PEP Collaborative Child Manual CHILD PEP MANUAL
Preschooler Emotions Project (PEP) Laboratory Manual
Tracy A. Dennis, Ph.D., Director
Angela Crossman, Ph.D., Co-Director
Nurper Gökhan, Ph.D., Co-Director
Laura Myftaraj, Project Coordinator, Jeremy Alisauskas, B.A., Maciel Campos,
Amy Cushing-Savvi, Melville Malone, Research Assistants
This project is designed to study the development of emotion regulation in 5- and 6-year-old children. Preschoolers and their mothers are invited to come to our laboratory at the Emotion Regulation Lab at Hunter College for a single visit. All of the children and their mothers previously participated in a similar study on emotion regulation and have been recruited for a second visit as part of a longitudinal study. During the visit, the children are videotaped while they are involved in a variety of tasks, some of which are fun and some of which involve mild emotional challenges. During some of the periods, mother interacts with her child and during others she fills out questionnaires.
Research assistants on the project assist in the development of materials for the visits, administering procedures, videotaping visits, and coding videotaped observations. Because this is a professional activity, research assistants have the opportunity to develop some of the professional skills involved in professional psychology. This opportunity also comes with the same kinds of responsibilities that professional psychologists have. When you assist in a research project, you are a representative of Hunter College and of the Department of Psychology. Therefore, it is very important to know how to behave in a professional manner both in terms of the relationships with the participants and with the other staff on the project. We provide some details about this in this manual, emphasizing the professional maturity that is part of psychology's standards and ethics and which we are asked to consider when we complete letters of recommendation for graduate school.
Proper professional behavior in psychological research includes:
· always being courteous to children, mothers, and fellow staff members
· keeping the best interest of the participating families in mind
· being prompt for all meetings and visits
· learning all of the tasks assigned and taking responsibility for asking questions whenever there is uncertainty
· completing tasks in a prompt and correct manner
· administering procedures in standardized ways to preserve scientific integrity
· dressing appropriately and professionally on days you are scheduled to participate in an experiment (e.g., no jeans, but wear pants that have pockets).
· maintaining confidentiality regarding who participates in the study and the information participants provide.
All assistants volunteer 10 hours a week every week except for Spring Break. When there is an illness or during a week when there are many exams or assignments due, the RA may request a modification of the weekly schedule and re-arrange their scheduled duties. During each week, an RA is expected to attend weekly lab meetings, assigned research sessions, and/or assigned coding sessions. For each of these an RA is expected to arrive promptly and prepared, be an active participant in the learning process (reading, asking questions, discussing issues), maintain the integrity of the research materials and laboratory, and be considerate of the multiple demands of all of the staff participating in the project.
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PEP Collaborative Child Manual CHILD PEP MANUAL
PEP Session Manual
Phone Contacts
Initial Contact/Appointment Scheduling – We recruit mothers through fliers sent home through children’s preschool programs. When interested mothers contact us, we provide information about the project, and any questions about the nature of participation are answered. If the mother would like to schedule an appointment, take out an initial information sheet and complete it. Check the RAs’ posted schedules to see when there is a trained Mother RA, Child RA, and camera person available to run a session. Then schedule the appointment and immediately write the session and the reminder call into the schedule book. Be sure to tell the mother that the child should not come dressed in turtlenecks or high-neck shirts. If possible, they should wear a tee-shirt to facilitate the application of the electrodes and they should also wear blue jeans or pants that have belt loops. There will be some extra tee-shirts in the lab for children to wear if necessary.
Reminder Phone Contact - Two days before a scheduled visit, the mother should receive a reminder call. After each reminder call is successfully made, make a note in the schedule book that it was completed.
Pre-Arrival (All three Research Assistants must be in the lab at least 30 minutes before the session!)
Before mother and child arrive, be sure to:
· Check initial information sheet for their names, any food restrictions
· Check on refreshments
· Make sure there are no extra chairs in observation room
· Put the mix-and-match animals and blocks out on the small table in the room
· Make sure video equipment is ready to go - enter the room while recording and say: PEP 2006, Phase 2, Subject number (###), (gender), (date). Then check to make sure the equipment recorded!
· Make sure procedure materials for each procedure are in the cabinet in PEP room, that free play toys are on child size table (not in the box), and that the child’s chair is facing toward mirror
· Keep 3 clipboards for the mother
o Clipboard 1: Consents and session schedule
o Clipboard 2: SSRS, ERCL, PCRI, and PSI
o Clipboard 3: Wait Task directions, CBCL, Wait Task Questionnaire
Put Clipboard 1 on one of the adult chairs in the PEP room and keep Clipboards 2 and 3 in the back
· Make sure all questionnaires are numbered with child ID
· Bring up ANT block 1 screen on computer (*Remember: the session number is ALWAYS 2!!)
· Make sure door leading from observation room to observation booth is slightly ajar
· Make sure 2 #97 keys and 2 #98 keys are available (one of each for the Child RA and the Mother RA)
· Put the toy box in Tracy’s office
· Make sure that the empty sheet of stickers, the encouragement stickers, the box of toys for “Alone with the Boring Toy,” the broken horse, a towel are outside of the PEP room and in the cabinet in the room with the E-ANT computer.
· Prepare the electrodes for application. Snap each of the two electrode sets (the small parts that looks like a pair of headphones) onto an electrode. THIS MUST BE DONE BEFORE THE ELECTRODES ARE APPLIED TO THE CHILD.
· Prepare the Minilogger for use (refer to the Minilogger Manual).
Arrival
The child and mother MUST enter the lab through the FRONT DOOR, and the Child RA MUST be in the experiment room with the door closed to prepare for the stranger situation.
Mother RA greets mother and child at the door. Be sure to have your own clipboard, session checklist with top filled out, and stopwatch with you. Be sure the session date and the first names of mother and child are written down on the checklist. Note the arrival time (when you greet them) on the session checklist (*Note - the camera person will keep a record of all start and end times throughout the session, even though the Child RA will record some as well).
Just before the child and mother arrive, the Child RA and Mother RA will determine which order of protocol will be followed during that session. The order selected will be the order following the previous PEP (for example, if the last PEP was run in Order #1, this PEP will be run in Order #2, and so on).
When the child and mother arrive at the lab but before they come into the experimental room, the Child RA must prepare the Minilogger for use (refer to the Minilogger Manual). Do this as quickly as possible and then return to the room. Place the Minilogger in the child’s fanny pack.
Once the Child RA has prepared the Minilogger and has returned to the experimental room, s/he should knock on the front door of the room twice so that the Mother RA will know to bring the child and mother in.
Note that though you will be following the manual verbatim, in between tasks it is very important to build rapport with the child by chatting, asking the child questions such as what they like to do at home, what they learn in preschool, etc…
The Child RA must remember that the Marker button (with the star on it) MUST be pressed twice at the start of each task and four times at the end of each task as indicated in the manual. During the PEP, keep the Minilogger switch in your left hand when you are pressing the button so that the camera will be able to record when it is pressed.
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PEP Collaborative Child Manual CHILD PEP MANUAL
Period 1: Consent & Stranger Situation (5 minutes, 2 assistants; materials: Legos, stopwatch)
*REMEMBER TO CLOSE THE DOOR*
There are 3 purposes to this period: (1) to complete the consent process, (2) to observe how the child behaves in a novel setting, and (3) to help the child adjust to the lab and to prepare for the separation from the mother. Mother RA sits with the mother and is available to help mother with consents (see Mother Procedures Appendix). Child RA sits in child size chair to left of empty child chair so child is on camera.
**Mother RA, during consent procedures and after the mother has signed all of the consent forms, hand the mother a copy of the WT directions and explain her role in the task. Once you have reviewed this with her, take the directions back from her and leave them on top of Clipboard 3.
1. Have the Stopwatch ready. Greet the child by name and then say:
Have you ever been here before? Pause for 10 seconds. Then, say:
What games do you like to play? Again pause for 10 seconds. Then say:
Do you think you will have fun here today? Pause for 20 seconds.
Remember to:
· Remain emotionally neutral at all times.
· You can repeat the question once verbatim if the child does not hear you. After that just stay silent.
· If the child is chatty when they answer you, interrupt them after the allotted time to ask the next question.
After you make these 3 statements and have waited the final 20 seconds, begin to play with the child, interacting freely (toys: Legos). You might gently invite the reluctant child to look at the toys or continue to play with the more outgoing child. Your goal is to make the child feel comfortable and interested in staying in the room with you after the mother leaves!
After the mother has signed all of the consent forms, the Child RA should direct the child to help clean up the toys. Mother RA should explain to the mother that the Child RA will be reading the assent script to the child and ask her to please remain quiet during the assent period.
*BEFORE STARTING THE ASSENT, REMOVE THE TOY BOX FROM THE ROOM*
Child Assent Script
Once the toys are put away, say the following:
You and your mother are being asked to take part in a research study by Dr. Tracy Dennis here at Hunter College. Dr. Dennis wants to learn more about children’s feelings, like sad, mad, and scared. You will play with your mother and play some games with me. We will ask you some questions. Do your best on all activities. We will also place some stickers on your skin near the area where the doctor listens to your heart. This way, we can keep track of your heart while you play games with us today.
If you get too tired, you or your mother can tell us, and we will stop. You can say you don’t want to do something at any time. You can ask questions at any time. We will be videotaping your visit from behind that one-way mirror so we can watch it later.
All that we do and speak about today I will know, your mom will know, but no one else will know, unless we are concerned that you might hurt yourself or someone else. Then we will let your mother know so that we can keep you safe.
Do you have any questions?
Would you like to start?
Period 2: Electrode Placement (8 minutes; materials: 2 fanny packs, electrodes, Polar Transmitter, Minilogger, circle stickers, Curious George doll)
Introduce this by saying, Now I’m going to put some special stickers on your chest that will let us hear your heart beat while we play all of our games today. The Child RA will apply the electrodes to the child’s chest and lower torso. During this period, the Child RA will explain how and where the electrodes will be applied.
Say, I’m going to put one sticker over here (point to your own heart) right above your heart and one over here (point to your lower right belly area) near your belly. That way we can listen to your heart beat while you are playing all of the fun games we have. If the child is reluctant to allow you to apply the electrodes, have the child practice by putting the circle stickers on the Curious George doll.
When applying the electrodes, make sure that the child is standing facing the mirror, or at least at profile. Try not to block the camera’s view of the child. The mother SHOULD NOT leave the room until the electrodes are on the child.
Right before you apply the electrodes, ask the child, Can you please pull your shirt down a little bit so I can put the sticker near your heart? Then say, Can you pull your shirt up a little bit so I can put the other one on your belly? While you are applying the electrodes, check in with the child by saying, Are you okay? or Are you comfortable? If the child wants to help you apply the electrodes, let them put their hand over yours while you put them on.