Health professional perceptions regarding screening tools for developmental surveillance for children in a multicultural part of Sydney, Australia.

Background: Encouraging early child development and the early identification of developmental difficulties is a priority. The Ministry of Health in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW), has recommended a program of developmental surveillance using validated screening questionnaires, namely, the Parents' Evaluation of Development Status (PEDS) and Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQs), however, the use of these tools has remained sub-optimal. A longitudinal prospective birth cohort "Watch Me grow" study was carried out in the South Western Sydney (SW) region of NSW to ascertain the uptake as well as the strategies and the resources required to maximise engagement in the surveillance program.

Explaining culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) parents' access of healthcare services for developmental surveillance and anticipatory guidance: qualitative findings from the 'Watch Me Grow' study.

Background: Regular health visits for parents with young children provide an opportunity for developmental surveillance and anticipatory guidance regarding common childhood problems and help to achieve optimal developmental progress prior to school entry. However, there are few published reports from Australian culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities exploring parents' experiences for accessing child health surveillance programs. This paper aims to describe and explain parental experiences for accessing developmental surveillance and anticipatory guidance for children.

Realist theory construction for a mixed method multilevel study of neighbourhood context and postnatal depression.

Background: We have recently described a protocol for a study that aims to build a theory of neighbourhood context and postnatal depression. That protocol proposed a critical realist Explanatory Theory Building Method comprising of an: (1) emergent phase, (2) construction phase, and (3) confirmatory phase. A concurrent triangulated mixed method multilevel cross-sectional study design was described.

A Pilot Study for Understanding the Perceptions of Australian General Practitioners Regarding Psychopharmacology for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Background: General practitioners (GPs) are increasing involved in the care of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), and prescribe and/or manage psychotropic medications for these children. Few published reports of perceptions of GPs regarding use of these medications exist in the literature.

Objective: Qualitative analysis of comments by 177 GPs regarding psychopharmacology use in children with ASDs.

Epidemiological Evidence for a Decreasing Incidence of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, 2000-11.

Background: This study analyses the incidence of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) in a large geographically defined population in Australia.

Method: Database linkage analysis of all births between 2000 and 2011 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The diagnosis of NAS was derived from hospital coding P96.

Being alone and expectations lost: a critical realist study of maternal depression in South Western Sydney.

The study reported here is part of a critical realist multilevel study. It seeks to identify and explain complex perinatal contextual social and psychosocial mechanisms that may influence the developmental origins of health and disease, with a focus on the role of postnatal depression. The aims of the greater study are to: (1) describe the phenomenon of postnatal depression in South Western Sydney; and (2) identify mechanisms that would add to our understanding of the psycho-social causes of maternal depression.