Developmentally Appropriate Prevention of Behavioral and Emotional Problems, Social-Emotional Learning, and Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Early Childhood Education and Care: The Papilio-3to6 Program

Abstract

The development of social-emotional skills is crucial in early childhood. Behavior problems in early childhood are risk factors for difficulties throughout childhood and adolescence and beyond. Considering the importance of developing social and emotional skills during early childhood, this study introduced the Papilio-3to6 program into everyday early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Germany. The program combines measures of developmentally appropriate practice and measures of social-emotional learning with strategies of developmentally appropriate prevention of behavioral and emotional problems. The underlying theory, the components of the program, evaluation results, dissemination, and implementation into ECEC center in Germany are described. A total of 627 children (MAGE = 56.77 months at pretest; 49% girls) from 50 ECEC center groups participated in an effectiveness, randomized controlled trial. At the pre- and posttest, teachers completed questionnaires related to children’s behaviors. Teachers completed questionnaires measuring their levels of job satisfaction, self-efficacy (control variables) and program implementation. A multivariate-multi-level-analysis revealed that children in the intervention groups, compared to the control groups, showed a significant decrease in their hyperactivity/inattention symptoms, as well as emotional, peer relationship problems, and conduct problems. The results also showed a significant increase in children’s prosocial behavior. Teachers’ job satisfaction and self-efficacy had no influence on the effectiveness of the program. Results supported treatment fidelity and usability.

Differential Effects of an Early Childhood Care Preventive Intervention Program on Behavior and Emotional Problems

“…Teacher reports on preschool children's behavior and skills (in contrast to parents' reports) are associated with observations of children's behavior in the classroom (e.g., Winsler & Wallace, 2002). Results on the program's effectiveness using other/additional information sources have been reported in Scheithauer et al (2016Scheithauer et al ( , 2022.…”

“…Using the same sample, the effectiveness of the Papilio-3to6 program has been proven effective in earlier studies. For example, in Scheithauer et al (2022), the black-box evaluation (effectiveness) results were published, in which the SDQ subscale scores-comparing the intervention group (IG) and waiting control group (CG, which also received the program one year after implementation in the IG) at the first and third measurement points-were used in multilevel analysis. Additionally, teachers completed questionnaires measuring their levels of job satisfaction, self-efficacy (control variables), and program implementation.…”

“…Consequently, final data were available for 667 children at the pretest (before program implementation) and 646 children at the post-test (after full implementation of the program), resulting in a total analytic sample of 627 children (M AGE = 56.77 months at pretest; 49% girls) with valid longitudinal data for pre-and post-test. Attrition was very low, and missing data analyses revealed that the overall attrition could largely be considered unsystematic (Scheithauer et al, 2022). Respective means, standard deviations, internal consistencies, and correlations for the observed variables are presented in Appendix A.…”

“…The implementation of the program, as well as the teacher training, was accompanied by measures to ensure fidelity and implementation of measures according to the manual. A detailed description of the measures implemented, results from the fidelity evaluation, and the relation to program effectiveness are described in a study by Scheithauer et al (2022).…”

Keeping Early Social-Emotional Learning Developmental: The Development, Implementation, and Preliminary Evaluation of a Preventive Intervention Program for Early Childhood Education and Care

“…The development and implementation of early, preventive intervention programs are crucial for supporting children's social-emotional development, preventing the onset of behavior problems, and reducing the risk of long-term mental health disorders. However, there are still not many comparable European universal early childhood preventive intervention programs that unpack the active ingredients of successful social-emotional learning (SEL) approaches (for reviews, see Jensen & Rasmussen, 2019;Koivula & Huttunen, 2018;Moazami-Goodarzi et al, 2021;Scheithauer et al, 2022;Von Klitzing et al, 2011). Compared to targeted preventive interventions, the advantage of universal preventive interventions is that they target all children, independently of their risk status, and thus avoid stigma (Dodge, 2020).…”