The Survey of Well-Being of Young Children: Results of a Feasibility Study With American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

Abstract

This study examined the feasibility of the Survey of Well-Being of Young Children (SWYC), a new screener for socioemotional and developmental problems and family risk in children birth to age 5 years, for use in American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities. A Community of Learning within the Tribal Early Childhood Research Center, composed of university researchers, tribal early childhood program staff and evaluators, and federal partners, utilized a community-based participatory research approach to guide this qualitative study. Thirty-two focus groups and 20 key informant interviews (N = 199) were conducted with staff from Head Start, Home Visiting, and Child Care programs; pediatricians; behavioral health providers; parents of young children; tribal leaders; and other stakeholders in seven diverse AIAN communities. Three themes emerged: (a) a strong need to screen early for socioemotional and developmental problems and family risk; (b) the importance of a carefully designed process for screening; and (c) the importance of examining the content of the SWYC for cultural fit specific to tribal communities. Findings support two recommendations: (a) the development of guidelines for using the SWYC in tribal early childhood settings and (b) a full-scale validation study to determine appropriate use with and norms for children in tribal communities.

Health-Related Participatory Research in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: A Scoping Review

“…In one study, community members were involved in the selection, interview, and hiring of project staff [26]. Other articles reported that CAGs, leaders, and laypersons community were responsible for identifying individuals to fulfill specific project roles based on their experience and skills [32,46,47,48,49]. Community members contributed to project management by coordinating event logistics; providing translation and information technology services; scheduling and organizing data collection activities; and, facilitating meetings.…”

“…Community members drafted manuscripts [62] and CAGs, tribal councils, and other community groups were involved in reviewing, editing, and approving manuscripts for publication [63,64]. Community members also developed dissemination plans [65] and reviewed and provided feedback on research results and dissemination products [44,49]. Finally, community members presented research results at local community events and at national scientific conferences [14,34] and hosted and attended community dissemination meetings [66,67].…”

Practitioners' perceptions of the ASQ‐TRAK developmental screening tool for use in Aboriginal children: A preliminary survey

“…This is an important finding as engagement is crucial to the success of the developmental screening process. Engagement has been found to promote relationships between parents and practitioners across a range of settings . It is vital to ensuring the early detection of children at risk of developmental difficulties and to promoting positive early childhood development .…”

“…It is also imperative that we do not continue to deliver health services that exacerbate the inequities between Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal Australian health outcomes by failing to provide culturally competent and respectful care . Making the ASQ‐TRAK available in remote regions that provide services to Australian Aboriginal families has the potential to improve access to and the accuracy of developmental screening …”

Testing multidimensional well-being among university community samples in Italy and Serbia

“…Because of this renovated interest, nowadays we see how evidence about this construct comes from several different standpoints: economists and psychologists are improving the measures of subjective well-being (Krueger and Stone, 2014), while questions about the influence of different determinants of psychological wellbeing are growing (Anderson and Jane-Llopis, 2011). Moreover, many new dimensions are encompassed by this field: nutritionists cooperate on defining the field of nutritional well-being (Manaf o et al, 2013), sociologists utilize the definition of community well-being (Eden and Lowndes, 2013), while other scientists analyse all these features in different age groups (Velasco-Gonzalez and Rioux, 2013;Whitesell et al, 2015). Overall, these works represent a reflection of the complex and contested nature of well-being.…”