Abstract
BackgroundFor children with low self-regulation in the preschool years, the likelihood of poorer intellectual, health, wealth and anti-social outcomes in adulthood is overwhelming. Yet this knowledge has not yielded a framework for understanding self-regulatory change, nor generated particularly successful methods for enacting this change. Reconciling insights from cross-disciplinary theory, research and practice, this study seeks to implement a newly developed program of low-cost and routine practices and activities for supporting early self-regulatory development within preschool contexts and to evaluate its effect on children’s self-regulation, executive function and school readiness; and educator perceived knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy related to self-regulation.Methods/designThe Early Start to Self-Regulation study is a cluster randomized, controlled trial for evaluating benefits of the Preschool Situational Self-Regulation Toolkit (PRSIST) program, when implemented by early childhood educators, compared with routine practice. The PRSIST program combines professional learning, adult practices, child activities and connections to the home to support children’s self-regulation development. Fifty preschool centers in New South Wales, Australia, will be selected to ensure a range of characteristics, namely: National Quality Standards (NQS) ratings, geographic location and socioeconomic status. After collection of baseline child and educator data, participating centers will then be randomly allocated to one of two groups, stratified by NQS rating: (1) an intervention group (25 centers) that will implement the PRSIST program; or (2) a control group (25 centers) that will continue to engage in practice as usual. Primary outcomes at the child level will be two measures of self-regulation: Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task and the PRSIST observational assessment. Secondary outcomes at the child level will be adult-reported measures of child self-regulation, executive function and school readiness. Outcomes at the educator level will involve a survey of their perceived knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy for supporting children’s self-regulatory development. In all cases, data collectors will be blinded to group allocation.DiscussionThis is the first randomized controlled trial of a new program to foster early self-regulation, using low-cost practices and activities that are aligned with early-years contexts, routines and practices. Results will provide important information about the efficacy of this approach and evaluate its underlying model of self-regulatory change.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12617001568303. Registered on 21 November 2017.
Highlights
For children with low self-regulation in the preschool years, the likelihood of poorer intellectual, health, wealth and anti-social outcomes in adulthood is overwhelming
These Intra-class correlation (ICC) were anticipated on the basis of previous large-scale research in children clustered within different preschool settings [23], and anticipated effect sizes were based on initial small-scale piloting of this approach to promoting self-regulation [17]
Substantial efforts have been expended in producing informative communication materials and easy-to-use program materials
Summary
Success of this evaluation trial is dependent on the cooperation of centers and staff recruited to the study, and their implementation of the PRSIST Program with high fidelity, and the participation of parents and children from those centers. The results of this study will provide insight into whether self-regulation benefits can be achieved through low-cost and routine practices, when these are done more intentionally (rather than incidentally), with the aim of maximising self-regulatory challenge and benefit, and in a way that is flexible and compatible with current early-years contexts, practices and routines. If efficacious, this would be a significant departure from many current alternative approaches, which can be difficult to implement with fidelity, and are often costly and time consuming.
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