Book giveaway programs provide free books to families with infants to encourage caregivers to begin reading to their children during infancy. This meta-analysis of 44 studies retrieved from 43 articles tests the effects of three major book giveaway programs: Bookstart (n = 11), Reach Out and Read (n = 18), and Imagination Library (n = 15). Effect…

Over the past 2 decades, a growing number of randomised controlled trials have assessed the impact on children's language skills of interventions encouraging parents to read books to their offspring. We present the results of a meta-analysis of the impact of 30 such interventions. Results indicate that they are often ineffective, and that only one…

Early childhood education (ECE) intervention programs nowadays are the core of the educational disadvantage policy in the Netherlands. They offer institutional compensatory activities to young children who lack educational stimulation in the home environment. Target groups mainly comprise children from deprived socioeconomic backgrounds and of…

Objective: To conduct a systematic review of the literature describing the interaction between the use of telehomecare technology and level of health literacy among chronic patients. The aim of the review was both to explore whether and how level of health literacy affects the ability to use telehomecare technology and, additionally, whether and…

Current US statistics indicate that 1 in 68 children is diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder (Centers for Disease Control (2014) Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years--autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 Sites, United States, 2010. "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report"…

Asthma is the leading chronic health condition among children in the United States and a major cause of childhood disability. It also disproportionately affects low-income and racial and ethnic minorities. Although a wide range of interventions have been implemented to improve asthma-related outcomes among socioeconomically disadvantaged and…

Background: For a majority of the world's children, despite substantial increases in primary school enrollment, academic learning is neither occurring at expected rates nor supplying the basic foundational skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century. The significant lag in academic achievement tells us that simply making formal education…

This meta-analysis investigated the efficacy of peer-mediated interventions for promoting social interactions among children from birth to eight years of age diagnosed with ASD. Forty-five single-subject design studies were analyzed and the effect sizes were calculated by the regression model developed by Allison and Gorman (1993). The overall…

The widespread problem of substance abuse negatively affects users and their families. This paper provides a methodological review of empirical studies that focused on systemic interventions (particularly marital and family therapy) in the treatment of substance abuse. The articles examined here focused on engaging the addict in treatment,…