Is too much screen time bad for our children? Perhaps, but how much do we really know?

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David Turgoose explores a systematic review of reviews that looks at the effects of screen time on the health and well-being of children and adolescents. The review found that higher levels of screen time were related to some physical and mental health concerns, such as poor diet, obesity and depression.

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The case for social-emotional competence: essential skills for school and life? #MHED2018

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Michael Wigelsworth summarises a review by Celene Domitrovich on social-emotional competence, which she describes as an essential factor in promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in children.

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Mindfulness in schools: what next?

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Jennifer Hanratty summarises the recent Campbell review on mindfulness-based interventions for improving cognition, academic achievement, behaviour and socioemotional functioning in schools. She considers what school leaders, researchers and policy makers should do next, considering the current uncertainty around mindfulness in schools.

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Parent training works for child and adolescent mental health

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Tony McGinn presents a high-level overview of the state of parent training evidence. His blog draws on over 30 systematic reviews with meta-analyses, to bring you a handy summary of what works.

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RCTs in which people with learning disabilities participate are of sufficient quality but small in size

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Antipsychotic medication is widely used to treat behavioural problems in people with learning disabilities. A Cochrane review of the use of these medications for this purpose found very few randomised controlled trials (a method of clinical research in which people are allocated at random to receive a clinical intervention, a placebo, or no intervention at [read the full story…]