Against the use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 2–15 years

Chau, Tracey; Tiego, Jeggan; Brown, Louise; Coghill, David; Jobson, Laura; Montgomery, Alicia; Murrup-Stewart, Cammi; Sciberras, Emma; Silk, Tim; Spencer‐Smith, Megan; Stefanac, Nicole; Sullivan, Daniel P.; Bellgrove, Mark A.

doi:10.1177/00048674231161504

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Other strengths of the study include co-design of the CRQ-P/C with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in urban, regional and remote areas of South Australia, and study governance provided by members of the study’s Aboriginal Governance Group and Aboriginal authors (KG, CL, AN, GG) of this paper. While the CRQ-P/C was designed for use with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, the utility of the SDQ for this population has been questioned in terms of cultural sensitivity/content and psychometric properties [ 40 ]. Use of the total difficulties score may ameliorate some of these concerns (internal consistency reliability for the SDQ remains high across numerous studies), as does the comparable findings with the high MHC score.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Childhood Resilience Study: Resilience and emotional and behavioural wellbeing experienced by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls aged 5–9 years

Gartland,

Nikolof,

Mensah

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Background Resilience is a process of drawing on internal or external strengths to regain, sustain or improve adaptive outcomes despite adversity. Using a child resilience measure co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, we investigate: 1) children’s personal, family, school and community strengths; 2) gender differences; and 3) associations between resilience and wellbeing. Methods 1132 parent/caregivers of children aged 5–12 years were recruited to the Childhood Resilience Study, including through the Aboriginal Families Study. The Aboriginal Families Study is a population-based cohort of 344 mothers of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child. This paper focuses on the wave 2 survey data on child resilience at age 5–9 years (n = 231). Resilience was assessed with the Child Resilience Questionnaire-parent/caregiver report (CRQ-P/C), categorised into tertiles of low, moderate and high scores. Child emotional/behavioural wellbeing and mental health competence was assessed with the parent-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. All Tobit regression models adjusted for child age. Outcomes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls had higher resilience scores compared to boys (Adj.β = 0·9, 95%CI 0·9–1·4), with higher School Engagement, Friends and Connectedness to language scale scores. Resilience scores were strongly associated with wellbeing and high mental health competence. A higher proportion of girls with low resilience scores had positive wellbeing than did boys (73.3% versus 49.0%). High resilience scores were associated with lower SDQ total difficulties score after adjusting for child age, gender, maternal age and education and family location (major city, regional, remote) (Adj.β = -3.4, 95%CI -5.1, -1.7). Compared to the Childhood Resilience Study sample, Aboriginal Families Study children had higher mean CRQ-P/C scores in the personal and family domains. Interpretation High family strengths can support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at both an individual and cultural level. Boys may benefit from added scaffolding by schools, family and communities to support their social and academic connectedness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Childhood Resilience Study: Resilience and emotional and behavioural wellbeing experienced by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls aged 5–9 years

Gartland,

Nikolof,

Mensah

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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“…Considering recent recommendations that the SDQ should not be used to evaluate social and emotional well-being among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children due to cultural bias (Chau et al, 2023;Santiago, Manzini Macedo, et al, 2021), the current study included only SDQ responses regarding Non-Aboriginal Australian children. For the purposes of the current study, we used the data from the B and K Cohort including: (1) Wave 2K (n= 4,309) in which children were aged on average 6.3 years old (range=5-7);…”

Section: Study Design and Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The longitudinal network structure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: insights from a national Australian study

Santiago¹,

Soares²,

McCormick³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Introduction: The understanding of children’s social and emotional development is critical to promote well-being throughout the life course. Children who fail to develop social and emotional competencies during middle childhood are more likely to experience social and emotional difficulties in late childhood and adolescence and, in the worst case, can develop psychopathology. Recently proposed as a theoretical and methodological development, longitudinal network models can investigate children’s social and emotional development as a system of mutually reinforcing behaviours (instead of traditionally considering development according to unobservable “traits”). The identification of behaviours that have the strongest causal effects on social and emotional development during middle childhood (rather than the identification of broader “traits”) can be useful to inform tailored behavioural interventions to promote the healthy development of children. The current study will employ Cross-Lagged Network Models (CLNMs) to investigate children’s social and emotional development among Australian children aged 6 to 10 years. Method: Data was used from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Children’s social and emotional development was measured with the caregiver-informant Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) version 4 to 10 years. The complete case samples (n=4,070) included children aged 6 to 10 years who participated in the three study follow-ups (i.e. age 6, 8, and 10) with complete responses to all 25 SDQ items. Results: The findings indicated that certain behaviours, such as reducing fights at age 6 and improving peer relationships at age 8, were important intervention targets to promote healthy social and emotional development during middle childhood. Conclusion: The current study provided new insights into children’s social and emotional development during middle childhood and identified behaviours that are key targets for intervention.

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“…42 Failing to consider the holistic nature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander well-being has led to the development and application of inappropriate instruments. 43,44 In alignment with decolonial aspirations, instruments developed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander re-search must capture integral constructs in a meaningful way, which includes instruments that differ in design and presentation than those commonly applied in colonial re-search settings, such as pictorial or activity based measures that require engaged participation. Finally, universalism, posits that certain constructs are 'common' to human life but their expression can be distinct across cultures.…”

Section: Data Capturing Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Journeying towards decolonising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oral health re‐search

Hedges,

Poirier,

Soares

et al. 2023

Comm Dent Oral Epid

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ObjectivesArguably, the deficit narrative of oral health inequities, perpetuated by colonial re‐search agendas, media and sociopolitical discourse, contributes to oral disease burden and fatalism among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. There remains a need to evolve the way oral health is understood, in a manner that reflects the lived experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.MethodsThis paper proposes decolonising methodologies as a strategy to ensure oral health re‐search creates more equitable oral health outcomes and realities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. Anchored by a critical reflection of the failure of dominant oral health inequity re‐search practices to address Indigenous oral health, both in Australia and internationally, we propose five explicit pathways for decolonising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oral health re‐search.ResultsWe argue the need for (1) positionality statements in all re‐search endeavours, (2) studies that honour reciprocal relationships through the development of proposals that ask questions and follow models based on Traditional Knowledges, (3) the development of culturally secure and strengths‐based data capturing tools, (4) frameworks that address the intersection of multiple axes of oppression in creating inequitable conditions and (5) decolonising knowledge translation techniques.ConclusionImportantly, we recognize that re‐search will never be entirely ‘decolonised’ due to the colonial foundations upheld by academic institutions and society more broadly; however, as oral health re‐searchers, we ascertain that there is an ethical compulsion to drive decolonising re‐search pursuits that produce equitable oral health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.

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Against the use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 2–15 years

Cited by 4 publications

References 48 publications

The Childhood Resilience Study: Resilience and emotional and behavioural wellbeing experienced by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls aged 5–9 years

The Childhood Resilience Study: Resilience and emotional and behavioural wellbeing experienced by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls aged 5–9 years

The longitudinal network structure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: insights from a national Australian study

Journeying towards decolonising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oral health re‐search

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