SynthesisJournal of public health (Oxford, England)2020
Learning across the UK: a review of public health systems and policy approaches to early child development since political devolution.
Synthesis in Journal of public health (Oxford, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Relationships between Child Development at School Entry and Adolescent Health-A Participatory Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- The Infant to School programme: supporting school readiness in children and developing community nursery nurses within health visiting teams.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Developing and implementing whole systems approaches to reduce inequalities in childhood obesity: A mixed methods study in Dundee, Scotland.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Parental and healthcare provider attitudes towards the Healthy Child Programme in England: a qualitative analysis.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Early child development in England: cross-sectional analysis of ASQInternational journal of population data science · 2024Article
- Using administrative data to evaluate national policy impacts on child and maternal health: a research framework from the Maternal and Child Health Network (MatCHNet).Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2023Article
- Identifying opportunities for upstream evaluations relevant to child and maternal health: a UK policy-mapping review.Archives of disease in childhood · 2023Review
- Article
- Factors associated with low school readiness, a linked health and education data study in Wales, UK.PloS one · 2023Article
- Mapping Geographic Trends in Early Childhood Social, Emotional, and Behavioural Difficulties in Glasgow: 2010-2017.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- 'Levelling up' in the UK must involve a reduction in inequalities in children's life chances.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2022Article
- Impact of child development at primary school entry on adolescent health-protocol for a participatory systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2021Article
- Relationship of George Floyd protests to increases in COVID-19 cases using event study methodology.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGiving children the best start in life is critical for their future health and wellbeing. Political devolution in the UK provides a natural experiment to explore how public health systems contribute to children's early developmental outcomes across four countries.
methodA systematic literature review and input from a stakeholder group was used to develop a public health systems framework. This framework then informed analysis of public health policy approaches to early child development.
resultsA total of 118 studies met the inclusion criteria. All national policies championed a 'prevention approach' to early child development. Political factors shaped divergence, with variation in national conceptualizations of child development ('preparing for life' versus 'preparing for school') and pre-school provision ('universal entitlement' or 'earned benefit'). Poverty and resourcing were identified as key system factors that influenced outcomes. Scotland and Wales have enacted distinctive legislation focusing on wider determinants. However, this is limited by the extent of devolved powers.
conclusionThe systems framework clarifies policy complexity relating to early child development. The divergence of child development policies in the four countries and, particularly, the explicit recognition in Scottish and Welsh policy of wider determinants, creates scope for this topic to be a tracer area to compare UK public health systems longer term.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.