Caregiver-mediated interventions to support self-regulation among infants and young children (0-5 years): a protocol for a realist review

Heart rate variability to track autonomic nervous system health in young children: Effects of physical activity and cardiometabolic risk factors

Evidence for a key role of dysregulated autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in maladaptive stress response/recovery and non-communicable disease development is extensive. Monitoring ANS activity via regular heart rate variability (HRV) measurement is growing in popularity in adult populations given that low HRV has been associated with ANS dysregulation, poor stress response/reactivity, increased cardiometabolic disease risk and early mortality. Although cardiometabolic disease may originate in early life, regular HRV measurement for assessing ANS activity in childhood populations, especially those consisting of children < 6 years of age, remains largely unpractised. A greater understanding of ANS activity modifiers in early life may improve analysis and interpretation of HRV measurements, thereby optimising its usefulness. Taking into consideration that HRV and ANS activity can be improved via daily engagement in physical activity (PA), this review will discuss the ANS and HRV, ANS activity modifiers, cardiometabolic disease risk factors and PA as they relate to childhood/adolescent populations (≤ 18 years old).

Factors influencing emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children with cancer based on self-regulation shift theory

OBJECTIVE

The objective is to investigate the factors influencing emotional and behavioral problems in preschool children with cancer and to provide a scientific basis for developing predictive intervention strategies.

METHODS

We recruited 375 preschool children with cancer, from March 2019 to February 2020, via convenience sampling. The self-regulation shift theory was implemented as a theoretical framework and a structural equation model was applied to construct and validate this framework and to analyze the relationships among various influencing factors.

RESULTS

Children's effortful control, parent-child attachment, the family environment, family upbringing, parents' marital quality, parents' education level, and social support significantly affected children's emotions and behaviors. Additionally, children's effortful control and parent-child attachment mediated the effect of the family environment, family upbringing, and parents' marital quality on children's emotions and behaviors."

CONCLUSION

This study identified several factors that influence children's emotions and behaviors, which should be considered while developing predictive intervention strategies to promote children's rehabilitation and improve parents' education, thus offering improved support for children with cancer.

Don't Get Lost in Translation: Integrating Developmental and Implementation Sciences to Accelerate Real-World Impact on Children's Development, Health, and Wellbeing

Translation of developmental science discoveries is impeded by numerous barriers at different stages of the research-to-practice pipeline. Actualization of the vast potential of the developmental sciences to improve children's health and development in the real world is imperative but has not yet been fully realized. In this commentary, we argue that an integrated developmental-implementation sciences framework will result in a translational mindset essential for accelerating real world impact. We delineate key principles and methods of implementation science of salience to the developmental science audience, lay out a potential synthesis between implementation and developmental sciences, provide an illustration of the Mental Health, Earlier Partnership (MHE-P), and set actionable steps for realization. Blending these approaches along with wide-spread adoption of the translational mindset has transformative potential for population-level impact of developmental science discovery.