In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 12 million children under the age of 18 have lost a parent to AIDS. Despite this situation, the evidence regarding effectiveness of interventions targeting these children remains scant. This paper contributes to the literature by evaluating the impact of a community-based program implemented by a Zambian nongovernmental agency (NGO) on educational outcomes among orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Lusaka, Zambia. These outcomes included school enrollment and being at the correct age-for-grade. Our study design included two rounds of post-intervention data collection, in 2003 and 2006. There were 2,302 children, ages 6-19, interviewed in 2003; and 3,105 children or young adults, ages 8-22, interviewed in 2006. We used a sub-sample of 2,922 orphans and vulnerable children, ages 8-19. The effectiveness of Bwafwano Community Home-Based Care Organization, an NGO working in Lusaka, was evaluated, first using the individual cross-sectional samples and then using a differences-in-differences model on the pooled sample. Both cross-sectional analyses found positive and statistically significant effects of the intervention on school enrollment, with marginal effects of 0.104 and 0.168 respectively. The differences-in-differences estimates for school enrollment were positive, but small and not statistically significant. For the estimations of the effects of Bwafwano on the outcome of appropriate age-for-grade, only the difference-in-difference models showed positive program effect, with participation in the program being associated with a 15.7 percentage point increase in appropriate age-for-grade for intervention children, relative to control children. This study suggests that the Bwafwano program is a promising approach to improving educational outcomes among orphans and vulnerable children in urban Zambia.
This study examined the latent developmental patterns for classroom learning behaviors among children from underresourced families. Based on standardized teacher observations, a large sample (N = 2,152) of children was assessed for manifestations of Competence Motivation and Attentional Persistence twice annually through Head Start, kindergarten, and 1st grade. For each form of learning behavior, latent growth mixture modeling revealed dominant subpopulations of change that feature quite good learning behaviors during Head Start but marked deterioration in performance upon kindergarten entry. Other change subpopulations showed children arriving in Head Start with noticeably poor learning behaviors and, while experiencing some early improvement, continued to function with relatively limited learning behaviors throughout the transition years, whereas other children entered prekindergarten with somewhat average performance levels and evinced modest losses when exiting Head Start. Membership in less desirable growth subpopulations is linked to preexisting explanatory factors and to subsequent negative outcomes. The general deterioration in learning behaviors that accompanies formal school entry is examined in the context of Head Start performance fade‐out and teachers’ shifting reference standards.
Children's approaches to learning (AtL) has been identified in research and policy as a key domain of children's school readiness. However, relatively little is known about the child and family factors that shape early AtL, how it varies in the general population, or how it develops and changes through the early years of schooling. This exploratory study examined the growth of children's AtL over six occasions spanning kindergarten through second grade in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey (ECLS‐K) class of 2010–2011 as predicted by parenting and family characteristics. Latent classes of AtL growth were identified through growth mixture modeling and regressed onto explanatory covariates to uncover patterns and sources of variation in children's AtL. Results revealed higher and lower AtL growth classes significantly associated with demographic and parenting variables measured in kindergarten. In particular, sex (male) and poverty were associated with lower AtL trajectories, whereas the presence of both biological parents in the household and parent involvement at school and at home predicted membership in the higher AtL group. Implications of these findings for further clarification and exploration of AtL as a construct are discussed.
Background Perinatal care nurses are well positioned to provide the education and support new fathers need to navigate the transition to fatherhood and to encourage positive father involvement from the earliest hours of a child’s life. To effectively serve fathers in perinatal settings, it is important to understand the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of healthcare providers that may encourage and engage them, or alternatively alienate and discourage them. Methods This qualitative study involved structured interviews with ten NICU and postpartum nurses from hospitals in two large Texas cities. The interview protocol was designed to elicit descriptive information about nurses’ attitudes and beliefs, sense of efficacy and intention for working with fathers, as well as their father-directed behaviors. Nurses were recruited for the study using a purposive sampling approach. Interviews were conducted by telephone and lasted approximately 25 to 35 min. Data were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive approach. Results Overall, study participants held very positive subjective attitudes toward fathers and father involvement. Nevertheless, many of the nurses signaled normative beliefs based on race/ethnicity, gender, and culture that may moderate their intention to engage with fathers. Participants also indicated that their education as well as the culture of perinatal healthcare are focused almost entirely on the mother-baby dyad. In line with this focus on mothers, participants comments reflected a normative belief that fathers are secondary caregivers to their newborns, there to help when the mother is unavailable. Conclusions Nurse attitudes and practices that place mothers in the role of primary caregiver may be interpreted by fathers as excluding or disregarding them. Further research is needed to validate the results of this small-scale study, and to assess whether and how provider attitudes impact their practices in educating and engaging fathers in newborn care.
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