Evaluation of Sesame Workshop Emotional Wellbeing Resources

The Evaluation of Sesame Workshop Emotional Wellbeing Resources project aims to contribute to the early care and education (ECE) field by filling gaps in which resources are currently available to support children’s and providers’ emotional well-being and help providers who support young children’s development.

Sesame Workshop is contracting with Child Trends to inform and evaluate a new set of free and bilingual (English/Spanish) resources aimed at supporting the emotional well-being of children, families, and early childhood providers. The main audiences for these resources are early childhood providers in Head Start; family child care (FCC); and family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care settings.

The goals of these resources are to:

• Increase knowledge and support for young children’s emotional well-being and identify and manage emotional distress.
• Support emotional well-being among the caring adults and staff in young children’s lives.
• Raise awareness for the services that support providers’, children’s, and families’ overall well-being.

Research Approach

Our team is collecting and analyzing data from early childhood providers, program staff (such as Head Start directors, mental health consultants, and training coaches), and parents of young children via surveys, focus group discussions, and individual interviews. Data will be summarized and shared with Sesame Workshop to inform and evaluate their new resources.

Timeline

This project includes three phases of work that will take place from July 2024 through April 2028.

Phase 1: Needs assessment (Summer 2024 – Fall 2024; completed)

• Our team gathered feedback from leaders in the ECE field to inform the development and implementation of Sesame Workshop’s new resources. During a series of focus groups and interviews, we spoke with leaders in Head Start, FCC, and FFN care, as well as other experts in children’s socioemotional learning. The goal of the needs assessment was to understand the current needs of children, families, and ECE providers related to emotional well-being and coping with distress; the landscape of existing resources related to these topics; recommendations for future resources; and best practices for implementing newly developed resources. Following the needs assessment, the Sesame Workshop team developed initial prototypes of the new resources.

Phase 2: Formative research testing (Winter 2024 – Spring 2025)

• During the current phase of the project, the Child Trends team will gather feedback from ECE providers, support staff (e.g., mental health specialists, family services staff, coaches), and parents/caregivers on Sesame Workshop’s prototype resources, recommendations for implementing the resources, and overall perceptions and attitudes about emotional well-being and coping with distress. The goal of the formative research is to provide the Sesame Workshop team information needed to refine and finalize their new resources.

Pause in research for content creation (Spring 2025 – Spring 2026)

• Once the formative testing is complete, Sesame Workshop will use the findings to revise and fully develop the new set of emotional well-being resources.

Phase 3: Summative research testing (Summer 2026 – Spring 2028)

• Once the new resources have been finalized by Sesame Workshop, Child Trends will evaluate whether they were effective at helping ECE providers promote children’s emotional well-being, recognize and address children’s distress, and support providers’ own emotional well-being. Our team will also collect data on implementation measures to learn about how providers are using and engaging with the resources, what they like about them, what they find challenging, and what could be improved.