Social and emotional wellbeing: early years

Appendix D Gaps in the evidence

The Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee (PHIAC) identified a number of gaps in the evidence related to the programmes under examination based on an assessment of the evidence. These gaps are set out below.

1. There is limited UK evidence on the effectiveness of interventions (home visiting, childcare and early education) to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children aged under 5 years.

2. There is limited UK evidence on the cost effectiveness of early interventions to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children aged under 5 years. This includes evidence on the distribution of costs and benefits across all relevant sectors including health, education, social care, welfare and criminal justice.

3. There is a lack of nationally agreed definitions and measures of vulnerability and risk relating to the social and emotional wellbeing of children aged under 5 years. This makes surveillance, planning and evaluation difficult.

4. There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of different methods of delivering early interventions.

5. There is limited evidence on the differential impact of early interventions on the social and emotional wellbeing of particular groups of vulnerable children aged under 5 years and their families. (This includes, for example, the impact on particular minority ethnic groups and on children whose parents have mental health problems.)

The Committee made 8 recommendations for research into areas that it believes will be a priority for developing future guidance.