Launched in 2016, Research Bites aimed to do exactly what its name suggests – deliver research findings in an accessible, easily digestible way, so it would be easier for Society staff to apply research in their work.

As this biannual newsletter celebrates its fifth year, Research Bites has over 2,200 subscribers. Many are professionals from the early childhood, education and social service sectors tapping on the Society’s research and insights into children, youth, and families.

“Research Bites is part of our commitment to encourage an appreciation of research as fundamental to evidence-based interventions and programmes,” says Dr Charlene Fu, Head of Research/Assistant Director of the Research Unit.

Articles feature a variety of topics, including findings from the Society’s own research studies and practice research.

These include the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences in low income familieswhether mother-baby bonds affect early childhood development, and understanding the needs of low-income families receiving the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

More recently, we shared our experience evaluating our programmes and discussed the implications of our findings for practitioners and the services they provide. We looked, for instance, at our learning from conducting evaluations, and developing right tools that can be used to measure programme effectiveness.

Some sections have been created based on what our social work practitioners want more on, such as ‘What does research say about this?’ We have gradually expanded this section to address follow-up questions from Children’s Society’s in-house and external events, such as on the role of fathers in developing children’s social skills, a follow up from Singapore Children’s Society Lecture 2019 on parenting.

In our latest issue, our expert – Dr. Quah Saw Han, a clinical psychologist and long-time volunteer – weighs in on our preliminary findings from our ongoing research study which investigates the impact of cumulative risk on children’s psychosocial and academic outcomes, and the protective role of parenting, self-regulation, and social support.

We continue to broaden our content based on reader surveys and feedback.

Thank you for being a part of Research Bites’ continuing journey. We look forward to keeping it insightful for you.

To access the latest issue, please click here.

To subscribe to Research Bites, please click here.

Click here to read the story in Chinese.
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