Family Policy Digest

Can government measure family wellbeing? A literature review

I Wollny, J Apps and C Henricson; Family and Parenting Institute

Interest in 'wellbeing' in the UK has tended to focus on the welfare of children, or wellbeing at an individual, adult level, rather than on family wellbeing. But with growing acknowledgement of the importance of the family to outcomes for both children and adults there is increasing interest in finding ways of developing a comprehensive, widely-accepted conceptual framework for measuring family wellbeing. Based on a wide-ranging examination of international research and other literature, this review analyses current definitions, theoretical models, and measurement tools and examines quality issues such as validity and transferability, as well as the conceptual and practical measurement challenges posed by the study of family wellbeing. It considers whether existing datasets and surveys could be used for measuring family wellbeing and proposes future directions for family wellbeing research in the UK. It also includes comprehensive appendices that detail the many concepts and measures that have been identified in the literature.

The report can be downloaded from the Family and Parenting Institute website.

February 2010

child wellbeing

Change in Wellbeing from Childhood to Adolescence: Risk and Resilience

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The report uses secondary data analysis to examine changes in wellbeing within the
framework of risk and resilience. It looks at trajectories and drivers of change, both positive and negative, across two time periods: mid-childhood (7.5 years to 10.5 years) and early adolescence (10.5 years to 13.8 years). It also looks at those children who have a large number of risks to wellbeing in their lives, identifying those factors which may help protect their wellbeing. Key findings include:

• For the sample as a whole, change in the different dimensions of wellbeing is statistically significant, but, with the exception of school wellbeing which shows a marked decline, small.
• Predictive Factors: Children with special educational needs (SEN) are more likely than others to experience poor and declining wellbeing through middle childhood and adolescence. Children who report positive relationships with their parents are significantly more likely to experience improvements in behavioural and social wellbeing and less likely to experience decline in subjective school wellbeing. Similarly where parents report positive feelings about their child, children are significantly more likely to experience improvements in wellbeing than those whose parents report negative feelings. These relationships cannot be shown to be causal however. There are also several small but significant gender differences in the patterns and drivers of change in wellbeing.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

February 2010

child wellbeing

Giving children a healthy start - A review of health improvements in children from birth to five years

Audit Commission

This report assesses the local implementation of national policy from 1999 to 2009 on the health of children from birth to five years of age in England. It examines local service planning and delivery, including priority setting, and how local bodies can improve service delivery and access for vulnerable groups such as black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, lone and teenage parents. The report discusses the impact of government funding on health outcomes for the under-fives; how effectively local bodies manage their resources; and the extent to which they are providing good value for money. It provides recommendations for national and local bodies, as well as examples of notable practice.

The report can be downloaded from the Audit Commission website.

February 2010

child wellbeing

Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and the Family Pathfinders

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The aim of this report is to clarify the relationship between the Framework and the Family Pathfinders and Think Family programmes. It explains the meaning and scope of each of these and provides answers to commonly asked questions.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

February 2010

child wellbeing

Families First: Building a blueprint for supporting British families

The Family Commission

The Commission, an 18 month inquiry into family life in Britain, has published its interim findings. These include figures from an online YouGov poll which revealed that families feel key public services are not 'family friendly' and also showed how families would like services to change to become more 'family friendly' in the support they provide. The results will feed into the Commission's ongoing consultation with families across the country, run by charity 4Children. Its final report will be released in autumn 2010.

The report of its interim findings can be downloaded from the Family Commission website.

February 2010

child wellbeing

Evaluation of the Parenting Early Intervention Programme: 1st Interim Report

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Parenting Early Intervention Programme (PEIP) is an initiative to fund local authorities
(LAs) in England to implement evidence-based parenting programmes. The Programme
was developed following the Pathfinder (2006-08) in 18 LAs. The evidence from the
evaluation1 indicated that the Pathfinder had been successful in a number of respects. Most
importantly the comparisons of measures completed by parents before and after they
attended a parenting group indicated that there had been substantial improvements in the
parents' perceptions of their own mental health and their parenting skills. Furthermore, the
parents also considered that the child about whom they had been most concerned at the
start of the parenting group had also improved.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

February 2010

child wellbeing

Strength Against Shocks: Low-income families and debt

ippr

The research with 58 low-income families in London, Newcastle, Nottingham and Glasgow aimed to understand what the expansion of household debt has meant for the lives of low-income families. Low-income households are the ones that are most vulnerable to debt problems. The report argues that reliance on debt has created vulnerability rather than opportunity during the recession.

The report can be downloaded from the ippr website.

February 2010

poverty

Local Authority Child Poverty Innovation Pilot: First National Evaluation Report

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Local Authority Innovation Pilot is one of a suite of pilot programmes announced in Ending child poverty: everybody's business (HMT, 2008), which seek to develop different approaches to tackling the causes and consequences of child poverty, and improving the outcomes for children and families living in poverty. This is the first report of the national evaluation, providing a synthesis of the findings from ten individual local Pilot evaluation reports. Further interim reports will be provided in spring and autumn 2010, with a final report in March 2011.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

February 2010

poverty

Cycles of poverty unemployment and low pay

Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)

Research shows that families can move in and out of poverty, with some of them becoming trapped in a cycle. This research looks at the causes of this and how they relate to unemployment and low pay. The report summarises four JRF projects focusing on the low-pay/no-pay cycle; examines relevant current UK policy and practice and suggests ways to create longer-lasting routes out of poverty, particularly in relation to job security and wage levels. The four reports summarised in this Round-up are:

• Employers' role in the low-pay/no-pay cycle
• Work, poverty and benefit cycling
• How can parents escape from recurrent poverty?
• The impact of family and labour market changes on recurrent poverty

The summary report and the four reports it relates to can be downloaded from the JRF website.

February 2010

poverty

Pupil and parent guarantees consultation

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The aim of Pupil and Parent Guarantees (PPG) is to bring together in one place an account of the key components of a good education, with a focus on the entitlements and the responsibilities of pupils and parents. The Guarantees are intended to help to ensure that parents and pupils know what they can expect from schools as well as spelling out what schools can expect from parents and pupils in terms of their responsibilities to support schools. This consultation sets out the full text of the Pupil and Parent Guarantees and seeks views on whether the requirements for pupils, parents, schools and Local Authorities are clear and understandable, whether all the 'musts' and 'shoulds' detailed in the guarantees are correct and whether the responsibilities and entitlements for schools, pupils and parents are correctly balanced.

The consultation document can be downloaded from the DCSF website. Closing date for responses is Tuesday 6 April 2010.

February 2010

parents and schools

Flexible working conditions and their effects on employee health and wellbeing (Review)

Cochrane Researchers

This research review by Cochrane Researchers involving Durham University researchers suggests flexible work schedules have a positive effect on workers' health say researchers. There is evidence to suggest that flexible working might be beneficial for employees' health if they are allowed to have input into their own working patterns. The study may throw some light on potential health benefits associated with current trends towards more flexible working in the UK and Europe. The Cochrane Systematic Review included ten studies which focused on various different forms of flexible working. Self-scheduling of working hours was found to have positive impacts on a number of health outcomes including blood pressure, sleep and mental health.

The review can be downloaded from the Cochrane website.

February 2010

flexible working, work life balance

Children, Young People and Alcohol

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Youth Alcohol Action Plan (June 2008) committed to delivering a social marketing campaign targeting parents and young people to discourage harmful drinking amongst under-18s. This piece of quantitative research was undertaken to inform this work, specifically to: link the usage of, and attitudes towards alcohol; quantify potential audience segments; establish a baseline to measure progress in changing behaviour; and to link data to the DCSF Families Segmentation. It was designed to better understand parents' and young people's attitudes and behaviour towards alcohol and alcohol consumption. The research was also designed to investigate how children's behaviour may be influenced by their parent's attitudes and behaviour towards alcohol.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

February 2010

alcohol

Sexualisation of Young People Review - final report

Dr L Papadopoulos; Home Office

This report was commissioned by the Home Office Violent Crime Unit as part of the Together We Can End Violence Against Women consultation. The review's remit was primarily to be a fact-finding review into the sexualisation of teenage girls. However, evidence relating to the sexualisation of pre-teenage children and of boys as well as girls was also included. The report begins by summarising the background to the sexualisation debate and some of the main theories of how young people learn and develop. It goes on to look at the volume and spread of sexualised images and content by media channel and at the possible impact this has on self-esteem, body image, mental health and personal relationships. It also considers the possible links between sexualisation and violence. Finally, it suggests recommendations for research, clinical practice, education and training, policy and awareness-raising.

The report can be downloaded from the Home Office website.

February 2010

children's health, sexuality, media

Teenage Pregnancy Strategy: Beyond 2010 consultation

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The document sets out how government plans to build on the existing Teenage Pregnancy Strategy to strengthen its delivery in all local areas and make further progress towards halving the under 18 conception rate and improving outcomes for teenage parents and their children. The Strategy aims to give young people the knowledge and skills they need to delay early sex until they are ready, to ensure they are able and confident to access and use effective contraception when they do become sexually active, and to provide effective support for teenage parents. Views are sought to inform the next phase of the Strategy. A separate consultation with young people and parents will be starting next month through Brook and Parentline Plus.

The consultation document can be downloaded from the DCSF website. Closing date for responses is Thursday 20 May 2010.

February 2010

children's health, sexuality

Sex and Relationships Education Guidance consultation

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The purpose of this consultation is to gather views on the draft document, Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) Guidance. This provides guidance to maintained primary, secondary, special schools and pupil referral units (PRUs) in England on all matters relating to SRE, including how good quality SRE can be planned and delivered, how to develop an SRE policy and how to support the health and social needs of all pupils with regard to sex and relationships. It is relevant to all staff, particularly senior managers and those responsible for co-ordinating, teaching and supporting the delivery of SRE. Headteachers and governing bodies are required by law to have regard to the guidance.

The consultation document can be downloaded from the DCSF website. Closing date for responses is Monday 19 April 2010.

February 2010

children's health, sexuality

Ex Curricula - Tackling youth disengagement

Demos

This report argues that what has been missing in tackling disengagement amongst younger children is a properly-resourced, early intervention approach. It suggests that where such children lack the skills they need - skills like concentration, good behaviour and connecting with others – they are at risk of ending up as tomorrow's generation of NEETs (not in education, employment or training). Drawing on original analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study - which surveyed the families of over 15,000 five year olds - it sets out recommendations in the areas of parenting and early years provision for 0-5 years, behaviour and exclusion, special educational needs and spreading evidence-based, preventative practice in schools.

The report can be downloaded from the Demos website.

February 2010

educational achievement

Empowering Young People Pilots Evaluation (EYPP) - final report

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The pilots were part of the ten year youth strategy for positive activities, published in July 2007. Their aim was to make funds available so that the most disadvantaged young people in nine pilot areas could access positive activities. Young people did not have direct access to the funds. They were given a mechanism whereby they could access the activity using
funds paid directly to the provider of an activity or the providers of transport to an
activity. The evaluation explored the relationship between the delivery models adopted and
the impact on young people's participation in positive activities.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

February 2010

educational achievement

Staying Safe Survey 2009: Young people and parents' attitudes around accidents, bullying and safety

Department for Children, Schools and Families

This research was commissioned by the DCSF to: measure and track parents' and children's awareness, attitudes and reported behaviour across the various safety issues covered within the Staying Safe Action Plan and the Byron Review; inform further campaign development and priorities and provide quantitative data for the DCSF to adequately measure progress of the collective communications efforts.

The report can be downloaded from the DCSF website.

February 2010

parents and schools