Jiang, M;
Li, L;
Zhu, WX;
Hesketh, T;
(2020)
Community-Based Intervention to Improve the Well-Being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Rural China.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
, 17
(19)
, Article 7218. 10.3390/ijerph17197218.
Preview |
Text
ijerph-17-07218-v2.pdf - Published Version Download (753kB) | Preview |
Abstract
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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Community-Based Intervention to Improve the Well-Being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Rural China |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/ijerph17197218 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197218 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | China, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), community-based intervention, externalizing problems, internalizing problems, left-behind children, psychosocial well-being, rural children, school performance |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10112554 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
