This literature review investigates service delivery processes and strategies that are associated with better engagement of and outcomes for families and children who are experiencing adversity (often referred to as “vulnerable”). It was undertaken to inform the development of an Australian...

This review aims to identify evidence-based strategies to address common parenting issues faced by parents of young children. Due to time constraints, it was not feasible to attempt to identify all the issues that might concern parents. Instead, it was agreed that the literature review would...

As a child and family health nurse, ‘working in partnership’, ‘strengths-based working’ and ‘family-centred’ approaches are likely to be familiar in your practice. These approaches have been both popular and accepted in healthcare for many years, and have well-recognised benefits for health and...

Transport accidents are a cause of death and disability across the developed world. In Australia, transport accidents are a leading cause of child deaths from unintentional injury (ABS, 2006) and a leading cause of hospitalisation (ABS, 2007). Most of those child hospitalisations from vehicle...

Recent years have seen the rise of probiotic supplementation in our food and the promotion of probiotics as dietary supplements. Probiotics are generally advertised as an aid to gut health and are specifically touted as being of assistance for conditions as varied as diarrhoea, infant colic and...

Of the Australian children who start their first year of formal full-time school each year, the majority start with their development on track and ready to take advantage of everything that school has to offer. About four per cent of children will start school with a significant developmental...

In 2013, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) released its long-awaited update of the Australian Dietary Guidelines. The Australian Dietary Guidelines draw on the latest evidence in order to provide health professionals, policymakers, educators, food manufacturers, food...

The foundations of good social and emotional development are formed in early infant-parent and caregiver relationships (Centre for Community Child Health, 2009). In developing those relationships, families and caregivers ensure that their child develops on a healthy trajectory. With strong...

Each child’s social and emotional development is guided by their family and by the wider community and environment in which they are raised. The culture that the child is raised in will also impact on their upbringing and the way that their family and community interacts with them and develops...

In 2010-11, Australia accepted 13,799 refugees. However, there has been little research into the experiences that families from refugee backgrounds have with Australia’s child and family health services.

The child and family health service plays a vital role in linking refugee families to...