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FrameWorks UK

Families

People associate family life with personal or private life, making it hard to think about a role for public policy. Framing can help shift perspectives.

Good family policy is good public policy—but people often think of families as strictly a private affair.

How can we talk about families and the issues they face to build support for policies that make a real difference?

Explore these resources for framing recommendations on specific issues—including family and school engagement, parenting, two-generation approaches to building family wellbeing, and more.

Featured Work

Report

Framing Two-Generation Approaches to Supporting Families

Two-generation needs more explanation. New guidance from FrameWorks and Ascend at the Aspen Institute shows how.
Report

Talking About Racism in Child and Family Advocacy

As the field seeks to lead a more public conversation about the impacts of racism on children and families—and about how racism structures the systems that children and families interact...
Report

Navigating Cultural Mindsets of Race and Place in the United States

The places where we live shape our lives. Structural racism has shaped and continues to shape where and how Americans live.

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Report

Determinism Leavened by Will Power: The Challenge of Closing the Gaps Between the Public and Expert Explanations of Gene-Environment Interaction

Epigenetics has important implications for health policy - but lay perceptions of genetics are out of step with current science. This study pinpoints the gaps.
Report

Telling the Science Story: An Exploration of Frame Effects on Public Understanding and Support For Early Child Development

This experimental study examines the impact of five key features of the Core Story of Early Childhood Development on public attitudes and policy preferences.
Report

Conveying a New Understanding of Interaction

This report lays out the thinking behind comparing interaction in early childhood to the process of "serve and return" in volleyball or tennis.
Frame Testing Recommendations

Talking Early Child Development and Exploring the Consequences of Frame Choices

This MessageMemo synthesizes recommendations for how to frame early childhood development.
Report

Moving the Public Beyond Familiar Understandings of Early Childhood Development

This study examined public reactions to dozens of terms that are often used to explain important scientific insights into early childhood development.
Report

Perceptions & Misperceptions: An Analysis of Qualitative Research Exploring Views of Rural America

This report demonstrates that to the extent possible, rural problems should be discussed within a broader national system indicating causes and consequences.
Report

Testing Metaphors for Key Concepts in Early Childhood Development

This study reports on the development and testing of explanatory metaphors that translate the science of early childhood development into language that is more accessible to the public and...
Toolkit

Must-Have Messenger Mindset: It’s About the Relationship

Several attitudes and actions were effective at moving families toward accepting vaccines for their children.
Toolkit

Building Trust in the Moment

A personalized, nonjudgmental, “listen and learn” approach is a must for building families’ confidence in childhood vaccines.
Toolkit

Family Mindsets: What to Listen For

Understanding existing patterns of American thinking on vaccines can help us notice, analyze, and respond to parents’ and caregivers’ assumptions in a systematic and evidence-based way.
Toolkit

Moving Mindsets: Techniques for Redirecting Thinking

Once you have identified the mindsets that are driving a family’s decision-making, select one to target for change.
Toolkit

Message Moves that Build Vaccine Confidence

Here is a short list of five key moves to keep in mind as you navigate your way through conversations with families who have not yet vaccinated their child against COVID-19.