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- Hassler Hallstedt, Martin, 1973-
(author)
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Closing the Gap : How an Adaptive Behavioral Based Program on a Tablet Can Help Low Performing Children Catch Up in Math: a Randomized Placebo Controlled Study
- 2018
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Early mathematic skills have a substantial impact on later school achievement. Children with poor school achievement are at risk for adverse consequences later in life. Math competencies also have consequences for the economy at large because societies are becoming increasingly dependent on skill sets including mathematics. Proficiency with basic arithmetic, also known as math fact (i.e., 3+8, 12-3), is considered to be a critical early math skill. Intervention research in mathematics have demonstrated that math fact deficits among students with low math performance can be improved with additional targeted, non- technological interventions (i.e., small-group tutoring).The aim of the present thesis was to investigate the effect, using a randomized placebo controlled design, of addititional adaptive, behavioral based, math training on a tablet on low performing second graders. The first study (study I), investigated if arithmetic skills could be assessed in a reliable and valid way on tablet. The examination showed that arithmetic scales could be transferred from paper-based tests to tablet with comparable psychometric properties, although not for a pictorial scale, and that separate norms are needed for tablet. Study II demonstrated that training on a tablet, for on average 19 hours across 20 weeks, improved basic arithmetic skills after training in the math conditions compared to control/ placebo conditions. The effects were medium sized at post assessment. There was a fadeout of effects at 6 months follow-up, where small effects were shown, and the effects decreased further at 12 months follow-up. Children with lower non-verbal IQ seemed to gain significantly more at follow- ups than children with higher non-verbal IQ. The study found no additional effects of combining working memory training and math training. Study III, using a machine learning analysis, found that children demonstrating a positive response at 6 months follow-up were characterized by having completed 90 % or more of the math program at the default level, in combination with having a fairly favorable socioeconomic background.In summation, this work demonstrates how an adaptive behavioral based program on a tablet can help low performing children improve critical early math skills.
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| 2. |
- Ljungman, Lisa, 1981-
(author)
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Parents of Children with Cancer : Psychological Long-Term Consequences and Development of a Psychological Treatment for Parents of Survivors
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The aims of this thesis were to increase the knowledge about the long-term psychological consequences in parents of children diagnosed with cancer, including parents of childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) and bereaved parents, and to take the first steps towards developing a psychological treatment for parents of CCSs.Study I was a systematic review synthesizing the literature on psychological long-term consequences in parents of CCSs. Study II had a longitudinal design assessing posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) from shortly after the child’s diagnosis (T1, N=259) up to five years after end of the child’s treatment or death (T7, n=169). Study I and II concluded that while most parents show resilience in the long-term, a subgroup report high levels of general distress and/or PTSS. In Study III, interview data from the last assessment in the longitudinal project (T7, n=168) was used. Participants described particularly negative and/or positive experiences in relation to their child’s cancer, and results pointed to the wide range of such experiences involved in parenting a child with cancer. In Study IV and V, parents of CCSs reporting cancer-related psychological distress were included (N=15). In Study IV, a conceptualization of this distress was generated by aggregation of individual behavioral case formulations. The conceptualization consisted of two separate but overlapping paths describing development and maintenance of symptoms of traumatic stress and depressive symptoms. In Study V, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) based on the individual case formulations were preliminarily evaluated in an open trial. The CBT appeared feasible, and at post-assessment participants reported significant decreases in PTSS (p<.001), depression (p<.001), and anxiety (p<.01) with medium to large effect sizes (Cohen’s d=0.65-0.92).Findings indicate that psychological long-term consequences in parents of children with cancer consist of a broad range of negative as well as positive experiences, and that while most parents show resilience in the long-term, a subgroup report high levels of psychological distress. For parents of CCSs this distress is suggested to primarily consist of symptoms of traumatic stress and depression, and a preliminary evaluation of CBT targeting hypothesized maintaining mechanisms showed promise in terms of feasibility and treatment effect.
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| 3. |
- Dahlberg, Anton, et al.
(author)
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SDQ in the Hands of Fathers and Preschool Teachers : Psychometric Properties in a Non-clinical Sample of 3-5-Year-Olds
- 2019
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In: Child Psychiatry and Human Development. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0009-398X .- 1573-3327. ; 50:1, s. 132-141
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a well-established instrument for measuring social and behavioural problems among children, with good psychometric properties for older children, but less validity reports on pre-schoolers. In addition, there is a knowledge gap concerning fathers as informants. The present work is one of the few validity studies to include preschool teachers and the first on preschool children where fathers are included as separate informants. In this study, SDQs were collected from a large community sample (n = 17,752) of children aged 3-5, rated by mothers, fathers, and preschool teachers and analysed using confirmatory factor analysis. Our results revealed acceptable fit for all informant groups and measurement invariance across child gender, child age, and parental education level. Our findings suggest good construct validity of the SDQ for a non-clinical preschool population and imply that it may be used for assessing child behaviour problems from different informant perspectives.
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| 4. |
- Åhlén, Johan
(author)
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Universal prevention of anxiety and depression in school children
- 2017
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Anxiety and depression are common in children and adolescents, and involve individual suffering, risk of future psychiatric problems, and high costs to society. However, only a limited number of children experiencing debilitating anxiety and depression are identified and receive professional help. One approach that could possibly reduce the prevalence of these conditions is universal school-based prevention aimed at reducing the impact of risk factors and strengthening protective factors involved in the development of anxiety and depression. The current thesis aimed to contribute to the literature on universal prevention of anxiety and depression in children. Study I involved a meta-analysis of earlier randomized, and cluster-randomized trials of universal prevention of anxiety and depression. Overall, the meta-analysis showed small but significant effects of universal preventive interventions, meaning that lower levels of anxiety and depression were evident after intervention completion and partially evident at follow-up assessments. No variables were found to significantly enhance the effects, however, there was a tendency for larger effects to be associated with mental health professionals delivering the interventions. In Study II, a widely adopted prevention program called Friends for Life was evaluated in a large school-based cluster-randomized effectiveness trial. The results showed no evidence of an intervention effect for the whole sample. However, children with elevated depressive symptoms at baseline and children with teachers who highly participated in supervision, seemed to benefit from the intervention in the short term. Study III involved a 3-year follow-up of Study II and an examination of the effects of sample attrition. The results showed no long-term effects for the whole sample and no maintenance of the short-term subgroup effects observed in Study II. Finally, to increase our understanding of the development of anxiety in children and to assist future improvements of universal prevention, Study IV evaluated different trajectories of overall anxiety together with related patterns of disorder-specific symptoms in a school-based sample over 39 months. Evidence favored a model of three different developmental trajectories across age. One trajectory was characterized by increasing levels of overall anxiety, but fluctuating disorder-specific symptoms arguably related to the normal challenges of children’s developmental level, which warrants an increased focus on age-relevant challenges in universal prevention. The four studies provide further understanding of the overall effectiveness of universal prevention of anxiety and depression in children, the short- and long-term effects of universal prevention in a Swedish context, and ideas for further development of preventive interventions.
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