that they are not ready for Zippy’s Friends classes at age 6, and thus cannot benefit as much from the lessons. The results provide some indication that either (i) Zippy’s Friends is more effective with older children and/or (ii) Zippy’s Friends is more effective when implemented in combination with Apple’s Friends as opposed to children receiving Zippy’s Friends twice. Summary of Findings Overall, the results from this are positive with both child self-report and parent report measures revealing a significant positive impact on children’s social, emotional and behavioural outcomes. Whilst teacher reports did not show significant programme findings, results from the child-self report measures indicated a significant improvement in children’s emotional recognition skills and adaptive coping skills. In addition, parents also reported an improvement in children’s social emotional skills, in particular, enhanced motivation and reduced externalising behaviour problems including hyperactivity and aggressive behaviour. Trimbos Institute states that these positive findings reported by parents are important given that some researchers argue that parents are better informants than teachers because they observe children in multiple settings (Berg-Nielsen et al., 2012). This study shows that Zippy’s Friends has a positive effect on social emotional competencies and behavioural problems for children from families with low socioeconomic status. This confirms that taking part in Zippy’s Friends enhances children’s social and emotional development. Subgroup analyses revealed that Zippy’s Friends had more of an effect on children aged 7 who received both Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends compared with children aged 6 who received Zippy’s Friends programme twice. The programme was not shown to have an impact on academic performance, although the short study time period should be taken into account when interpreting this finding. The results from this study support the findings from previous evaluations of Zippy’s Friends. This is the third large scale evaluation of Zippy’s Friends using a randomised controlled trial. Results from the previous two studies carried out in Norway (Holen et al., 2012a,b) and Ireland (Clarke et al., 2014a,b) revealed a significant improvement in children’s coping strategies (Holen et al., 2012a, Clarke et al., 2014b), emotional literacy skills including self-awareness,
that they are not ready for Zippy’s Friends classes at age 6, and thus cannot benefit as much from the lessons. The results provide some indication that either (i) Zippy’s Friends is more effective with older children and/or (ii) Zippy’s Friends is more effective when implemented in combination with Apple’s Friends as opposed to children receiving Zippy’s Friends twice. Summary of Findings Overall, the results from this are positive with both child self-report and parent report measures revealing a significant positive impact on children’s social, emotional and behavioural outcomes. Whilst teacher reports did not show significant programme findings, results from the child-self report measures indicated a significant improvement in children’s emotional recognition skills and adaptive coping skills. In addition, parents also reported an improvement in children’s social emotional skills, in particular, enhanced motivation and reduced externalising behaviour problems including hyperactivity and aggressive behaviour. Trimbos Institute states that these positive findings reported by parents are important given that some researchers argue that parents are better informants than teachers because they observe children in multiple settings (Berg-Nielsen et al., 2012). This study shows that Zippy’s Friends has a positive effect on social emotional competencies and behavioural problems for children from families with low socioeconomic status. This confirms that taking part in Zippy’s Friends enhances children’s social and emotional development. Subgroup analyses revealed that Zippy’s Friends had more of an effect on children aged 7 who received both Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends compared with children aged 6 who received Zippy’s Friends programme twice. The programme was not shown to have an impact on academic performance, although the short study time period should be taken into account when interpreting this finding. The results from this study support the findings from previous evaluations of Zippy’s Friends. This is the third large scale evaluation of Zippy’s Friends using a randomised controlled trial. Results from the previous two studies carried out in Norway (Holen et al., 2012a,b) and Ireland (Clarke et al., 2014a,b) revealed a significant improvement in children’s coping strategies (Holen et al., 2012a, Clarke et al., 2014b), emotional literacy skills including self-awareness,
2016_ZD-ir-OD-vertinimas_Trimbos-evaluation-of-ZF-AF.docx