Evidence

Evidence on children's well-being, problem first.

Every finding is tied to a defined problem for children, the intervention that claims to solve it, and its type of design. Open any card to compare the same intervention across countries.

152 evidence items · page 3 of 13

Development

Problem

Borderline personality disorder symptoms in mothers can be worsened by parenting stress, which can harm mother-infant relationships and infant development.

Intervention: Mother-infant dialectical therapy plus (MI-DBT+), which integrates mother-infant dialectical behavior therapy with attachment and biobehavioral catch-up (ABC) therapy.
Population: Eight Australian mothers with borderline personality disorder who had completed the MI-DBT+ program.

Key finding

Mothers said they learned more skills to understand their infants' needs, behaviors and emotions.

Practitioner

Pryor et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 5 Oct 2026

Development

Problem

Need to improve social behavior (cooperation, sharing, politeness) among young children in kindergarten

Intervention: An illustrated picture storybook developed using the ADDIE model and used as a learning medium
Population: Eight children in Group B at TK Kasih Ibu Uelene, Pamona Selatan District, Poso Regency, Indonesia

Key finding

Average social behavior score rose from 56.94% (pre-test) to 81.94% (post-test)

Practitioner

Menesi et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 5 Oct 2026

Development

JPCN

Problem

ADHD in children and adolescents, which can impair academic and social functioning

Intervention: Psychosocial interventions delivered in family, school and clinical settings, with a focus on combined (multimodal, cross-context) approaches compared with single-setting ones
Population: Children and adolescents with ADHD in 42 included studies; countries not stated in the abstract

Key finding

Multimodal interventions were associated with improved core ADHD symptoms and fewer long-term functional impairments.

Pre/post

Sun et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 5 Oct 2026

DevelopmentProtection

Problem

Child behavioural difficulties and difficult parenting (such as overreactivity) in families with young children aged 2-6 years

Intervention: Triple P Level 4 Group (social learning-based) and Circle of Security–Parenting (attachment-based), both delivered online through community agencies, compared with treatment-as-usual
Population: 502 caregivers of children aged 2-6 years recruited through four community organizations in Ontario, Canada

Key finding

Triple P showed significant short-term reductions in emotional symptoms and conduct problems relative to treatment-as-usual.

Experimental

González et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 5 Oct 2026

Development

AUGBZA

Problem

Barriers to successful psychosocial functioning at school for primary school children with neurodevelopmental diagnoses (autism, ADHD)

Intervention: School-based interventions (individualised and multi-tiered, some involving teachers and parents) to improve psychosocial functioning
Population: Primary school children with neurodevelopmental diagnoses, mainly autistic children and children with ADHD

Key finding

Small, significant treatment effects favoured the intervention groups in the between-group meta-analysis.

Experimental

Spender et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 6 Oct 2026

Development

Problem

Uncertainty over whether public preschool improves children's social-emotional skills in the short and medium term, especially for children from low-income families

Intervention: Attendance at public preschool in the US (school-based pre-k or Head Start) compared with no preschool
Population: Race-ethnically diverse children from low-income families in the US, followed to kindergarten (n = 907) and fourth grade (n = 595)

Key finding

No associations between preschool attendance and social-emotional outcomes at the end of kindergarten (n = 907)

Practitioner

Phillips et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 6 Oct 2026

DevelopmentSurvivalProtection

Problem

Limited father involvement in parenting and weaker nurturing care, early learning, feeding practices and maternal wellbeing in families with young children

Intervention: Familia Bora, a couples-based parenting program for mothers and fathers delivered in six communities (July-November 2024)
Population: Mothers of young children taking part with their partners in six communities in Mwanza, Tanzania; 22 mothers in endline interviews, 15 of them also interviewed at baseline

Key finding

Mothers reported improvements in all domains explored: parenting practices, gender roles and attitudes, couples' relationships, maternal mental health and complementary feeding.

Pre/post

Lambert et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 6 Oct 2026

Survival

Problem

Pediatricians in general practice are not consistently putting the AAP's climate-informed care recommendations into practice, even though children are especially vulnerable to climate-related health risks.

Intervention: A short educational session plus a Climate-Informed Pediatric Care toolkit of resources for clinicians.
Population: Clinicians in seven community pediatric practices within the Dartmouth Health system (United States).

Key finding

Overall confidence in having climate-informed conversations with patients improved after the intervention.

Pre/post

Anderson et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 7 Oct 2026

Development

Problem

Uncertainty over whether adding cognitive demand to exercise improves inhibitory control (an executive function) in children.

Intervention: A single bout of high cognitively demanding exercise or low cognitively demanding exercise, compared with an active control.
Population: 26 elementary school children, mean age 11.8 years (SD 0.5), Taiwan (country hint)

Key finding

Reaction time and accuracy did not differ across conditions (all p > 0.05).

Experimental

Chang et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 7 Oct 2026

Development

Problem

Limited vocabulary acquisition and retention among preschool children in ECCE centres

Intervention: Teacher-guided interactive mobile-based storytelling used to teach vocabulary, compared with traditional storytelling
Population: 280 preschool children and 111 caregivers and teachers from 49 ECCE/Creche centres in the Calabar Educational Zone, Cross River State, Nigeria

Key finding

Post-test vocabulary: experimental M=24.81 (SD=2.62) versus control M=17.94 (SD=2.83).

Experimental

Okon · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 7 Oct 2026

Survival

Problem

Persistent oxidative stress in children with sickle cell anaemia, which contributes to haemolysis, endothelial dysfunction and complications

Intervention: Hydroxyurea therapy, compared with no hydroxyurea
Population: 110 children aged 2-17 years with sickle cell anaemia attending Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, Nigeria

Key finding

No significant differences in most oxidative stress markers, antioxidant enzymes, antioxidant vitamins or total antioxidant capacity between users and non-users.

Practitioner

Amoo et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 7 Oct 2026

Development

Problem

Low participation in motor activities and difficulty with coordinated body movements among kindergarten children, which limits gross motor development

Intervention: Movement and song activities used as a gross motor stimulation strategy in kindergarten
Population: 16 children aged 5–6 years in Group B3 at TK Negeri 5 Tibang, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, selected by purposive sampling

Key finding

Total gross motor score rose from 680 (pretest) to 1,040 (posttest), an increase of 360 points.

Pre/post

Fitriani et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 7 Oct 2026

Evidence on children's well-being, problem first.

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Evidence on children's well-being, problem first.