Abstract

The Challenge of Inclusive Resources

Author(s)

Kay Gibbons -Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne

Professor Geraldine Naughton -Australian Catholic University

Ms Bianca Gazzola -Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne

Ms Natasha Hampson -Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne

Ms Elisha Matthews -Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne

Ms Barbara Minuzzo -Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne

Every agency welcomes development of resources for health-related behaviour in children but to facilitate positive change and improve outcomes consumers need to be engaged in defining the need and in each stage of development and implementation.  The Filling the Gaps Team from the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne currently provides evidence based resources for nutrition and physical activity in children 0 to 12 years.

The purpose of this presentation is to profile barriers and facilitators to translating evidence to impact on child health, based on a range of resources and experiences.  A number of focus groups, workshop evaluations, and surveys have been used to critically appraise developed resources.

The targeted groups have included parents of school children, pre-schoolers and infants, pre-school health care providers, maternal and child health nurses, school nurses, and teachers. Feedback has also been sought from representatives of culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Trends in barriers include the absence of supportive or educative processes in disseminating the resources to communities in highest needs, the need for culturally inclusive photos, and networks for additional referrals when parents request further information.

Facilitators emerged as well-informed and culturally inclusive resource dissemination, parents, practical ideas for everyday tips, internet accessibility for some but not all families and using networks closest to families in high need to ensure materials are distributed and used by parents. Future trends in effective dissemination of resources will complete this presentation.