What work is being undertaken to support scalability and sustainability of Hubs?

National Child and Family Hubs Network:

The Network was successful for an Ian Potter Foundation Grant valued at $395,000 over three years to support the work of the Network in supporting the use and sharing of evidence-based resources and supporting collective capacity of Hubs via:

• Developing a website to bring together existing practical resources and evidence to inform hub sites
• Developing a National Community of practice for Hubs
• Holding annual webinars, showcasing evidence and learnings from the field
• Developing three documents that 1. Strengthen the evidence on core components of an integrated child and family hub 2. Present a shared outcome/accountability frameworks required for effective implementation and outcomes 3. Develop an options paper identifying sustainable funding models for a child and family hub model.

Child and family eHub update:

The user-centred design process for the eHub has been completed. As part of this process a high-level prototype of the eHub was developed and tested with caregivers who were able to provide continued valuable input into shaping the eHub prototype and verify the overall architecture of the eHub. Below are some quotes from caregivers about the prototype:

• “…one thing which I found useful is that it’s trusted information. I expect this section to provide me with some tools or information that I can use on my own with my kid to handle the situation”.  (Caregiver 5)
• ”… I actually see that the potential here is amazing.  I could go okay, this is going to be my go-to spot for any mental health concerns”.  (Caregiver 7)
• “That’s pretty cool, yeah.  So it’s easier to navigate to find a professional, so that’s good”. (Caregiver 17)

Work will start on developing the minimum viable product early this year to be evaluated in the second half of 2023.

Researchers in Residence

• Funding was successful from the Brian M Davies Foundation valued at $318,000 over 2 years to embed Researchers in Residence in 3 Victorian Community Health Services (Sunraysia, DPV and IPC Health Services) to support these health services to co-design, implement and embed local evaluations around a Child and Family Hub.
• We are currently developing position descriptions with the community health services to employ these roles in February/March this year.

Other:

• In November, Suzy Honisett presented to Australasian Association of Parenting and Child Health (based in NSW) regarding the National Child and Family Hub Network.

Achievements in the CRE!

A big congrats Suzy Honisett, Postdoctoral Fellow on being awarded a Creswick Fellowship which will allow her to travel to the UK and US in September this year to meet with researchers, policy makers and implementers of Child and Family Hubs and Hubs Networks to:

• Learn how other child and family hubs meet the needs of children and families equitably and identify opportunities to embed these learnings within our own work in Australia.
• Develop a system level model of expanding hubs across Australia and embedding agile monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation to ensure hubs are meeting the needs of families.
• Learn from the establishment and management of National Hubs Networks in the United Kingdom to inform our Australian National Child and Family Hubs Network.
• Develop an international network of researchers and implementers to facilitate sharing and accelerate learning on child and family hubs.

Congratulations to Suzy and the team on their new publication: 

Honisett S, Loftus H, Liu HM, et al. Do Australian policies enable a primary health care system to identify family adversity and subsequently support these families - a scoping study. Health Promotion Journal of Australia : Official Journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals. 2022 Nov. DOI: 10.1002/hpja.684. PMID: 36448724. 

Do Australian policies enable a primary health care system to identify family adversity and subsequently support these families? -  A scoping study

Congratulations to Suzy Honisett and the team on publishing this paper on 25 November 2022!!

In short, this study aims to determine whether Australian policies support a primary health care system to not only identify family adversity but also to provide support to such families following identification.

Methods

This study used a mixed-methods design incorporating (i) policy scoping to identify and prioritise current policies (for the year 2020) related to family adversity within two states—Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), and within federal government, and (ii) thirteen semi-structured interviews with state policy makers and CHS staff, to confirm  the policies identified in the scoping review were important and relevant and inform how policies framed the language of adversity. Interviewees were recruited via snowball sampling.

Utilising the Stages Model, the current policy context informed by policy scoping (i) and semi-structured interviews (ii) were subsequently examined across the stages of policy making, including agenda setting, policy formulation, decision making or policy adoption, policy implementation and evaluation.

Key findings

In total, 188 policies were identified that had varying links to family adversity including 44 federal policies, 97 Victorian and 47 New South Wales policies. Of these, 37 policies met the eligibility criteria (i.e. included a focus on early intervention within primary care) and were therefore included in the review.

Although the majority of policies received some level of funding, few included funding details and only a third included evaluation.

Next steps

There are many policies related to family adversity in Australia, with most focused within existing primary care platforms. Given these policies, Australia should be well positioned to identify and respond to family adversity.

More work needs to be done to ensure policies are adequately implemented, evaluated and transparently and appropriately funded.  It will be important to utilise this opportunity to move beyond policy rhetoric to accelerate our response to family adversity and create accountable and measurable action. 

You can access the full text here: DOI: 10.1002/hpja.684.

What is something people don't know about you? 

I previously worked in an area of healthcare delivery that relied heavily on anecdotal evidence to support its use. For the past five years I have moved to the other end of the spectrum, having worked on randomised controlled trials, cross sectional studies and pre-post evaluations.

What do you hope the CRE will achieve? 

I am hoping the CRE will be able to provide a really clear understanding of the key components of a Hub that can help deliver greater mental health outcomes for children. I really love helping build a concecpt from the beginning and watching how it evolves over time. 

What are you currently working on in the Centre?

Currently I am working with IPC Health to find a way of offering sustainable generalist financial counselling services to families in the Hub. We know that many families are experiencing increasing financial hardship  and through other work done at MCRI with the Healthier Wealither Families Project, we have learnt of the benefits that families can receive when they are linked in with financial counselling. Not only additional income, but a greater sense of empowerment and ability to self advocate.   

What inspires your work? 

I love being a part of improving health services for families, and being a part of a team that helps health practitioners work in a more holistic way that can address the social determinants of health. 

Recent publications 

1. Honisett, S., Loftus, H., Liu, H. M., Alicia, M., De Souza, D., Teresa, H., Goldfeld S. Do Australian policies enable a primary health care system to identify family adversity and subsequently support these families–a scoping study. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. PMID: 36448724 DOI: 10.1002/hpja.684.

2. Honisett S, Loftus H, Hall T, Sahle B, Hiscock H, Goldfeld S. Do Integrated Hub Models of Care Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Children Experiencing Adversity? A Systematic Review. International Journal of Integrated Care. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.6425

3. Ride J, Cameron L, Jones R, Dalziel K, Wurzel D, Kao KT, Freeman J, Hiscock H. Preferences of parents for mental health services to suit children with chronic medical conditions. Australian Health Review. 2022 Oct 4

4. Singh A, Hegde S, Silva M, Whelan M, Karahalois A, Manton D, Goldfeld S, English D, Dashper S. Emergence of social inequities in early childhood caries: A population-based study. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4169808.

5. Kemp L, Bruce T, Elcombe EL, Byrne F, Scharkie SA, Perlen SM, Goldfeld S. Identification of families in need of support: Correlates of adverse childhood experiences in the right@home sustained nurse home visiting program. PLoS ONE. PMID: 36190969 DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0275423.

6. Khano S, Sanci L, Woolfenden S, Zurynski Y, Dalziel K, Liaw ST, Boyle D, Freed G, Moore C, Hodgins M, Lingam R, Hiscock H. Strengthening Care for Children (SC4C): Protocol for a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial of an integrated general practitioner–paediatrician model of primary care. Submitted BMJ Open 1 April 2022 (bmjopen-2022-063449) (SC4C)

7. Price A, Contreras-Suarez D, Zhu A, Measey MA, Schreurs N, Woolfenden, Burley J, Bryson H, Efron D, Rhodes A, Goldfeld S. Associations between ongoing COVID-19 lockdown on the financial and mental health experiences of Australian families. Australian Journal of Social Issues. DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.252.
 

8. Price AMH, Measey M-A, Hoq M, Rhodes A, Goldfeld S. Child and caregiver mental health during 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: findings from national repeated cross-sectional surveys. BMJ Paediatrics Open 2022;6:e001390. doi:10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001390.

9. Burley J, Samir N, Price A, Parker A, Zhu A, Eapen V, Contreras-Suarez D, Schreurs N, Lawson K, Lingam R, Grace R, Raman S, Kemp L, Bishop R, Goldfeld S, Woolfenden S. Connecting Healthcare with Income Maximisation Services: A Systematic Review on the Health, Wellbeing and Financial Impacts for Families with Young Children. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. PMID: 35682010 PMCID: PMC9180526 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19116425.