Natale Ruby, Kenworthy LaMarca Tara, Pan Yue, Howe Elizabeth, Agosto Yaray, Bulotsky-Shearer Rebecca J, St George Sara M, Rahman Tanha, Velasquez Carolina, Jent Jason F
Mailman Center for Child Development, School of Medicine, University of Miami Miller, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Miami Miller, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
Children (Basel). 2025 Jun 20;12(7):812. doi: 10.3390/children12070812.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Early care and education programs promote children's social-emotional development, predicting later school success. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened an existing youth mental health crisis and increased teacher stress. Therefore, we applied an infant and early childhood mental health consultation model, Jump Start Plus COVID Support (JS+CS), aiming to decrease behavioral problems in children post-pandemic.
A cluster randomized controlled trial compared JS+CS to an active control, Healthy Caregivers-Healthy Children (HC2), at 30 ECE centers in low-income areas in South Florida. Participants were not blinded to group assignment. Teachers reported on children's social-emotional development at baseline and post-intervention using the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. We assessed whether teacher stress, classroom practices, and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between JS+CS and child outcomes. We also explored whether baseline behavior problems moderated JS+CS effects on child protective factors, relative to HC2.
Direct group-by-time differences between JS+CS and HC2 were limited. However, JS+CS demonstrated significant within-group improvements in teacher-reported child protective factors, behavior support practices, and classroom safety practices. Classroom safety practices consistently mediated positive changes in child behaviors, including the DECA total protective factor score and subdomains of initiative and self-regulation. Additionally, teacher perceptions of behavior support mediated gains in child attachment.
JS+CS shows promise in building protective systems around children through intentional support for teachers, underscoring the value of whole-child, whole-environment approaches in early intervention.
背景/目的：早期护理和教育项目可促进儿童的社会情感发展，预测其日后学业上的成功。新冠疫情使现有的青少年心理健康危机恶化，并增加了教师的压力。因此，我们应用了一种婴幼儿及儿童心理健康咨询模式，即“快速启动加新冠支持”（JS+CS），旨在减少疫情后儿童的行为问题。
在南佛罗里达州低收入地区的30个早期教育中心，一项整群随机对照试验将JS+CS与积极对照“健康照顾者-健康儿童”（HC2）进行了比较。参与者知晓分组情况。教师在基线期和干预后，使用德弗鲁幼儿评估量表和优势与困难问卷报告儿童的社会情感发展情况。我们评估了教师压力、课堂实践和自我效能感是否介导了JS+CS与儿童结果之间的关系。我们还探讨了相对于HC2，基线行为问题是否调节了JS+CS对儿童保护因素的影响。
JS+CS与HC2之间直接的组间时间差异有限。然而，JS+CS在教师报告的儿童保护因素、行为支持实践和课堂安全实践方面，显示出显著的组内改善。课堂安全实践始终介导了儿童行为的积极变化，包括DECA总保护因素得分以及主动性和自我调节子领域。此外，教师对行为支持的认知介导了儿童依恋方面的进步。
JS+CS在通过对教师的有意支持围绕儿童建立保护系统方面显示出前景，强调了全儿童、全环境方法在早期干预中的价值。
