Alanna Sincovich
Senior Research Officer
BPsych(Hons), PhD
alanna.sincovich@thekids.org.au
+61 8 6375 6108
Alanna is a Senior Research Officer at The Kids Research Institute Australia. Her research takes a population health approach to ensuring all children are supported to reach their developmental potential.
Since joining the Institute in 2013, Alanna has worked across a range of projects in Australia and internationally, spanning early childhood education, population monitoring of children’s development, child and adolescent wellbeing, stunting and school feeding interventions, early years pedagogy, school readiness assessment, parenting interventions, as well as health and development among children with a culturally and linguistically diverse background, and children experiencing disability or complex needs.
Completed in 2022, Alanna’s PhD research sought to improve population measurement and monitoring of children's early development in low- and middle-income countries. Her project focused on the early Human Capability Index, capturing holistic early child development across diverse cultures. Alanna coordinated adaptation of instrumentation to local context, in country training and data collection, and analysis and reporting on data into scientific outputs and policy briefs, leading to significantly greater investments in child health and development in these countries.
Internationally, Alanna consults for the World Bank, working with global teams on the design, implementation, and impact evaluation of child health, development, and education interventions in low- and middle-income countries. An example is the Early Childhood Education Project in Lao PDR, a large-scale clustered randomised controlled trial supporting expansion of quality early education to improve children’s development across the country.
Alanna brings expertise in research design, program evaluation, evidence synthesis, cross-cultural research, psychometric assessment of measurement instruments, and research translation to inform policy. She sits on the Public Health Association of Australia SA Branch Executive Committee and the International Health committee, demonstrating her commitment to public health advocacy. Alanna is passionate about student mentoring and is available for supervision of postgraduate students.
Projects
Identifying factors contributing to shifts in children’s development on school entry in NSW over the past decade
The aim of this project was to conduct a critical analysis of the AEDC data for NSW children to understand the factors contributing to the changes in child development outcomes over time.
Breakfast skipping among children and adolescents in South Australia
Eating a regular, healthy breakfast is required to support good health, wellbeing and development throughout childhood and adolescence.
National School Readiness Project
Researchers at the Institute were engaged to undertake the National School Readiness Project, which aimed to describe current practice across education authorities in assessing or describing child development status at school entry and use evidence to identify areas where the scope/quality of curren
December 2022
Innovative Playful Learning Approaches to Improve Children’s Readiness for Primary Education in Uzbekistan
The Government of Uzbekistan has committed to reforming preschool education, prioritising upskilling teachers to use international best practice.
Review of trends in disabilities, mental health disorders and complex needs among children and adolescents
The aim of the project was to provide the South Australian Department for Education with a synthesis of high-quality evidence on the population prevalence of various disabilities among school-aged children.
Learning Together and Learning Together at Home: Program Model Review
Learning Together, developed by the South Australian Department for Education, aims to create enriched learning environments that can be transferred to the home to support positive changes for children and families.
Early literacy skills: review of evidence for pedagogical approaches that best support children’s early literacy skills
Recent evidence indicates that a child’s home learning environment is the strongest predictor of success in later reading abilities and that for children not receiving structured language and reading support at home.
The early Human Capability Index (eHCI)
The Early Human Capability Index is a holistic measure intended to capture early child development across diverse cultures and contexts.
Population Wide Monitoring of Child Health and Development in Tuvalu
Evaluation of the Strong Start Pilot Program
Evaluation of the Child and Family Assessment and Referral Network (CFARN)
Evaluation of Children's Centres in South Australia
Pacific Early Age Readiness and Learning (PEARL) Programme in Tonga
The (PEARL) Programme, implemented by the World Bank, aims to support Pacific Island Countries in building capacity to design, implement, and monitor evidence-based policies and programs for primary schools.
The Early Childhood Education Project in Lao PDR
Researchers in the Child Health, Development and Education Team support a number of projects financed by the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education to promote early learning and development in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR).
The Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC): Promoting the importance of students’ wellbeing and mental health in schools
o help raise the profile of student wellbeing in the education system in Australia, The Kids Research Institute Australia and SA Department for Education through the Fraser Mustard Centre, set out to adapt and trial a population-level student wellbeing measure that could be used across the entire public and p
Evaluation of the Community Playgroup Program
This evaluation explored the facilitators & barriers that influence Community Playgroup attendance, and the impact of attending playgroups on child development.
Provision of Engagement Services for the AEDC
Support services to the Department of Education and Training and the AEDC State and Territory Coordinators and their support staff across Australia.
Published research
Associations between mental health profiles and later school outcomes
The dual-factor model of mental health proposes that high wellbeing and low distress are necessary to define mental health. This study used latent profile analysis to identify mental health profiles in a sample of 3,587 Australian grade 6 students and explored the association between mental health profiles and school outcomes measured in grades 7 and 9.
Early childhood education quality and child development in Lao PDR
Globally, as scale up of early childhood education (ECE) continues, monitoring ECE quality is imperative to promote service aspects that drive positive outcomes for children. Monitoring of ECE quality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is scarce, limited by challenges in varied conceptualisations of quality, lack of measurement tools that reflect local culture and context, and implementation difficulties in low resource settings.
Mental health profiles and academic achievement in Australian school students
This study explored mental health profiles in Australian school students using indicators of well-being (i.e., optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness) and psychological distress (i.e., sadness and worries). The sample included 75,757 students (ages 8-18 years) who completed the 2019 South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection.
Putting a price on nurturing care
At the halfway mark for implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda, progress towards achieving targets centred on child health and development has decelerated, impeding the survival and potential of many children. The Lancet Series on optimising child and adolescent health and development called for renewed efforts to nurture the health and development of all children.
The Investigation of Health-Related Topics on TikTok: A Descriptive Study Protocol
The social media application TikTok allows users to view and upload short-form videos. Recent evidence suggests it has significant potential for both industry and health promoters to influence public health behaviours. This protocol describes a standardised, replicable process for investigations that can be tailored to various areas of research interest, allowing comparison of content and features across public health topics.
Prevalence of breakfast skipping among children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study
Interventions to promote breakfast consumption are a popular strategy to address early life inequalities. It is important to understand the epidemiology of children and adolescents who skip breakfast so that interventions and policy can be appropriately considered.
Prevalence of electronic device use before bed among Australian children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study
To understand the prevalence of children and adolescents’ electronic device use (EDU) in the hour before bed and identify sociodemographic groups that are at increased risk of problematic use.
Breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional engagement at school: A cross-sectional population level study
Research on the consequences of breakfast skipping among students tends to focus on academic outcomes, rather than student wellbeing or engagement at school. This study investigated the association between breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional aspects of school engagement.
Basic epidemiology of wellbeing among children and adolescents: A cross-sectional population level study
Wellbeing and mental health are fundamental rights of children and adolescents essential for sustainable development. Understanding the epidemiology of child and adolescent wellbeing is essential to informing population health approaches to improving wellbeing and preventing mental illness.
Associations Among Early Stimulation, Stunting, and Child Development in Four Countries in the East Asia–Pacific
This study examined associations among preschool attendance, home learning activities, stunting status, and early child development using data from the validation study of the East Asia–Pacific Early Child Development Scales (EAP-ECDS).
Measuring early child development in low and middle income countries: Investigating the validity of the early Human Capability Index
Inclusion of early child development in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda raises issues of how this goal should be monitored, particularly in low resource settings. The aim of this paper was to explore the validity of the early Human Capability Index (eHCI); a population measure designed to capture the holistic development of children aged 3-5 years. Convergent, divergent, discriminant and concurrent validity were examined by exploring the associations between eHCI domains and child (sex, age, stunting status, preschool attendance) and family (maternal education, home learning environment) characteristics. Analyses were repeated using data from seven low and middle income countries.
Overcoming challenges in measuring early childhood development across cultures
These challenges in measuring early childhood development are exacerbated when making comparisons across cultures
Exploring Associations Between Playgroup Attendance and Early Childhood Development at School Entry in Australia: A Cross-Sectional Population-Level Study
Children who attended playgroup had better development at school entry relative to those who had not attended playgroup
Measuring early childhood development in multiple contexts: the internal factor structure and reliability of the early Human Capability Index in seven countries
Findings support the aims of the early Human Capability Index in being adaptable and applicable for use within a range of low and middle income countries
Early childhood education and child development in four countries in East Asia and the Pacific
Results indicate that early childhood education is beneficial for children's early development
Assessing Diversity in Early Childhood Development in the East Asia-Pacific
In all six countries, child development scores increased with age and urban children consistently performed better than rural children
Socioeconomic status and early child development in East Asia and the Pacific: The protective role of parental engagement in learning activities
Results indicated the existence of SES gradients in early development in multiple domains in China, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu
The social impacts of mining on local communities in Australia
Mining developments are being required to consider how they affect local communities and implement strategies to minimise negative impacts they may be causing
Education and Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Public Health), University of Adelaide, 2022
- Bachelor of Psychological Science (First Class Honours), University of Adelaide, 2012
- Bachelor of Psychological Science, University of Adelaide, 2011
Awards/Honours
- 2022 - Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence, University of Adelaide
- 2022 – Stan & Jean Perron Post-PhD Career Launching Award, The Kids Research Institute Australia
- 2022 – Student Prize, Population Health Congress, Australasian Epidemiological Association
- 2022 – Child and Youth Health Conference Scholarship, Public Health Association of Australia
- 2021 – Travel and Development Award, Healthy Development Adelaide
- 2021 – Bursary Award, World Congress of Epidemiology, Australasian Epidemiological Association
- 2020 – VOTE Recognition Program, Award for Evidence, The Kids Research Institute Australia
- 2019; 2020 – Higher Degree by Research Publication Funding Scheme, University of Adelaide
- 2019 – Student Prize, 7th Conference of the International Society for Child Indicators
- 2018 – International Health Postgraduate Student Scholarship, Public Health Association of Australia
- 2017 – Commonwealth Scholarship Program for South Australia, Australian Federal Government
Active Collaborations
- Department for Education, South Australia
- University of Adelaide, South Australia
- University of Wollongong, New South Wales
- Australian Government Department of Education, Australia
- Settlement Services International, Australia
- Playgroup Australia, Australia
- Hong Kong University, Hong Kong
- Peking University, China
- Princeton University, United States