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Background: The association between early childhood psychosocial problems and poorer educational outcomes is well-documented, but the extent to which this association persists is less understood. The current study assessed the correlations between first-grade psychosocial functioning and educational outcomes through eighth grade in a large longitudinal sample of Chilean students. Methods: The Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Chilean (PSC-CL) and Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation Re-Revised (TOCA-RR) assessed psychosocial functioning for 9736 students who were screened four times from first through eighth grade through the Skills for Life program. Adjusted linear mixed effects models assessed the association between first grade PSC-CL and TOCA-RR risk and third, sixth, and eighth grade GPA and school attendance. Results: First-grade PSC-CL and TOCA-RR risk both significantly predicted lower third, sixth, and eighth grade GPAs; all p < 0.001. The relationships between first-grade psychosocial functioning and later school attendance rates were less consistent but still significant at certain time points. Conclusions: First-grade psychosocial risk was persistently associated with lower academic performance in a longitudinal sample of Chilean students followed through elementary and middle school. Implications for School Health Policy, Practice, and Equity: Early school-based psychosocial screening and follow-up interventions have the potential to improve students' long-term educational outcomes.

Background: Chile's national school-based mental health program, "Skills for Life" (SFL), has demonstrated effectiveness in improving behavioral and academic outcomes in first- through third-grade students. The current study assessed the feasibility and outcomes of SFL's program for sixth- through eighth-grade students. Methods: We assessed the percentage of students who participated in the program and longitudinal changes on teacher-reported Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation Re-Revised (TOCA-RR) scores, youth-reported Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Chile (PSC-Y-CL) scores, grade-point average, and school attendance from sixth to eighth grade (2016-2018) for SFL's workshop intervention. Linear mixed effects models analyzed the association between outcome variables and workshop attendance. Results: Of the 30,649 sixth graders who attended the 754 participating schools in 2016, 28,204 (92.0%) were screened with the TOCA-RR. Of the 1829 students who screened at risk, 1344 had available workshop data for seventh grade, with 86.9% of them participating in most ([greater than or equal to] 7) workshop sessions. Workshop attendance was significantly associated with improvements in school attendance and peer relationships (a TOCA-RR subscale) in eighth grade. Conclusions: With high rates of behavioral health screening and workshop attendance, this study demonstrated the feasibility of implementing SFL's middle school program on a national scale. Higher workshop attendance by at-risk students was associated with better school attendance and peer relationships in eighth grade, as well as better but not significantly different outcomes on other measures (e.g., teacher-rated school performance and aggressive behavior in the classroom). Overall, these findings provide preliminary evidence of the feasibility and benefits of SFL's middle school program.

The impact of an 8.8 magnitude Chilean earthquake on elementary school students' psychosocial functioning was assessed along with exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Skills for Life, a national school-based mental health program in Chile, routinely assesses first- and third-grade students' psychosocial functioning and classroom adaptation. Students (N = 19,627) were screened before (2009) and after (2011) the 2010 earthquake with parent- and teacher-report measures and with a parent-report of four ACEs (family psychopathology, child chronic illness, family social isolation, father absence). Earthquake exposure was categorized as mild, moderate, or severe for Chile's 15 regions. Multilevel models analyzed the unadjusted and adjusted impacts of earthquake exposure and ACEs on functioning while clustering for school- and district-level effects. In covariate-adjusted models, earthquake exposure and three ACEs were significantly associated with worsened psychosocial functioning; earthquake exposure and all four ACEs were significantly associated with worsened classroom adaptation. New family psychopathology, B = 1.90, p < .001; chronic illness, B = 2.25, p < .001; and severe earthquake impact, B = 1.29, p < .001, held the strongest negative effects on psychosocial well-being. Moderate, B = 3.04, p = .011, and severe earthquake exposure, B = 2.53, p = .047, and new family psychopathology, B = 1.99, p < .001, were associated with the worst classroom functioning 1-year postdisaster. Findings suggest that both exogenous and home-based stressors can have significant consequences for children's psychosocial functioning and classroom adaptation, and routine screening helps quantify how individual students are affected by chronic versus acute stressors.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends adolescent depression screening and subsequent follow-up for those scoring at-risk. The current study assessed the outcomes of a Quality Improvement (QI) project that implemented these guidelines during annual well-child visits in a network of pediatric practices. This project used a two-stage screening process. First, adolescents were screened with the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17). Second, adolescents who screened at-risk on the PSC-17 were asked to complete the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). QI-participating providers received training on how to categorize the severity of their patient's depression based on PHQ-9 cut-off scores and clinical interview, and to implement and document appropriate options for follow-up. Patients in the QI group were significantly more likely to be screened with both the PSC-17 (93.8% vs. 89.1%, p <.001) and the PHQ-9 (54.8% vs. 16.4%, p <.001) compared to those in the non-QI group. Of the 80 adolescents in the QI group at-risk on the PSC-17 and with a completed PHQ-9, 65 (81.3%) received at least one type of referral for mental health, ranging from behavioral health services to lifestyle interventions. Findings support the feasibility of adolescent depression screening and referrals within pediatric primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this chapter, we provide a method for silencing target genes in epidermal cells via RNA interference. Specifically, we describe a protocol for transfection-mediated delivery of small interfering RNA oligonucleotides (siRNA). Functional assays are indispensable to characterize the biological consequences of gene knockdowns, and we also provide a method to analyze alterations in cell adhesion properties, consequent to knockdown of genes involved in this process., (© 2025. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.)