Charlie Owen

University College London | UCL · Thomas Coram Research Unit

For nearly 50 years, the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) has been integral to the IOE (Institute of Education), UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society (University College London, UK). This article is written from the perspectives of four researchers who have served in the TCRU’s formative years and over its lifetime. It chronicles the TCRU’s hist...

The Government in England contributes an estimated £3.9 billion funding to support childcare and education for three- and four-year olds and for some two-year olds. A significant proportion of this money is spent on private sector childcare. However, little is known about how the money paid to companies providing private sector childcare is used. T...

Anatomical examinations have been designed to assess topographical and/or applied knowledge of anatomy with or without the inclusion of visual resources such as cadaveric specimens or images, radiological images and/or clinical photographs. Multimedia learning theories have advanced the understanding of how words and images are processed during lea...

Internationally, research has highlighted disruption to the educational trajectories of young people in care, documenting concern about upheaval and poor educational outcomes. We present findings from English data arising from qualitative longitudinal research with care experienced people (16–32 years) who were also in education, employment or trai...

Coping style plays an important role in children’s wellbeing. This paper describes the patterns of associations between children’s self-reported coping styles and symptoms of anxiety in order to determine whether particular dimensions are associated with better adjustment. Participants were 2566 children (1268 girls, 1298 boys) aged 7–11 years atte...

Not enough is known in the UK about how economic phenomena and policy changes have impacted families’ ability to feed themselves. This article employs a novel way of identifying the types of UK families at risk of food poverty over time. Applying a relative deprivation approach, it asks what counts in the UK as a socially acceptable diet that meets...

Research shows that healthy eating improves outcomes for children and that inequalities in diet are socially determined. However, little is known about how associations between household income and the diet intake of children and young people change over time. Descriptive analysis was carried out using the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children s...

The overall aim of this paper is to examine the types and combinations of childcare being used by parents in Britain, and to compare how this childcare usage may vary between families, in order to critically examine parental childcare needs. The three specific research questions were: 1) ‘What types and combinations of childcare are being used by f...

Background: Most western infants develop long night-time sleep periods by four months of age. However, around 20-30% of infants in many countries continue to sleep for short periods and cry out on waking in the night: the most common type of infant sleep behaviour problem. Preventive interventions may help families and improve services. There is e...

Background: Most western infants develop long night-time sleep periods by four months of age. However, 30% of infants in many countries sleep for short periods and cry out on waking in the night: the most common type of infant sleep behaviour problem. Preventive interventions may help families and improve services. There is evidence that 'limit-se...

Promoting mental health and well-being for children and young people in the UK has attracted increasing prominence in recent years and has been a focus for government strategy within health and education. Training and practice in educational psychology has increasingly focused on developing skills and expertise to provide therapeutic support w...

Promoting mental health and well-being for children and young people in the UK has attracted increasing prominence in recent years and has been a focus for government strategy within health and education. Training and practice in educational psychology has increasingly focused on developing skills and expertise to provide therapeutic support within...

The purpose of this paper is to report on the changing qualifications, pay and working conditions of the British childcare workforce between 2005 and 2014. This is in order to contribute to current debates on the ‘quality’ of childcare provision for preschool children. The theoretical framework for this study draws upon concepts of 'quality' in chi...

Policy Context Access to childcare matters because it has been shown to be an important vehicle for increasing female employment which in turn helps reduce family poverty. Additionally, studies have concluded that it is only high quality childcare that improves the cognitive and social development outcomes of children, and narrow gaps between disad...

Most infants become settled at night by 3 months of age, whereas infants not settled by 5 months are likely to have long-term sleep-waking problems. We assessed whether normal infant development in the first 3 months involves increasing sleep-period length or the ability to resettle autonomously after waking in the night. One hundred one infants we...

This paper summarises the ‘Provision and use of preschool childcare in Britain’ study by UCL Institute of Education. The National Day Nurseries Association was a collaborator, along with the Family and Childcare Trust, in this study and here we share the study’s aims, methods and key findings.

This pack presents data about children?s homes in England. It provides information on the children in the homes, the homes and their quality, their location and ownership, their cost, and the children?s homes market. The Government believes that transparency is an essential tool in driving up quality and much of this information is being published...

This is part two of an evaluation of the work of independent social work experts (ISWs) in care proceedings (stage I was published in April 2012). It takes forward findings from stage I exploring further the evidential base for views put to the Family Justice Review about the practice of courts. It examines the views, experiences and practices of a...

This presentation is prompted by a moral panic around the decline of the family meal, and the blame attached to mothers for that decline and it consequences.

Several concerns surround the use of independent social work (ISW) assessments in care proceedings. Some result from the exclusion of this work from a review of legal aid for expert assessments in this field, a cap on ISW fees, and fears about a resulting reduction in the availability of ISWs. At the same time, submissions to the Family Justice Rev...

At 31 March 2010, there were 64,000 looked after children. Whilst the majority of these children are placed in foster care, many children will continue to rely on children?s homes to provide them with the support they need to achieve their potential. This data pack synthesises statistical information held by the Department and summarises what we kn...

The case is made for basing analysis of longitudinal measurement data on each individual's array or curve of scores, and employing methods of analysis which take account of shape of each individual's curve. DQs at 6 months and 18 months, and IQs at 3, 5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 years were available on 84 subjects from 6 months to 17 years, and 109 subjec...

There is a growing recognition of the variation between local authorities in the proportions of children with SEN, the apparent composition of these groups, and the nature and quality of services provided to support them. Local area data collected on children with SEN, particularly the termly School Census and the annual SEN2 return by local author...

To determine whether vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is associated with sexual activity between women. Cross-sectional survey of 708 new patients attending 2 sexual health clinics for lesbians and bisexual women in London, UK. Questionnaire for demographic variables, sexual history, symptoms, and sexual practice data linked with the results of Gram...

With the publication of the report, Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for Families , the government has pledged to improve outcomes for disabled children and their families identifying three priority areas: access and empowerment; responsive services and timely support; and improving quality and capacity. In order to plan and delive...

Introduction This is a summary of the main findings of a cross-national study funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families within a programme of research at the Thomas Coram Research Unit. The study compared policy, practice and the professional skills of the workforce in four European countries (Denmark, France, Germany and England)...

Using General Household Survey data, this paper considers attendance by children under five at public and private services providing non-parental daycare and education in 1986 and compares it with 1979. Attendance of children under five rose from 32 per cent in 1979 to 42 per cent in 1986. The services included are primary schools, nursery schools...

Uses data from the LFS to examine changes in the care workforce from the late 1990s to 2005.The number of people working in an occupation and their characteristics (age,sex, qualifications, and so on) can changeover time. Such changes can be monitored using the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. However,changes in the definition of...

To use cost-consequences analysis to evaluate rehabilitation, and to discuss some practical limitations. Case study of a cost-consequences analysis. Day hospital. People with Parkinson's disease without major cognitive loss, and their carers. A programme of multidisciplinary rehabilitation, delivered for one day per week over six weeks, and includi...

Using a range of examples, the paper argues that there is an information deficit concerning early childhood services; even on the most basic issues, there is either no information or such information as does exists is unreliable, limited or outdated. This matters because information is a necessary condition for good policy, for open and democratic...

To survey students aged 16-18 years in secondary education establishments in one school district in the south of England in order to: assess knowledge about the importance of blood pressure (BP) for health; investigate associations between knowledge and health-related behaviours; and explore home, school and health service influences on knowledge....

To determine whether bacterial vaginosis (BV) is associated with sexual activity between women. Cross-sectional survey of 708 new patients attending 2 sexual health clinics for lesbians and bisexual women in London, U.K. Questionnaire for demographic, sexual history, and sexual practice data linked with the results of genitourinary examination. BV...

To describe the prevalence of sexually transmitted infection (STIs) in a sample of women who have sex with women (WSW) and to identify risk factors for the acquisition of STI. Cross sectional survey. Questionnaire for demographic, sexual history, and sexual practice data linked with the results of genitourinary examination. 708 new patients attendi...

To provide data about the sexual histories of a large sample of lesbians and bisexual women, to inform those who provide health care or carry out research with women who may be sexually active with other women. Cross sectional survey. Setting/subjects: 803 lesbians and bisexual women attending, as new patients, lesbian sexual health clinics, and 41...

To determine whether a programme of multidisciplinary rehabilitation and group support achieves sustained benefit for people with Parkinson's disease or their carers. The study was a randomised controlled crossover trial comparing patients and carers who had received rehabilitation four months before assessment with those who had not. Patients were...

To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of an intensive multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme for people with Parkinson's disease and their carers. Observational, with assessments before and after intervention. An elderly care day unit in a district general hospital in south-east England. One hundred and eighteen people with Parkinson's disea...

• The objective of this report is to provide information on the costs of current arrangements for the education of looked after children (LAC) and the benefits of improving their educational outcomes and other life chances • The report brings together evidence from published sources, research on the education of children in care and outcomes from...

After friends and relatives, childminders are the most common form of child care. This paper reports the results from a postal survey of a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 childminders. Results are reported concerning childminders' training and employment histories, working conditions, motivation, commitment and satisfaction with thei...

To assess the effectiveness of a behavioural programme introduced in the first 3 months of age in preventing infant crying and sleeping problems. Two issues were addressed: (i) which elements of the behavioural programme would parents implement; and (ii) whether the behavioural programme was more effective in reducing infant crying and encouraging...

A national sample of 1662 academic and academic related university staff, who had retired 3-5 years earlier, completed a postal survey about their current employment, research, other academic activities, and the academic resources available to them, and about their attitudes to retirement, and the extent of their leisure, voluntary, and other carin...

Confusion exists in clinical practice about whether lesbians should be offered routine cervical smears. We found cervical smear abnormalities in a sample of 624 lesbians, including those who had never been sexually active with men. These findings suggest that lesbians should be routinely offered cervical cytology as part of the national screening p...

To investigate the association between the national unemployment rate and class differences in the relation between health and employment during the period 1973-93. Data from general household surveys, 1973-93. Comparison of rates of employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity among those with and without limiting longstanding illness in diff...

The purpose of this study was to describe the quality of different forms of provision for four-year-old children in England. A sample of local authority day nurseries, private day nurseries, nursery classes and playgroups were studied. Quality was assessed with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), child to adult ratio and group siz...

Research has consistently reported a female excess of minor physical morbidity and affective disorders compared to men. Using data from a national cross sectional survey of British women and men aged 18-59, this paper explores three prominent explanations for these patterns: that the female excess is due to problems associated with menstruation and...

In this paper average domestic rate levels per adult for 1989/90 are correlated with standard measures of the socio‐economic status of English local authority districts, derived from the 1981 Census. These correlations show that rate levels tend to be higher in areas of social disadvantage and lower in more socially advantaged areas. When introduci...

It is estimated that in 1986 40‐50% of children in England aged 3 and 4 were attending pre‐school playgroups. Another 20% were receiving education in nursery schools and classes, mostly part time, whilst a further 20% were in the reception classes of infant schools, mostly full time. Using data on the provision of these services within each local a...

This paper reviews research on playgroups in the United Kingdom. Subjects covered include the geographical distribution of playgroups; the backgrounds of families who use them; the concept and practice of parental involvement; the position of playgroup workers; and the experience of children in playgroups. The review finds that the majority of chil...

The experience of hospital inpatient stays at childbirth was studied in a longitudinal study of the experiences of 96 first-time parents during the transition to parenthood. For women, the prospect of birth was a major worry during pregnancy. Negative expectations proved in general to be justified by events, with many women reporting predominantly...

This article explores the impact of parenthood on the gender division of the household workload, including employment, housework and childcare. A British sample, originally consisting of 96 couples, were interviewed on several occasions during pregnancy and the first postnatal year. The results illustrate how the transition period emphasizes ‘tradi...

Aspects of marital relations over the transition to parenthood were studied as part of a longitudinal study of the experiences of first-time parents. The response of the sample was complex. Marital satisfaction started high and showed only a modest decline overall. Many parents reported gains in their marriage due to having a child. There were, how...

This paper describes the prevalence of behaviour problems in 2 populations of preschool children in London, and the continuities over time of common problems. Night waking was the most common problem under the age of 2, being reported in 21% of 1-year-olds. Just under half of these night wakers were still waking at 18 months, and from 18 months to...

Introduction Private fostering occurs where a child who is under the age of 16 (or 18 if disabled) is cared for by someone other than their parent or a close relative, for 28 days or more. Regulation of private fostering was first introduced in the Children Act 1948 and has been repeated in subsequent Children Acts. However, it is widely recognised...