Alanna Sincovich

Identifying factors contributing to shifts in children’s development on school entry in NSW over the past decade

The aim of this project was to conduct a critical analysis of the AEDC data for NSW children to understand the factors contributing to the changes in child development outcomes over time.

Breakfast skipping among children and adolescents in South Australia

Eating a regular, healthy breakfast is required to support good health, wellbeing and development throughout childhood and adolescence.

National School Readiness Project

Researchers at the Institute were engaged to undertake the National School Readiness Project, which aimed to describe current practice across education authorities in assessing or describing child development status at school entry and use evidence to identify areas where the scope/quality of curren

Innovative Playful Learning Approaches to Improve Children’s Readiness for Primary Education in Uzbekistan

The Government of Uzbekistan has committed to reforming preschool education, prioritising upskilling teachers to use international best practice.

Review of trends in disabilities, mental health disorders and complex needs among children and adolescents

The aim of the project was to provide the South Australian Department for Education with a synthesis of high-quality evidence on the population prevalence of various disabilities among school-aged children.

Learning Together and Learning Together at Home: Program Model Review

Learning Together, developed by the South Australian Department for Education, aims to create enriched learning environments that can be transferred to the home to support positive changes for children and families.

Early literacy skills: review of evidence for pedagogical approaches that best support children’s early literacy skills

Recent evidence indicates that a child’s home learning environment is the strongest predictor of success in later reading abilities and that for children not receiving structured language and reading support at home.

The early Human Capability Index (eHCI)

The Early Human Capability Index is a holistic measure intended to capture early child development across diverse cultures and contexts.

Population Wide Monitoring of Child Health and Development in Tuvalu

Evaluation of the Strong Start Pilot Program

Evaluation of the Child and Family Assessment and Referral Network (CFARN)

Evaluation of Children's Centres in South Australia

Pacific Early Age Readiness and Learning (PEARL) Programme in Tonga

The (PEARL) Programme, implemented by the World Bank, aims to support Pacific Island Countries in building capacity to design, implement, and monitor evidence-based policies and programs for primary schools.

The Early Childhood Education Project in Lao PDR

Researchers in the Child Health, Development and Education Team support a number of projects financed by the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education to promote early learning and development in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR).

The Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC): Promoting the importance of students’ wellbeing and mental health in schools

o help raise the profile of student wellbeing in the education system in Australia, The Kids Research Institute Australia and SA Department for Education through the Fraser Mustard Centre, set out to adapt and trial a population-level student wellbeing measure that could be used across the entire public and p

Evaluation of the Community Playgroup Program

This evaluation explored the facilitators & barriers that influence Community Playgroup attendance, and the impact of attending playgroups on child development.

Provision of Engagement Services for the AEDC

Support services to the Department of Education and Training and the AEDC State and Territory Coordinators and their support staff across Australia.

Early childhood education quality and child development in Lao PDR

Globally, as scale up of early childhood education (ECE) continues, monitoring ECE quality is imperative to promote service aspects that drive positive outcomes for children. Monitoring of ECE quality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is scarce, limited by challenges in varied conceptualisations of quality, lack of measurement tools that reflect local culture and context, and implementation difficulties in low resource settings.

Mental health profiles and academic achievement in Australian school students

This study explored mental health profiles in Australian school students using indicators of well-being (i.e., optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness) and psychological distress (i.e., sadness and worries). The sample included 75,757 students (ages 8-18 years) who completed the 2019 South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection.

Putting a price on nurturing care

At the halfway mark for implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda, progress towards achieving targets centred on child health and development has decelerated, impeding the survival and potential of many children. The Lancet Series on optimising child and adolescent health and development called for renewed efforts to nurture the health and development of all children.

The Investigation of Health-Related Topics on TikTok: A Descriptive Study Protocol

The social media application TikTok allows users to view and upload short-form videos. Recent evidence suggests it has significant potential for both industry and health promoters to influence public health behaviours. This protocol describes a standardised, replicable process for investigations that can be tailored to various areas of research interest, allowing comparison of content and features across public health topics.

Prevalence of breakfast skipping among children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study

Interventions to promote breakfast consumption are a popular strategy to address early life inequalities. It is important to understand the epidemiology of children and adolescents who skip breakfast so that interventions and policy can be appropriately considered.

Prevalence of electronic device use before bed among Australian children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study

To understand the prevalence of children and adolescents’ electronic device use (EDU) in the hour before bed and identify sociodemographic groups that are at increased risk of problematic use.

Breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional engagement at school: A cross-sectional population level study

Research on the consequences of breakfast skipping among students tends to focus on academic outcomes, rather than student wellbeing or engagement at school. This study investigated the association between breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional aspects of school engagement.

Basic epidemiology of wellbeing among children and adolescents: A cross-sectional population level study

Wellbeing and mental health are fundamental rights of children and adolescents essential for sustainable development. Understanding the epidemiology of child and adolescent wellbeing is essential to informing population health approaches to improving wellbeing and preventing mental illness.

Associations Among Early Stimulation, Stunting, and Child Development in Four Countries in the East Asia–Pacific

This study examined associations among preschool attendance, home learning activities, stunting status, and early child development using data from the validation study of the East Asia–Pacific Early Child Development Scales (EAP-ECDS).

Measuring early child development in low and middle income countries: Investigating the validity of the early Human Capability Index

Inclusion of early child development in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda raises issues of how this goal should be monitored, particularly in low resource settings. The aim of this paper was to explore the validity of the early Human Capability Index (eHCI); a population measure designed to capture the holistic development of children aged 3-5 years. Convergent, divergent, discriminant and concurrent validity were examined by exploring the associations between eHCI domains and child (sex, age, stunting status, preschool attendance) and family (maternal education, home learning environment) characteristics. Analyses were repeated using data from seven low and middle income countries.

Overcoming challenges in measuring early childhood development across cultures

These challenges in measuring early childhood development are exacerbated when making comparisons across cultures

Exploring Associations Between Playgroup Attendance and Early Childhood Development at School Entry in Australia: A Cross-Sectional Population-Level Study

Children who attended playgroup had better development at school entry relative to those who had not attended playgroup

Measuring early childhood development in multiple contexts: the internal factor structure and reliability of the early Human Capability Index in seven countries

Findings support the aims of the early Human Capability Index in being adaptable and applicable for use within a range of low and middle income countries

Early childhood education and child development in four countries in East Asia and the Pacific

Results indicate that early childhood education is beneficial for children's early development

Assessing Diversity in Early Childhood Development in the East Asia-Pacific

In all six countries, child development scores increased with age and urban children consistently performed better than rural children

Socioeconomic status and early child development in East Asia and the Pacific: The protective role of parental engagement in learning activities

Results indicated the existence of SES gradients in early development in multiple domains in China, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu

The social impacts of mining on local communities in Australia

Mining developments are being required to consider how they affect local communities and implement strategies to minimise negative impacts they may be causing