An examination of a temperament-based intervention in selected early childhood institutions in Jamaica

ABSTRACT

INSIGHTS into children’s temperaments is an intervention that provides parents and teachers with child behaviour management strategies tailored to fit children’s personality styles. A mixed-methods intervention design was utilized. All 5-year-old students in three schools received the programme. Five-year-old students from another three schools were control groups. Thirty-five children were randomly selected for the administration of the scales. At the end of 10-weeks, 30  parents and 4 teachers whose schools received the treatment took part in a focus group discussion.  Due to the small sample sizes, the changes in children’s behaviours and academic performance were not statistically significant. The qualitative findings suggested that the adults had an increased understanding of children’s temperaments.

KEYWORDS:

• Randomized experiment
• behaviour management strategies
• temperament

Acknowledgments

The INSIGHTS intervention in the schools was funded by Culture, Health, Arts, Sports, and Education Fund (CHASE), Jamaica. The evaluation was funded by the Mona Research Fellowship from the Office of the Principal, University of the West Indies. We thank Rochelle Williams for coordinating the research assistants and ensuring that data were collected in a timely and efficient manner.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. ECC Early Childhood Commission.

2. Adapted from Creswell (2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Loraine D. Cook

Loraine D. Cook (PhD.) is a senior lecturer in the School of Education, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica. She lectures in Research Methods and Educational Psychology at the School of Education, University of the West Indies, Mona. Her research interests include evaluating online Education in higher Education and assisting teachers in improving their teaching skills by investigating ways of aligning the relationships between teachers’ intended actions and their actual teaching behaviours. She has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed book chapters and journal articles. She is also the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence (2007) and the Most Outstanding Ph.D. thesis award for the 2006/2007 academic year. Dr. Cook was the recipient of the Fulbright Visiting Researcher Award (2011). Dr. Cook has been a visiting scholar in Applied Psychology at New York University (NYU) and the Faculty of Education, Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, Canada.

Garth Lipps

Garth Lipps is a Professor, Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica. He serves as Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Garth Lipps has an impressive research and publications record, with substantial cross-faculty collaborations. His research agenda has focused primarily on depressive symptoms among children, adolescents, and adults in the Caribbean and adults with chronic diseases, including HIV. His research has focused on family, school, and personal factors that contribute to the health and well-being of Caribbean populations. He has also examined the impact that high stakes competency examinations required for entry to high schools have on children’s, parents’ and teachers’ depressive symptoms and anxiety. He serves as a member of the Editorial Board of the International Psychology Bulletin, and a reviewer for several journals such as the British Journal of Educational Psychology, the Journal of Black Psychology, the Journal of Early Adolescence, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Mental Health, West Indian Medical Journal and the Educational Quarterly Review.