Child Care and Early Education Research Connections

Skip to main content

UNC-Head Start Partnership on Mental Health Interventions

Description:
Head Start and other early childhood teachers report an increasing number of children with severe disruptive behavior in their classrooms. Some prevention and intervention studies with elementary-aged children show promising effects, but at the preschool age, very little information exists to guide parents or teachers about the choice of prevention or intervention approaches to use with disruptive children. This project will test both the efficacy and the effectiveness of a theory- and research-based, multi-modal intervention with components drawn from the best recent research. The intervention will provide a universal prevention curriculum to all children within a classroom and an indicated intervention program to children with severe disruptive behaviors. For 2 years, project-supported therapist-consultants (T-Cs) will work directly with teachers and coordinators to learn and implement the intervention. During this time the efficacy of the intervention will also be evaluated. As T-Cs move on to new classes, the effectiveness phase of research will study whether and how Head Start teachers and coordinators can maintain any positive effects achieved during the first 2 years. This interest in providing a universal intervention to all children is consistent with the Head Start goal of providing experiences and activities that foster the development of social competence among all Head Start participants and the indicated intervention is in response to the clear need for more intensive approaches to help parents and teachers of disruptive children.
Resource Type:
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects

- You May Also Like

These resources share similarities with the current selection.

South Dakota Head Start & Early Head Start: Nutrition & mental health

Fact Sheets & Briefs

Head Start and Early Head Start: Health Benchmark and Trends Report

Reports & Papers

South Dakota Head Start & Early Head Start: Health

Fact Sheets & Briefs
Release: 'v1.57.0' | Built: 2024-03-14 09:29:08 EDT