Résumé des résultats

Background
Conduct disorders are amongst the most widespread problems during the development of children and adolescents in contemporary society. Therefore there exists a great practical interest in prevention and intervention measures that can effectively promote a healthy development and reduce behaviour difficulties. However, there is a serious lack of empirical studies, in Switzerland, that rigorously evaluate such programmes and translate their findings into practically relevant recommendation. This is particularly true in respect of questions relating to the long-term effectiveness of prevention programmes and the question of the extent to which they work in the culturally heterogeneous context of contemporary cities.

The Zurich project on the social development of children is a pioneering study in these respects. It is the first study in Switzerland that combines a large-scale longitudinal study with a randomized controlled trials aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of developmental prevention. Over half of the participating children have at least on parent who was not born in Switzerland.

The Interventions
The project entailed the implementation of two universal prevention programmes, i.e. programmes that target all children in the age-cohort. They are designed to address two groups of established risk-factors, namely the parenting behaviour of the parents and the psycho-social competencies of the child.

Triple P is a behavioural parent training programme that promotes competencies related to good parenting. It was developed by Matthew Sanders at Queensland University in Australia. The Zurich model project entailed the implementation of group-seminars for parents with each course consisting of four seminars. Subsequent telephone support serves to strengthen the utilization of the acquired skills. 31 percent of all parents in the target schools enrolled for the programme and 23 percent completed the course. However, members of socially disadvantaged minorities were considerably underrepresented amongst course participants, despite additional courses offered in Albanian, Portuguese, Turkish and English.

PATHS is a programme that aims at promoting the emotional and socialo competencies of children and thereby reducing problem behaviours. Also, it is designed to increase discipline and improve the classroom and school climate. It was developed by Mark Greenberg (Pennsylvania State University) and Carol Kusché. PATHS teaches skills that contribute to the development of self-control and empathy as well as to more effective problem-solving skills. The original English version of the programme was translated and adapted for this project. During the implementation period of one year teachers taught approximately 1.7 PATHS units per week with an average weekly duration of about 60 minutes.

Data collection
The population of this study are all children who entered the first year of primary school in the city of Zurich in 2004. Schools were the units for both the sampling procedure and the allocation to treatment conditions. A total of 56 schools were randomly selected for participation in the study and allocated to treatment conditions in a factorial design.

1675 children started primary school in one of the selected schools. Parent consent for the child’s study participation could be secured for 82% of all children. 74 % of the parents agreed to also participate in the parent interviews. Attrition was below 5 percent over the three years of the study.

Until 2007 three waves of data collection have been completed. A computer-aided personal interview was conducted during each wave with the child and the primary caregiver. Interviews with the primary caregiver were conducted in 10 languages to accommodate the needs of the highly heterogeneous population. Furthermore, teachers completed paper-and-pencil assessments for each child every six months.

Selected results
Epidemiology:
The analyses suggest that a significant proportion of children show signs of behavioural difficulties. The most widespread problem are attention deficits, restlessness and hyperactivity. Teachers observe several respective behaviours frequently amongst about 15% of boys and 7 % of the girls. About 8 % of the boys and 2 % of the girls show symptoms of repeated aggressive behaviour, which is a risk-factor for the long-term persistence of conduct problems into adolescence. Occasional physical or verbal aggression is much more widespread. For example, about 63 % of the boys and 20 % of the girls had been involved in at least one physical fight.

Intervention effects:
The most important immediate goal of Triple P is an improvement of parenting behaviours. The study found limited evidence for success in this respect. Amongst those who completed the programme the analyses showed a reduction in corporal punishment, a decline in impulsive parenting and an improvement in the family climate. However, no effects were found for other aspects of parenting behaviour that are targeted by Triple P. This includes positive parenting, parental involvement as well as parental supervision.

Also, no positive effects could be found in respect of children’s social behaviour including aggression, non-aggressive problem behaviours, internalizing behaviours and prosocial behaviour. This finding holds in respect of parent assessments, teacher assessments, and child self-assessments. In contrast, the study found a negative effect for one target outcome: Amongst children of parents who attended the course the teachers observe an increase in non-aggressive externalizing behaviour problems (lack of concentration, irritability) while the teacher in the control group observe a decline of this behavioural domain. Although this finding should be treated with caution, it may mean that behavioural parenting programmes, when administered as a universal intervention to mostly unproblematic parents, may induce unnecessary changes in parenting behavioural that elicit stress amongst the children.

The proximal goal of PATHS is an improvement in the social and emotional competencies of children. In both respects the study identified partial positive effects. In particular, aggressive solutions to social problems declined more amongst children in the PATHS classes as compared to the control group. Also, teachers perceived more positive change as regards emotion recognition and conflict resolution skills. However, teachers in the treatment condition did not report a better development as regards fairness and rules, helping others, aggression against others and following classroom rules.

For the total of all children in PATHS classes no significant effects were found as regards social behaviour measures. Again this is true in respect of the teacher, the parent, and the child assessments. However, a positive effect could be found amongst classes where PATHS was implemented to a high quality standard. In those classes parents observed a significant reduction in the aggressive behaviour of their child.

Recommendations
The study findings have led to a series of recommendations, some of which reach beyond the immediate outcomes and proposing the adoption of a broad policy orientation towards evidence-based prevention. More specifically, this includes the suggested introduction of a national center for prevention research, which would summarize findings from evaluation studies for practitioners, assess the quality of existing prevention programmes, develop recommendation for municipalities and cantons, and assist practitioners in planning and implementing prevention programmes.

In respect of parent support and training the study concludes, amongst others, that more efforts should be made to provide access to non-medical consulting and support during the period before and after birth. This is when parents are probably most open to professional advice. Also, the study findings suggest that early utilization of parent support services are one of the strongest predictors of later utilization of parent training courses.

In respect of social skills training the study corroborates findings that show a relationship between implementation quality and programme effectiveness. Hence efforts should be made to resource school-based programmes in such a way that high-quality training and ongoing support and supervision can be provided. Also, in order to facilitate generalisation across all domains of school activities, programmes should be introduced on a school-wide basis and be embedded a school culture.

Plus des informations

Le projet zurichois pour le développement social des enfants (z-proso) associe une étude longitudinale à la mise en œuvre randomisée de deux programmes de prévention visant à promouvoir la compétence à bien vivre chez des élèves d'écoles primaires. Dans le cadre de trois vagues d'enquêtes annuelles, quelque 1000 élèves des premières classes des écoles de la ville de Zurich, ainsi que leurs parents et leurs professeurs, seront interviewés.

Contexte
Sur la base d'une étude concernant la problématique de la violence commandée par le Conseil municipal zurichois et réalisée en 2002, l'analyse des risques et des ressources a abouti aux conclusions suivantes: au vu du développement et de la propagation de la violence, d'une offre conçue de manière réactive et du manque de connaissances fiables dans le domaine de la prévention de la violence, il y a un besoin de projets de prévention précoces et de programmes correctement évalués et adaptés à l'environnement urbain multiculturel.

Objectifs
Le projet z-proso poursuit deux objectifs principaux: d'une part, l'acquisition de connaissances fiables sur l'efficacité et le mode d'action des deux programmes de prévention, à savoir, Triple P (un programme de promotion des compétences éducatives des parents) - et PATHS (un programme scolaire de promotion des compétences cognitives et sociales). D'autre part, l'étude longitudinale entend fournir de nouvelles connaissances sur la genèse de la violence et des autres comportements problématiques au moment charnière situé entre l'enfance et l'adolescence. Ce faisant, l'interdépendance entre les différents niveaux d'action, à savoir, l'individu, la famille, l'école, le voisinage et le cercle des amis sera particulièrement prise en compte.

Méthodes/procédé
Au total, quelque 1000 élèves de première année retenus parmi 60 écoles choisies au hasard en ville de Zurich seront pris en compte. Trois vagues d'enquêtes annuelles  sont prévues, dans le cadre desquelles les enfants, un parent et un enseignant seront soumis à des interviews personnelles et standardisées. Celles-ci permettront de collecter des données relatives au développement social et cognitif, aux différents types de comportements à problèmes des enfants, et aux principales variables contextuelles (famille, école, quartier). Après la première enquête (2004/5), le programme Triple P sera proposé aux parents des enfants de la moitié des écoles choisies. Après la deuxième enquête (2005/6), le programme PATHS sera introduit dans le cadre de l'enseignement normal, dans la moitié des écoles qui auront fait partie du programme Triple P.

Signification
Conformément aux objectifs visés, z-proso apporte, pour la première fois en Suisse, des connaissances fiables sur l'efficacité de deux programmes de prévention novateurs. Ce projet fournira aussi de nouveaux éléments sur l'apparition des comportements problématiques dans les champs d'interactions entre l'individu, la famille, l'école ou le quartier, dans un contexte multiculturel

Duration 1.10.04-31.12.06

Grant CHF 662 089

Proposal no.: 405240-69025

Prof. Manuel Eisner
Institute of Criminology
University of Cambridge
Cambridge CB3 9DT
United Kingdom
Tel. +44 (01223) 335374
Fax +44 (01223) 335356
E-Mail manuel.eisner@crim.cam.ac.uk

et

Universität Zürich
Pädagogisches Institut
Freiestr. 36
CH-8032 Zürich
Tel. 044 634 45 73
Fax 044  634 49 22
E-Mail meisner@paed.unizh.ch

Third party funding
Swiss Federal Office for Public Health CHF 400 000
Directorate of Education of the Canton of Zurich CHF 300 000
Federal Office for Immigration, Integration and Emigration CHF 114 000
Stiftung für wissenschaftliche Forschung an der Universität Zürich CHF 18 000
Stiftung Visana CHF 15 000
School and Sport Department of the City of Zurich Council (implementation of model programms) CHF 610 000

	Manifestation PNR 52 du 22 juin 2006 Eisner_NFP52_ZH.pdf (1137KB)	03.07.2006			Download >
	Inscription/programme manifestation du 10 mai 2007 NFP52_Einladung_Eisner_100507.pdf (238KB)	19.03.2007			Download >
	Communiqué de presse de 10 mai 2007 Medienmitteilung_Eisner_070510.pdf (723KB)	11.05.2007			Download >
	Summary du projet Eisner NFP52_Summary_Eisner.pdf (722KB)	11.05.2007			Download >
	Article “Conducting a Criminological Survey in a Culturally Diverse Context” in European Journal of Criminology 13_EJCpublished_2007.pdf (229KB)	18.06.2007			Download >
	Nachbarschaftliches Umfeld und Lebensqualität für Kinder in Zürcher Quartieren Lebensqualitaet.pdf (429KB)	04.09.2007			Download >

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