HELP is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children through interdisciplinary research and mobilizing knowledge.
News and Events
-
Data in Action
Data & Connection Series: How Revelstoke Used 20 Years of Data to Strengthen Connection
For the past 20 years, Revelstoke has used Monitoring System data collected across all five tools to inform their community-based work of strengthening child development and well-being in the region. In response to trends in the data, Revelstoke has taken a whole-of-community approach, focused on connectedness and equity.
-
News
Faculty Profile: Brenda Poon is Promoting Equitable Access Through Research-to-Practice
Dr. Brenda T. Poon, a faculty member at the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), is an Assistant Professor with UBC’s School of Population and Public Health and Research Department Lead at the Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility.
-
News
Now Available: 2022-23 CHEQ and MDI Reports
Reports for the Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (CHEQ) and the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) for the 2022-23 school year are now available to access.
-
News
Dr. Matt Carwana Announced as New HELP Faculty Member
Dr. Carwana is a pediatrician and clinician-investigator at BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH). His research sits at the intersection of social justice, public health, and clinical pediatrics and seeks to improve quality of care and health outcomes for structurally marginalized children, youth and families.
-
News
Guest Column: The Time is Now — A Focus on Social and Emotional Learning
In January 2023, HELP hosted a 2-part webinar series presented by internationally renowned Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) scholar and former HELP Director Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichel, alongside researchers from the SEL Research Lab. The following guest column is a contribution from Dr. Denise Buote, SEL Research Lab Team Member, highlighting some key messages from the webinar series, along with links to the webinar recordings, presentation slides, and other related resources.
HELP's unique approach
Relationships
Reciprocity, accountability and respect are at the foundation of HELP’s longstanding relationships with communities, organizations, institutions and governments across BC and Canada. These relationships, along with guidance from an Aboriginal Steering Committee (ASC), contribute to our research, data and knowledge mobilization initiatives. Learn more about the Aboriginal Steering Committee.
Data
The Child Development Monitoring System safely and reliably gathers population-level data about the developmental health and well-being of children and adolescents at multiple times between infancy and 18 years of age. It is the foundation for much of the leading-edge research and knowledge mobilization undertaken at HELP. Learn more about the Child Development Monitoring System.
Expertise
Faculty, researchers and affiliates at HELP hold scientific expertise across a wide range of disciplines, contributing to a unique and diverse program of research that situates HELP research at the forefront of important health and equity issues. Learn more about HELP research.
Impact
HELP leads collaborative and inclusive processes that transform data and research into action. Across both practice and policy, HELP is focused on supporting evidence-informed change across systems, institutions and in communities. Learn more about HELP’s knowledge mobilization and research impact.
Publications
-
Community
Understanding the influence of community-level determinants on children’s social and emotional well-being: a systems science and participatory approach.
2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Poon B., Atchison C., Kwan A.By employing a novel systems science and participatory approach, we were able to co-produce a series of causal loop diagrams that detail the complex relationships between variables operating at the community or neighborhood environment level (e.g., features of the built environment such as: housing type, access, availability, and location; parks and greenspace, facilities such as community services, and other service infrastructure such as transit), and highlight the individual and collective impacts these relationships can have on the subsystem surrounding a child’s social and emotional well-being.
-
Mental Health
Prevalence of mental health disorders among immigrant, refugee, and nonimmigrant children and youth in British Columbia, Canada.
JAMA Network
Gadermann AM, Gagne Petteni M, Janus M, Puyat JH, Guhn M, Georgiades K.These findings show differences in diagnostic mental disorder prevalence among first- and second-generation immigrant and refugee children and youth relative to nonimmigrant children and youth.
-
COVID-19
School staff and teachers during the second year of COVID-19: Higher anxiety symptoms, higher psychological distress, and poorer mental health compared to the general population.
Journal of Affective Disorders Reports.
Hutchison SM, Watts A, Gadermann A, Oberle E, Oberlander TF, Lavoie PM, et al.These results show that priorities to reduce mental health challenges are critical during a public health crisis, not only at the beginning, but also one year later.
-
Outdoor Play
Perceived challenges of early childhood educators in promoting unstructured outdoor play: an ecological systems perspective.
Early Years
Cheng T., Brussoni M., Han C., Munday F., Zeni M.We conducted five focus groups with 40 professionals working in the early childhood education field in British Columbia, Canada, to examine their experiences and perceived challenges in promoting children’s unstructured outdoor play.
-
Environment
Neighborhood environmental exposures and incidence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A population-based cohort study.
Environment International
Yuchi W., Brauer M., Czekajlo A., Davies HW., Davis Z., Guhn M., et al.We found evidence suggesting environmental inequalities where children living in greener neighborhoods with low air pollution had substantially lower risk of ADHD compared to those with higher air pollution and lower greenspace exposure.
Indigenous Initiatives at HELP