Africa Knowledge Hub for Children

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex6 Oct 2026

Comparing the preference of diagnostic information from variations of dynamic testing, criterion- and norm-referenced testing for individualized education planning

The aim of this study was to compare pre-service teachers' preference of information stemming from different diagnostic approaches. Participants ( N = 185) evaluated vignettes containing diagnostic information from norm-referenced testing, criterion-referenced testing, and two types of information coming from dynamic testing (Graduated Prompt training scores and pretest/posttest scores). They rated these vignettes regarding their usefulness for understanding a child's difficulties and for planning individualized education. Additionally, attitudes towards diagnostics, beliefs about diagnostic goals and prior knowledge of diagnostic approaches were examined as potential moderators. Overall, information from norm-referenced testing was seen as least useful. No differences were found between the other diagnostic approaches. Moderation effects were found for all of the assessed variables.

Taina Gabriel, Jochanan Veerbeek, Moritz Börnert-Ringleb

DevelopmentDENLRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex5 Oct 2026

Thumbs-out classification: a novel tool for detection of thumb-in- palm deformity in children and youth with cerebral palsy

Purpose To develop a simple screening tool, the Thumbs-Out Classification (TOC), for detecting thumb-in-palm deformity during clinical follow-ups of children with cerebral palsy (CP), and to evaluate its reliability.Methods The TOC was developed through expert consensus and consists of three levels of radial thumb abduction: normal (green), slightly reduced (yellow), and severely reduced (red). Classification cut-offs were established using goniometric measurements from 20 typically developing children. These cut-offs were then applied to classify active and passive radial thumb abduction in 61 children with CP (median age 9 years). Inter-rater, intra-rater, and test-retest reliability were assessed using Cohen’s weighted kappa (κw) and percentage agreement.Results Agreement between goniometric measurements and TOC levels was moderate for both active (κw = 0.59) and passive (κw = 0.54) radial abduction, with substantial percentage agreement (79% and 81%, respectively). Inter-rater reliability was almost perfect for active (κw = 0.93) and passive (κw = 0.89) radial abduction. Test-retest reliability was also almost perfect (active κw = 0.84; passive κw = 0.93).Conclusions The TOC is a reliable screening tool for monitoring thumb positioning in children with CP. It may facilitate detection of thumb-in-palm deformity and support timely interventions aimed at optimising hand function.

Jenny Hedberg‐Graff, Lena Krumlinde‐Sundholm, Fredrik Granström et al.

SurvivalSERead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex5 Oct 2026

The Role of Construal in Shaping Foreboding and Panic in Alice Munro’s “My Mother’s Dream”

This study applies the Cognitive Grammar framework to Alice Munro’s short story My Mother’s Dream, which centres on a young woman’s struggle to reconcile motherhood with her identity as a violinist in a post-war provincial Canadian community. The narrative intricately plays with the theme of infant death, presented initially as part of the young mother’s dream and revisited as a possibility in the post-climactic scene. Both scenes are analysed through the Cognitive Grammar concept of construal and its dimensions of specificity, prominence, and perspective (Langacker, 2008), complemented by the reference point model and the notion of action chains to explore how narrative meaning emerges through conceptual patterns. These tools enable a scientifically justified explanation of foreboding in the early scene and panic in the later one. Employing a qualitative, interpretive methodology based on close reading and the manual application of the Cognitive Grammar toolkit (Stockwell, 2014; Harrison, 2017a; Giovanelli, et al., 2021), this study demonstrates the framework’s potential to illuminate the processes of meaning encoding and decoding in fictional texts.

Oksana Hural

UARead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex5 Oct 2026

It’s Us Against Them Up There: Measuring Populism in Youth as a Multidimensional Concept

Abstract Populism has emerged as a defining challenge for contemporary democracies, yet empirical research has largely overlooked younger populations during their critical phase of political development. This study examines populist attitudes among adolescents and young adults, addressing how this multidimensional construct manifests in youth and its implications for future research on youth populism. Drawing on a German sample of 523 participants aged 14 to 21, we adapted a validated adult measurement tool to assess three dimensions of populism: people-centrism, anti-elitism, and Manichean outlook. We tested scalar measurement invariance across age groups and employed bifactor modeling to distinguish general and specific components of populism. Validity was examined through associations with conspiracy mentality, authoritarianism, political trust, satisfaction with democracy, and voting intentions for populist parties. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-dimensional structure with satisfactory psychometric properties and full scalar invariance. Bifactor modeling revealed that anti-elitism serves as the core binding element of the three populism facets. The general populism factor showed substantial associations with conspiracy mentality, moderate associations with authoritarianism, and strong negative associations with political trust and satisfaction with democracy. Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that each unit increase in general populist attitude doubled the odds of supporting populist parties (AfD, BSW), with additional significant effects of gender and school track. The results support both the applicability and validity of the adapted instrument among youth and demonstrate that bifactor modeling offers a valuable approach for capturing populism's complexity as a multidimensional attitude comprising general and specific components.

Elise Grunwald, Katharina Eckstein, Astrid Körner et al.

ParticipationDERead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex5 Oct 2026

Dense connectivity in networks of red-flag language milestones among high screen-time children

Introduction Screen time may influence language development during early childhood, although its effects may vary depending on contextual factors. While screen use can support development when guided by adults, excessive exposure has been associated with less favorable language outcomes. Methods Data from 16,914 children (51% girls, 78% White; M = 3.03 years, SD = 1.37) were obtained from the 2023 National Survey of Children’s Health. Networks of red-flag language milestones were estimated separately for children aged 1-2 and 3-5 years. Participants were classified according to World Health Organization (WHO) screen-time recommendations (<1 h/day vs. ≥1 h/day). Results Partially regularized network models revealed denser connectivity among language-development indicators in children with higher levels of screen exposure. This pattern was reflected in a greater number of network edges and fully connected subclusters and was particularly pronounced among children aged 3-5 years. Discussion The findings suggest that higher screen-time exposure is associated with more interconnected patterns of language-development difficulties during early childhood. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of language development in the context of children’s screen use and may provide useful insights for families, educational professionals, and policymakers interested in promoting healthy developmental environments and informed decisions regarding screen exposure.

Ana María Ruiz‐Ruano García, Trine Flensborg‐Madsen, Jorge López Puga

DevelopmentUSRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex3 Oct 2026

Unlocking the power of education: understanding the value and challenges of education for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) face significant challenges shaped by forced migration, trauma, legal uncertainty, and systemic barriers in host countries. While education is widely recognised as important for integration, less is known about how educational experiences contribute to UASC wellbeing, safety, belonging, and future opportunities. Drawing on Kohli (2011), the Social Identity Approach to Health (Haslam, Jetten, Postmes, and Haslam 2009; Kёllezi, and Reicher 2012; Herman 1992) trauma recovery theory and human rights framework (UNCRC 1989), this multi-perspective qualitative study explores the role of education in supporting the wellbeing, integration, and success of UASC. The study analysed qualitative interviews with 13 UASC care leavers, 10 foster carers, and 16 education professionals. The analysis identifies four key themes: safety and trust, social connections and belonging, success and resilience and equitable access. The findings highlight that educational establishments can help young people reconstruct ordinary life, and develop psychological stability, social connection, and future opportunities. Simultaneously, exclusionary practices, legal ambiguity, and structural barriers can undermine these processes. The study advances understanding of education as social and institutional contributor to wellbeing, and argues for trauma-informed right-based and inclusive educational practices that support UASC wellbeing and long-term social inclusion.

Haya Fakoush, Blerina Këllezi, Kay Bridger et al.

DevelopmentProtectionParticipationGBRead at source

OtherOpenAlex3 Oct 2026

No Kids in the Middle A Group-Based Interdisciplinary Protocol for High-Conflict Post-Divorce Families, from Legal and Psychiatric Perspectives-Video

Highly problematic post-divorce parental conflict represents a growing clinical challenge, with significant consequences for the child’s wellbeing. Conventional approaches, which includes individual child therapy, single-parent interventions, and legal proceedings, have shown limited efficacy, in part because they fail to address the systemic and neurobiological dimensions of the most problematic of conflicts. This paper presents the No Kids in the Middle (NKM) protocol - a structured, group-based interdisciplinary intervention developed in the Netherlands for families embedded in high-conflict post-divorce situations, from the complementary perspectives of a family lawyer and a child psychiatrist. The NKM protocol engages groups of six couples in parallel with a children's group, led by pairs of co-therapists, across a structured sequence of eight sessions. Key features include the simultaneous engagement of parents and children, dedicated sessions with each parent's wider social network, an explicitly experiential therapeutic approach, and a systemic reframing of parental conflict behaviour as a neurobiological response to chronic stress rather than a volitional character deficit. The NKM approach offers a coherent and clinically promising response to a population subgroup that consistently overwhelms conventional professional frameworks. Its interdisciplinary applicability spans psychiatry, social work, law, and education, and makes it particularly suited to the systemic nature of the problem it addresses.

Bogdan Pavlovici, Luminița Pavlovici

ProtectionDevelopmentNLRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex3 Oct 2026

Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in children: causes and long-term progression

PURPOSE: Childhood hearing loss (CHL) in need of assisting listening devices require a constant surveillance for hearing loss (HL) progression and adjustment of interventions. Despite advances in aetiological investigations, there are still important gaps in understanding causal determinants and progression patterns of CHL. The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and yield of aetiological investigations, and to identify causes associated with HL progression in older children. METHODS: This descriptive retrospective study included data from 194 children with moderate-profound senorineural HL born between January 1st 2010 and December 31st 2015, retrieved from the regional registry at the tertiary referral audiological centre in Stockholm County. Medical information and pure tone averages were gathered through the regional public health record system. RESULTS: 146 children (75%) underwent causal investigation, with a positive finding in 75 (51,4%) of them. The discovered aetiologies were genetic in 52 (69%) such as GJB2, congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV) in 10 (13%) and inner ear malformations in 33 (33%). HL progression was observed in 16% of the children and the most common identified cause was enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome (EVA), followed by cCMV. CONCLUSION: The highest diagnostic yield was observed when genetic testing was performed, either as a first-line investigation or following imaging. Few children reported a progression of HL in this study group in which EVA and cCMV were the most prevalent causes. Comprehensive or targeted genetics remains as an effective diagnostic method, in isolation when clinically strengthened or in combination with imaging and infectious investigations.

Andra Lazar, Luca Verrecchia, Inger Uhlén et al.

SurvivalSERead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex3 Oct 2026

Rethinking Educational Participatory Action Research with Migrant and Racialized Youth in Border Contexts

Abstract Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) has gained increasing relevance as an approach for promoting youth agency and addressing social inequalities in educational contexts. However, when implemented with migrant and racialized youth in border regions, participatory research faces specific ethical, political, and methodological challenges that may limit its transformative potential. This article offers a situated reflection on the possibilities and constraints of educational participatory action research developed with migrant and racialized young people in the Canary Islands, one of the main border territories of southern Europe. Drawing on 15 years of experience in participatory research, education, and community action, as well as practice-based insights from Emancipatory Communicative Action Laboratories involving migrant and racialized youth, the paper reflects on recurring tensions that arise in these processes. Five recurring challenges are discussed: functional interculturalism, academic extractivism, performative decoloniality, ethnocentric and adult-centred practices, and the effects of structural violence associated with border regimes. In response, the article proposes a critical anti-racist and dialogical framework grounded in reflexivity, recognition, shared knowledge production, and the creation of safe participatory spaces. Particular attention is given to methodological strategies that strengthen young people’s capacity to define their own experiences, analyse structural inequalities, and participate meaningfully in social transformation processes. The article contributes to ongoing debates on participatory methodologies by highlighting the need to rethink research practices from the perspectives of migration, racialization and border dynamics.

Daniel Buraschi

ParticipationDevelopmentESRead at source

Peer-reviewed articleOpenAlex4 Oct 2026

Introducing Child Rights Advocates into Sweden's Family Service-Oriented Child Welfare Field-Boundary Work and Institutional Tensions

Child advocacy is a relatively new and underexplored phenomenon in Sweden. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with twelve employees of Swedish children’s rights organisations, this study explores the emergence of child advocacy as a professional domain within the institutional field of child welfare in Sweden. Child advocacy is conceptualised as an idea translated into the Swedish context. The analysis draws on institutional theory and theories of professional projects, with particular attention to professionals as agents of institutional change.The study suggests that child rights advocates is emerging as a professional domain in Sweden. Viewed as a professional project, child advocacy involves boundary work through which expertise is constructed and professional boundaries are negotiated in relation to child welfare authorities. Swedish child rights advocates can be understood as part of both internal and external processes within the field of social work, through which they construct expertise around children’s rights as a cultural-cognitive and normative framework. As such, child rights advocates assume a position from which to influence understandings of ‘good’ social work practice and authority within the field. Child advocacy is further discussed in relation to developments in social work as a professional field shaped by boundary work and broader societal transformations.

Hedvig Nylén

ParticipationProtectionSERead at source

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Comparing the preference of diagnostic information from variations of dynamic testing, criterion- and norm-referenced testing for individualized education planning

Thumbs-out classification: a novel tool for detection of thumb-in- palm deformity in children and youth with cerebral palsy

The Role of Construal in Shaping Foreboding and Panic in Alice Munro’s “My Mother’s Dream”

It’s Us Against Them Up There: Measuring Populism in Youth as a Multidimensional Concept

Dense connectivity in networks of red-flag language milestones among high screen-time children

Unlocking the power of education: understanding the value and challenges of education for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children

No Kids in the Middle A Group-Based Interdisciplinary Protocol for High-Conflict Post-Divorce Families, from Legal and Psychiatric Perspectives-Video

Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in children: causes and long-term progression

Rethinking Educational Participatory Action Research with Migrant and Racialized Youth in Border Contexts

Introducing Child Rights Advocates into Sweden's Family Service-Oriented Child Welfare Field-Boundary Work and Institutional Tensions

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