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Children

After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. 

Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future. 

On the transfer, co-founder Victoria Martin expressed her pleasure to see this work continue under Wits' leadership, knowing that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction. 

As Wits, we honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades and look forward building from that strong base. This includes co-founders Warren Feek (1953-2024) and Victoria Martin as well as La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA), which continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com with links to The CI Global site. We are also eager to forge new partnerships and entertain new ideas as we consider how best to contribute to social and behaviour change in our rapidly evolving environment.

If you are joining the International Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Summit in Panama, please join Wits and CILA on Monday, 22 June, to share your thoughts and suggestion for the relaunch of the Communication Initiative. We will be in Pacifica 5 from 12-1:25 for the Refuel, Reflect, and Renew Lunch Series: The Communication Initiative: celebrating a driving force for Communication for Social Change and the way forward. We will reflect on the legacy of Warren Feek and family in creating the Communication Initiative, consider the contributions of CI over the years and then turn our attention towards the future in this dynamic session. 

If you are unable to join us in Panama, we still want to hear from you. Please contribute your thoughts by following this link: https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026 or reaching out to ci_surveys@commint.com. 

You can also follow the QR Code:

 https://redcap.link/CommunicationInitiative2026

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Randomized trial of a program to enhance the competencies of children with epilepsy

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Lewis, M. A., I. Salas, et al. (1990). "Randomized trial of a program to enhance the competencies of children with epilepsy." Epilepsia 31(1): 101-109.

Objective and Methods: A randomized, controlled trial was conducted in Santiago, Chile to test the impact of a child-centered, family-focused educational program for children aged 7-14 years with epilepsy and for their parents. The objectives of the program developed and pilot-tested in Los Angeles, California were to increase the children's knowledge, perceptions of competency, and skills related to dealing with seizures. Children in the experimental group (n = 123) and their parents attended four 1 1/2 -h sessions and then met together at the end of each session to share learning experiences. Control children (n = 113) and their parents attended three 2-h sessions with a traditional lecture followed by question-and-answer format. All participants were pretested and then retested 5 months after completion of the educational intervention.

Results: Although there was some knowledge increase among children in the control group, the knowledge of children in the experimental group was significantly enhanced in a variety of areas related to management of their seizures and unnecessary restriction of their social and play activities. There was a significant increase in the self-perceptions of social competency of children in the experimental group. Children in the experimental group without serious behavioral problems also reported significantly better behavior after the intervention than did control children. There was no impact on children's disclosure of their diagnosis to friends and others.