Which social interventions help children and adolescents? Which factors influence whether the interventions succeed? These are two of the questions that SFI – the Danish National Centre for Social Research will attempt to answer in the project Children’s Development and Well-being – Database and Analysis.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded a grant of nearly DKK 6 million to SFI for a data collection and research project that will focus on establishing a database and conducting follow-up research on children. The project will monitor 30,000 children for several years and will provide researchers with valuable data on social interventions. The aim is to create a resource that can be used to evaluate the impact of social and welfare initiatives.
“For example, this may include knowledge on how early we can observe the identifiable differences in well-being and learning between deprived and non-deprived children; whether the differences depend on which municipal programmes the children are offered; and whether certain groups of children especially benefit from specific programmes. It may also include knowledge on whether conflict-resolution tools for parents going through a divorce influence the development and well-being of children in the long term,” explains Signe Lynne Boe Rayce, a researcher at SFI and leader of the project.
“The participants in the longitudinal study will come from all over Denmark and from all types of backgrounds. This will enable us to get more knowledge on how growing up under different conditions and supportive welfare initiatives affect individuals in childhood, adolescence and adulthood,” says Signe Lynne Boe Rayce.
The knowledge obtained will be made available to both public and private organizations.
Thomas Alslev Christensen, Head of Operations, Novo Nordisk Foundation, says: “Following this large group of children and the data that will be collected over time in a database will provide a solid foundation for evaluating social and welfare initiatives for children and adolescents in Denmark. The project’s focus on establishing a baseline for a large group of children that, in principle, can be followed from childhood to adulthood has an exciting and long-term perspective that has not previously been studied in Denmark.”
Together with DKK 4.4 million allocated by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Interior in 2016, the Foundation grant will fund the establishment of the database, the first two rounds of data collection and the associated follow-up research.
ABOUT SFI – THE DANISH NATIONAL CENTRE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
SFI is an independent sector research institution under the Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Interior. SFI is Denmark’s largest research environment for social and welfare state policy and works closely with the strongest environments in its fields of research in Denmark and internationally.
SFI conducts independent research projects and carries out commissioned projects for ministries, municipalities and organizations. SFI carries out research and analysis within all the major fields related to social welfare. See www.sfi.dk.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Ulla Haahr, Head of Secretariat and Communication, SFI, [email protected], +45 2537 3651
Christian Mostrup Scheel, Senior Press Officer, [email protected], +45 3067 4805
