The Survey of Well-being of Young Children

Increasingly, we receive questions about adapting the SWYC. In response, we want to have a clear process to consider potential changes that balances the practical and scientific needs for revisions with the benefits of offering a single, stable instrument that we call the SWYC. In November 2016, we assembled a group of clinicians and policymakers to serve as an advisory group.

When questions arise, we send advisors a “Position Paper” and ask for comments. In addition to describing the question itself, the Position Paper presents our perspective on the pros and cons as well as our suggested course of action. For each proposal, we ask for advisors’ comments and vote (yes, no, or abstain). We intend to typically make changes based on the majority’s opinion. If the SWYC authors or any member of the group expresses a strong belief about a proposed change, we will reconsider the majority opinion and proceed to further deliberation.

The members of our advisory group for November 2016-2017 are:

• Lucy Garbus, PNP, Holyoke Health
• Marsha Gerdes, PhD, Senior Psychologist for PolicyLab and Associate Director, Neonatal Follow-Up Programs for The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Greg Hagan, MD, FAAP, Chief of the Department of Pediatrics for Cambridge Health Alliance
• John Maddox, MD, FAAP, Pediatrician, Wilmington Pediatrics
• Camille Smith, EdS, MS, CPD, Behavioral Scientist for the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention
• Anne Stephen, MD, FAAP, Chief Medical Officer, Essentia Health – East
• Michael H. Tang, MD, FAAP, Clinical Director of Behavioral Health Integration, Pediatrician, and Child and Adult Psychiatrist, The Dimock Center
• Nancy Rumbaugh Whitesell, PhD, Associate Professor at the Tribal Early Childhood Research Center, Colorado School of Public Health

Decisions made in conjunction with the advisory group:

Fall-Winter 2017:

• Rewording of the SWYC’s tobacco and food insecurity items for increased sensitivity
• Addition of a single item about family reading frequency
• Refinement of our policy for permitting “pilot versions” of the SWYC, as seen on the FAQ portion of this website
• We and the advisory group considered but did not move forward with the addition of an early literacy/school readiness measure to the SWYC. While there was agreement about the importance of this construct, we were unable to locate a brief parent-report measure with sufficient psychometric backing to support its inclusion in the SWYC at this time.