authorities and their partners currently face in delivering effective, evidence-based early intervention. It concludes that the overall provision of early intervention in England is fragmented, with varying levels of support, focus on evidence, and success.
Click here to read the full report.

End of life care: strengthening choice: An inquiry report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Children Who Need Palliative Care

All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Children Who Need Palliative Care, October 2018
Report that highlights five areas of particular concern, where many children and their families have limited access to:

  • children’s palliative care out of hours and at weekends
  • short breaks for respite
  • age-appropriate palliative care and smooth transitions to adult services
  • specialist children’s palliative care teams led by Level 4 consultants
  • advance care planning

Click here to view the full report.

Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, And Allied Disciplines – November 2018

The November issue of Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, And Allied Disciplines has been published.  This issue includes a systematic review of anxiety associated with negative interpretations of ambiguity in children and adolescents, an article on development of autistic social traits across childhood and adolescence in males and females, and a randomized waitlist‐controlled trial of cognitive behavior therapy to improve emotion regulation in children with autism.
Click here to view the table of contents.
Click here to request an article from the Library.

A Crying Shame: A report by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner into vulnerable babies in England

Office of the Children’s Commissioner, October 2018
This report looks at how many babies might be vulnerable in this way and presents the facts about the sort of risks even very young children are being exposed to. Much of the data is missing; however, we are publishing the best estimates we can give of the numbers of babies living in high-risk households. A more detailed technical report explains some of the factors which affect the calculations2 – namely, that very little data is collected or collated about vulnerable babies, and that the data which does exist is often reported for children in age brackets (0-4) and not broken down for babies under a year old.
Click here to view the full report.