A co-designed health education model to improve outcomes for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties: a study of acceptability, feasibility and impacts.

Objective: To assess the acceptability and impacts of a co-designed health education model aiming to improve outcomes for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Design: Qualitative focus group study.

Setting: Six primary schools from metropolitan and rural settings in the state of Victoria, Australia.

Lessons Learned From the Implementation of an Integrated Health and Social Care Child and Family Hub - a Case Study.

Introduction: Childhood adversity is associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes across the lifespan. Integration of health and social care may provide a solution to childhood adversity through practices of better detection and response. There is growing interest in the creation of child and family hubs that integrate health and social care but little literature that describes the development process.

What are the priorities of consumers and carers regarding measurement for evaluation in mental healthcare? Results from a Q-methodology study.

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe common views of people with lived experience of mental health challenges - consumers and carers, families and supporters - of what they consider the most important measures to include in health economic evaluations which assess the incremental value of competing options in mental health care.

Methods: Participants (n = 111) were people living in the state of Victoria, Australia, who identified as consumers of mental healthcare (n = 38); carers, family members and/or supporters (n = 43); or both (n = 30). Factor analysis based on Q-Methodology was used to identify clusters of people who hold similar viewpoints.

How should we fund integrated primary care for children in Australia? A resource allocation study.

Objectives: Integrated primary care provides health and social care services to intervene early and support children and families. Funding of integrated care is a barrier to care provision, but evidence is limited for which funding models are most appropriate. Our study aimed to provide expert judgement on what funding model, or mix of models, are most likely effective for integrating primary care for families with children aged 0-12 years in Australia.

A pilot randomised controlled trial of a telehealth-delivered brief 'Sleeping Sound Autism' intervention for autistic children.

Background: Access to behavioural sleep intervention is beneficial for autistic children, yet many families face barriers to access associated with location and time. Preliminary evidence supports telehealth-delivered sleep intervention. However, no studies have evaluated brief telehealth sleep intervention.

Identifying Service, Research and Policy priorities for preventing the impacts of family adversity on children's mental health: An Australian national resource allocation study with professional and lived experience experts.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop Service, Research and Policy priorities to prevent the impact of family adversity on child mental health and determine comparative priorities of diverse stakeholders to those with lived experience of adversity.

Methods: Value-weighting approach conducted in a staged process: (i) professionals and experts with lived experience from health, education, justice and social care sectors attended a national symposium to identify priorities for family adversity and mental health and (ii) a subsequent resource allocation survey gathered views from participants and external experts on symposium priorities.

Results: Consensus was reached on priorities.

Mothers' experience seeking healthcare advice for their unsettled infants in Victoria, Australia.

Unsettled infant behaviours are highly prevalent in the postnatal period and constitute a significant proportion of visits to healthcare services. Unsettled infant behaviours can be highly distressing for parents and are identified as a significant risk factor for postnatal depression. Understanding parents' experiences is paramount to reducing the gap between consumer expectations and service delivery.

Caring for kids: Australian general practice registrar confidence in delivering paediatric primary care.

Background And Objectives: The burden of disease for Australian children from non-acute conditions is growing; however, little is known about how well prevocational training experiences prepare trainee doctors. This study examines the confidence of general practice registrars in managing paediatric consultations in primary care and whether confidence varies by prevocational training type.

Method: This was a cross-sectional national survey of Australian general practice registrars that measured confidence in managing paediatric primary care presentations.

Comparing healthcare systems between the Netherlands and Australia in management for children with acute gastroenteritis.

Background: Acute gastroenteritis is a highly contagious disease demanding effective public health and clinical care systems for prevention and early intervention to avoid outbreaks and symptom deterioration. The Netherlands and Australia are both top-performing, high-income countries where general practitioners (GPs) act as healthcare gatekeepers. However, there is a lower annual incidence and per-case costs for childhood gastroenteritis in Australia.

Opening Pandora's box - key facilitators of practice change in detecting and responding to childhood adversity - a practitioner perspective.

Background: Childhood adversities worsen physical and mental health across the lifespan. Health and social care practitioners play a key role in identifying and responding to childhood adversity, however, may be reluctant to do so due to a perceived lack of services to refer to, time pressures and a deficit of training and confidence. We aimed to (1) quantify changes in practitioner comfort and confidence to identify and respond to childhood adversity following a multimodal intervention within an integrated child and family health and social care hub and (2) to understand barriers and facilitators of practice change.

Moving from idea to reality: The barriers and enablers to implementing Child and Family Hubs policy into practice in NSW, Australia.

Background: Adverse childhood experiences can impact physical and mental health throughout the lifespan. To support families experiencing adversity and improve child health and developmental equity, an integrated, multi-sector response is required. Child and Family Hubs (Hubs) are a feasible and acceptable approach to providing such a response.

Potential bed-day savings and caregiver perspectives of transitioning hospital-level management of infants with bronchiolitis to the home: a mixed-methods study.

Objective: Home management of infants admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis would alleviate pressure on hospital beds. We aim to understand the proportion of children requiring active care interventions (ie, oxygen, fluids), caregiver perspectives and potential impact of transitioning hospital-level care of infants with bronchiolitis to home.

Methods: This is a mixed-methods study in an Australian tertiary paediatric hospital.

Advancing integrated paediatric care in Australian general practices: Qualitative insights from the SC4C GP-paediatrician model of care.

The Strengthening Care for Children (SC4C) is a general practitioner (GP)-paediatrician integrated model of care that consists of co-consulting sessions and case discussions in the general practice setting, with email and telephone support provided by paediatricians to GPs during weekdays. This model was implemented in 21 general practices in Australia (11 Victoria and 10 New South Wales). Our study aimed to identify the factors moderating the implementation of SC4C from the perspectives of GPs, general practice personnel, paediatricians and families.

Reducing unwarranted chest x-rays in bronchiolitis: Importance of a robust analysis.

Aim: Bronchiolitis is the commonest reason for hospitalisation amongst infants and is often a target for low-value care (LVC) reduction. We aimed to assess the impact of a multifaceted intervention (clinician education, parent engagement, audit-feedback) on rates of chest x-rays (CXR) in bronchiolitis.

Methods: Longitudinal study of CXRs ordered in infants (1-12 months) diagnosed with bronchiolitis in the Emergency Department (ED) of an Australian paediatric hospital between May 2016 and February 2023.

The performance of the EQ-HWB-S as a measure of quality-of-life of caregivers in families that have experienced adverse events.

Purpose: The recently developed EQ Health and Wellbeing Instrument (EQ-HWB) is a broad, generic measure of quality-of-life designed to be suitable for caregivers. The aim of this study was to investigate performance and validity of the 9-item version (EQ-HWB-S) for caregivers where families had experienced adverse-life-events.

Methods: Using survey data from caregivers of children aged 0-8 years attending a community-health centre in 2021-2022, the general performance, feasibility, convergent and known-group validity, responsiveness-to-change, and test-retest reliability of the EQ-HWB-S was assessed.

Comparing the Psychometric Performance of Generic Paediatric Health-Related Quality of Life Instruments in Children and Adolescents with ADHD, Anxiety and/or Depression.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the validity, reliability and responsiveness of common generic paediatric health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments in children and adolescents with mental health challenges.

Methods: Participants were a subset of the Australian Paediatric Multi-Instrument Comparison (P-MIC) study and comprised 1013 children aged 4-18 years with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 533), or anxiety and/or depression (n = 480). Participants completed an online survey including a range of generic paediatric HRQoL instruments (PedsQL, EQ-5D-Y-3L, EQ-5D-Y-5L, CHU9D) and mental health symptom measures (SDQ, SWAN, RCADS-25).

Why Parents Do Not Use Digital Health Interventions for Their Child's Mental Health?

There are free, evidence-based Digital Health Interventions (DHIs) that can help children's mental health, but few parents use them. We sought to understand what influenced uptake of DHIs by parents of children aged 2-12 years old with a mental health problem. We interviewed parents and analysed data using inductive content analysis.

The Validity of the EuroQol Health and Wellbeing Short Version (EQ-HWB-S) Instrument in Parents of Children With and Without Health Conditions.

Background:  The EuroQol Health and Wellbeing Short Version (EQ-HWB-S) instrument has been developed to measure the health and wellbeing of care-recipients and their caregivers for use in economic evaluation.The EQ-HWB-S has nine items, and pilot UK preference weights have now been developed.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the validity of the instrument in parents of children with and without health conditions.

Psychometric Performance Comparison of the Adapted versus Original Versions of the EQ-5D-Y-3L and -Y-5L in Proxy Respondents for 2- to 4-Year-Olds.

Introduction: Few preference-weighted instruments are available to measure health-related quality of life in young children (2-4 years of age). The EQ-5D-Y-3L and EQ-5D-Y-5L were recently modified for this purpose.

Objective: The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of these adapted versions for use with parent proxies of children aged 2-4 years and to compare their performance with the original versions.