Care for left-behind children in rural China: A realist evaluation of a community-based intervention

Zhao, Cheng; Zhou, Xudong; Feng, Wang; Jiang, Minmin; Hesketh, Thérèse

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.09.034

Cited by 52 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Many studies have reported that, compared with a single-parent family or the absence of both parents, both parents' company is more conducive to children's growth and development [5], and parental absence has a detrimental impact on the emotional and behavioral functioning of children [6][7][8][9]. Physical inaccessibility and lack of communication tends to disrupt parent-child attachment, leading most LBC to live in a situation lacking parental care, support, guidance and communication, which may have many negative emotional impacts on the children [10][11][12][13]. Li's study indicated that if children failed to receive proper guidance and help from their parents in ideology and values during the critical period of their growth and development, the normal development of their personality would be affected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Left-Behind Experience on College Students’ Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Study

Liu

Zhou

Fan

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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China’s rapid development and urbanization have created large numbers of migrant laborers, with increasing numbers of young adults and couples migrating from rural areas to large cities. As a result, a large number of children have become left-behind children (LBC), who were left behind in their hometown and cared for by one parent, grandparents, relatives or friends. Some of these LBC have a chance to be college students, who are called college students with left-behind experience. Some studies have indicated that the absence of these college students’ parents during childhood may cause them to have some mental health problems. Therefore, we want to examine the effects of left-behind experience on college students’ mental health and compare the prevalence of mental health problems in left-behind students and control students (without left-behind experience). For this purpose, a cross-sectional comparative survey was conducted in a coastal city of Shandong province, Eastern China. First, 1605 college students from three universities (national admissions) were recruited, including 312 students with left-behind experience and 1293 controls. Their mental health level was measured using Symptom Check-list 90 (containing ten dimensions: somatization, obsessive-compulsion (OCD), interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, terror, paranoia, psychoticism, and other symptoms). The results showed that left-behind experience was a significant risk factor for the mental health problems of college students (OR = 2.27, 95%CI: 1.73 to 2.97). A comparison of the two groups, after controlling the confounding factors using the coarsened exact matching (CEM) algorithm, showed that the prevalence of mental health problems was 35.69% (n = 311) among the left-behind students, while it was 19.68% (n = 1194) among the controls. The two groups were significantly different in terms of these ten dimensions of the SCL-90 scale (p < 0.001), and the prevalence of each dimension among the left-behind students was consistently higher than that among the controls. In addition, different left-behind experiences and social supports during childhood had different effects on mental health problems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Left-Behind Experience on College Students’ Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Study

Liu

Zhou

Fan

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…Secondly, we demonstrate the importance of mixed methods in evaluation of interventions. None of the other published interventions focussing on LBC used qualitative methods for evaluation [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. We found our qualitative measures to be crucial to our understanding of both process and outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is very little literature describing interventions to improve their well-being [ 12 ]. The few studies from China are small-scale individual psychological counselling projects and family, group or school-based interventions [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Studies have suggested that group interventions can be effective in relieving anxiety and loneliness [ 14 ], as well as in enhancing resilience and subjective well-being of LBC [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Based Intervention to Improve the Well-Being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Rural China

Jiang

Zhu

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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In rural China around 60 million left-behind children (LBC) experience prolonged separation from migrant worker parents. They are vulnerable to a range of psychosocial problems. The aim of this study was to determine whether a community-based intervention consisting of Children’s Centres can improve psychosocial well-being and school performance of these children. The intervention was carried out in 20 villages, for children aged 7 to 15 years, irrespective of left-behind status. Nine hundred and twenty children, 438 LBC and 256 children living with parents (RC) attended the Centres. At follow-up after one year, there were improvements compared to baseline in total difficulties (measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) in children left behind by both parents (p = 0.009), children left behind by one parent (p = 0.008) and RC (p = 0.05). Postintervention school performance significantly improved in both categories of LBC (p < 0.001), but not RC (p = 0.07); social support score increased in both categories of LBC (p < 0.001) and RC (p = 0.01). Findings from interviews with key stakeholders were overwhelmingly positive about the impacts. With strong local leadership and community motivation, a low-cost intervention can improve children’s psychosocial well-being in these settings. Allowing communities to adapt the model to their own situation fosters local ownership, commitment, with benefits for children, parents, carers, and communities.

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“…Left-behind children have become a distinct group in rural China as a result of a variety of institutional and structural factors (Feng & Li, 2018;Guan & Deng, 2018;Hu, Lu, & Huang, 2014;Jiang, Hu, Zhu, & Jiang, 2018;Li, Zhang, & Li, 2018;Macaulay et al, 2018;Xie, Huang, Chen, & Hao, 2018;Zhao et al, 2017) Population growth, urbanization, industrialization, and the household registration policy -Hukou -which favors urban residents to rural, have created an environment in which employment and opportunity are increasingly concentrated within urban centers. Massive migration into cities has resulted, often leaving the children of working parents behind in rural communities (Guan & Deng, 2018;Hu et al, 2018;Hu et al, 2014;Jiang et al, 2018;Li, Zhang, & Li, 2018;Macaulay et al, 2018;Xie et al, 2018).…”

Section: Left-behind Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

InterBoxes: A social innovation in education in rural China

Chow

Ren

Mathias

et al. 2019

Children and Youth Services Review

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Social innovation has increasingly become a hot topic in China, a process in which multiple sectors collaborate with each other, aiming to change the status quo through creative, effective, efficient and sustainable ways. InterBoxes is an innovative project in the form of a social enterprise that commits to improving physical school conditions by building libraries, classrooms, schools and dormitories with refurbished cargo shipping containers called "Boxes". Within the scope of this project the word "Inter" signifies that each Box is equipped with an Internet connection to the outside world. Conceptually, as a social enterprise, the for-profit, business arm of InterBoxes is projected to operate within metropolitan areas, building structures such as cafés, gyms, bookstores, etc., all which will generate revenue to support the nonprofit operation in rural areas. This descriptive case study examines the implementation and use of InterBoxes as a library in a rural primary school and addresses the promises and challenges facing the project. The findings indicate that InterBoxes demonstrates much potential as a social innovation to improve physical school conditions and other rural education issues through the creative use of space and place. Recommendations for scaling up its operation in connection with a larger global network of innovation using shipping containers are discussed.

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Care for left-behind children in rural China: A realist evaluation of a community-based intervention

Cited by 52 publications

References 28 publications

The Influence of Left-Behind Experience on College Students’ Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Study

The Influence of Left-Behind Experience on College Students’ Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Study

Community-Based Intervention to Improve the Well-Being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Rural China

InterBoxes: A social innovation in education in rural China

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