Quality of delivery of "right@home": Implementation evaluation of an Australian sustained nurse home visiting intervention to improve parenting and the home learning environment.

Background: Home visiting programs are implemented in high income countries to improve outcomes for families with young children. Significant resources are invested in such programs and high quality evaluations are important. In the context of research trials, implementation quality is often poorly reported and, when reported, is variable.

Benefits of psychosocial intervention and continuity of care by child and family health nurses in the pre- and postnatal period: process evaluation.

Aim: To report a programme theory for pre-natal home visiting by nurses in the context of a sustained nurse home visiting programme by exploring pre- and postnatal outcomes and characteristics of the intervention that may have contributed to the outcomes.

Background: Studies have shown sustained nurse home visiting commencing pre-natally to be effective. Few studies have explored the processes by which pre-natal activities by nurses contribute to achieving effective outcomes.

The effects of early paternal depression on children's development.

Objective: To examine the effects of paternal depression during children's first year on their wellbeing at 4-5 years of age using a large, representative sample of Australian families.

Design, Setting And Participants: Prospective study of Australian families from 2004 to 2008. Two-biological-parent families (n = 2620) from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children were included if depression measures were available for both parents in 2004, behavioural and developmental measures were available for children in 2008, and the families had not separated by 2008.

Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting (MECSH) trial: design, method and sample description.

Background: Home visiting programs comprising intensive and sustained visits by professionals (usually nurses) over the first two years of life show promise in promoting child health and family functioning, and ameliorating disadvantage. Australian evidence of the effectiveness of sustained nurse home visiting in early childhood is limited. This paper describes the method and cohort characteristics of the first Australian study of sustained home visiting commencing antenatally and continuing to child-age two years for at-risk mothers in a disadvantaged community (the Miller Early Childhood Sustained Home-visiting trial).

The evaluation of tailored and web-based information for new fathers.

Background: Information and advice on infant health and development have been shown to be well received by new parents and to lead to more confident and nurturing parenting. However, in spite of the accumulating evidence highlighting the importance of fathers to the well-being of their families, fathers rarely access and utilize 'parenting' information. Tailored information for fathers delivered via email and Internet may provide an alternate route for support for fathers.

Psychosocial assessment of expectant fathers.

Background: Comprehensive antenatal psychosocial assessment of mothers prior to the birth is established in many regions. While the influence of fathers on infant and maternal well-being is also recognised as commencing before birth, the early identification of needs among expectant fathers has not been addressed.

Methods: The current study surveyed fathers attending antenatal classes in public and private hospitals (n=307) in New South Wales, Australia, using psychosocial questions derived from the questions commonly asked in assessments of mothers.

Socioeconomic position, maternal IQ, home environment, and cognitive development.

Objective: To assess whether socioeconomic position, maternal intelligence (IQ), and the home environment are inter-related to cognitive development in childhood.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study (n = 723) with cognitive tests at ages 2, 4, 7, and 11 to 13 years.

Results: There were statistically significant positive associations of father's occupational prestige, Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME) score, and maternal IQ with cognitive performance in childhood.

Factors associated with maternal knowledge of newborn care among hospital-delivered mothers in Sri Lanka.

The aim of this study was to assess mothers' knowledge on newborn care as well as factors associated with poor knowledge. A cross-sectional study sampled 446 mother-newborn pairs from five hospitals in the Puttalam district of Sri Lanka by stratified random sampling. Maternal knowledge on newborn care was assessed using a questionnaire with 50 statements via exit interview.

Getting the mix right: family, community and social policy interventions to improve outcomes for young people at risk of substance misuse.

Societal responses to the existence of substance misuse fluctuate between harm minimisation and prohibition. Both approaches are predominantly downstream reactions to substance misuse that focus on the supply of harmful substances and the containment of misuse through treatment, rehabilitation or punishment. Until recently, little attention has been paid to the upstream individual, family, relationship, community or societal antecedents of substance misuse (which often overlap with those for other adverse life outcomes, such as unemployment, antisocial personality disorder and mental health problems) that have operated during earlier life.

A picture of Australia's children.

Do we have a clear enough picture to guide rational health and social policy responses?

Randomized controlled trial of a teacher-led asthma education program.

Our objective was to determine whether an asthma education program in schools would have 1) a direct impact on student knowledge and attitudes to asthma and quality of life of the students with asthma, 2) an indirect impact on teacher knowledge and attitudes to asthma and on school policies about asthma, and 3) a sustainable program after the resources to implement the research were withdrawn. Seventeen intervention and 15 control schools participated in a controlled trial. Baseline knowledge and attitudes were measured in year 8 students (ages 13-14 years) and their teachers together with quality of life in the students with asthma.

Identification of sources of lead in children in a primary zinc-lead smelter environment.

We compared high-precision lead isotopic ratios in deciduous teeth and environmental samples to evaluate sources of lead in 10 children from six houses in a primary zinc-lead smelter community at North Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Teeth were sectioned to allow identification of lead exposure in utero and in early childhood. Blood lead levels in the children ranged from 10 to 42 micro g/dL and remained elevated for a number of years.

Children with disruptive behaviours II: clinical and community service needs.

Objective: To assist in health service planning by determining the perceived clinical and community service needs of families resident in the Hunter region who care for a child manifesting disruptive behaviour.

Methodology: Families were eligible to participate in the survey if they had at least one child known to have one of the DSM-IV disruptive behaviour disorders, autistic spectrum disorders, behaviour problems associated with rarer forms of brain disease, brain injury or mild intellectual disability or were identified by school personnel as having significant behaviour problems. Families were recruited to the survey via schools, early education centres and clinical services.

Children with disruptive behaviours I: service utilization.

Objective: To describe the demographic characteristics and patterns of service utilization in the Hunter region (NSW, Australia) of families caring for a child manifesting disruptive behaviour.

Methodology: Families were eligible to participate in the survey if they had at least one child known to have one of the DSM-IV disruptive behaviour disorders, autistic spectrum disorders, behaviour problems associated with rarer forms of brain disease, brain injury or mild intellectual disability, or identified by school personnel as having significant behaviour problems. Families were recruited to the survey via schools, early education centres and clinical services.