Increasing organisational capacity of community residential units to facilitate ageing in place for people with intellectual disability. Unique challenges face the disability, aged care and health sectors because of the increased life expectancy of people with life-long intellectual disability (ID) and the likelihood of their premature ageing. Although this group is recognised by Federal and State governments as requiring specific and special service arrangements, little is known about adapting ....Increasing organisational capacity of community residential units to facilitate ageing in place for people with intellectual disability. Unique challenges face the disability, aged care and health sectors because of the increased life expectancy of people with life-long intellectual disability (ID) and the likelihood of their premature ageing. Although this group is recognised by Federal and State governments as requiring specific and special service arrangements, little is known about adapting disability and aged care services to their needs. This research will inform the development of policy and programs in the disability, aged care, and health sectors. The research aims to improve the capacity of disability group homes to respond to the health and ageing issues of older people with ID,to improve their quality of life.Read moreRead less
Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside' ....Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside's experience in and commitment to delivery of high quality services with the CIs' interdisciplinary expertise in evaluation of caring work. Anticipated outcomes include development of a conceptual framework for performance assessment which will be used by the industry partner in managing and delivering services.Read moreRead less
Enabling engagement and inclusion: organisational factors that embed active support in accommodation services for people with intellectual disability. The study will investigate the processes and structures necessary to ensure frontline staff deliver high quality support to people with intellectual disability, which enables them to engage in meaningful activity. This knowledge will inform disability service organisation processes and provide indicators of structures necessary for effective servi ....Enabling engagement and inclusion: organisational factors that embed active support in accommodation services for people with intellectual disability. The study will investigate the processes and structures necessary to ensure frontline staff deliver high quality support to people with intellectual disability, which enables them to engage in meaningful activity. This knowledge will inform disability service organisation processes and provide indicators of structures necessary for effective services.Read moreRead less
Making prevention matter: Establishing characteristics of effective child sexual abuse prevention programs. Child sexual abuse is a significant public health problem requiring intervention and prevention. School-based child sexual abuse prevention programs aim to educate children to protect themselves and teach adults skills for protecting children. But programs vary widely in their quality and there is inadequate information available to guide program choice. This fundamental research, undertak ....Making prevention matter: Establishing characteristics of effective child sexual abuse prevention programs. Child sexual abuse is a significant public health problem requiring intervention and prevention. School-based child sexual abuse prevention programs aim to educate children to protect themselves and teach adults skills for protecting children. But programs vary widely in their quality and there is inadequate information available to guide program choice. This fundamental research, undertakes the necessary first steps towards implementing high quality, evidence-based child sexual abuse prevention programs. It will develop an overarching evidence-based conceptual framework for program design and evaluation thus advancing Australia's responses to child protection and enhancing children's healthy start to life.Read moreRead less
Improving contact between children in out-of-home care and their birth parents: developing and trialling a contact intervention. There is little evidence on how to best manage contact between the 37,648 children in care nationally and their birth parents. The aim of this project is to develop and trial a new model of contact which will reduce distress, improve children's relationships with their birth parents and increase successful reunifications in the long term.
Enhancing services to Australian children and families: linking workforce characteristics, job quality, and quality and outcomes in social services. This project aims to promote best practice in child and family welfare services, and to improve the industrial and social recognition of child and family welfare work in Australia. The CIs will construct an analytical framework for explaining the links between the nature and deployment of the child and family services workforce, service delivery sys ....Enhancing services to Australian children and families: linking workforce characteristics, job quality, and quality and outcomes in social services. This project aims to promote best practice in child and family welfare services, and to improve the industrial and social recognition of child and family welfare work in Australia. The CIs will construct an analytical framework for explaining the links between the nature and deployment of the child and family services workforce, service delivery systems and outcomes, and social policy regimes, with wider application to other personal social services. Judicious use of international comparison will assist identification of best practice. The project will inform policy and research in social service provision to vulnerable families, and the aged and disabled.Read moreRead less
The nature, extent and effect of infant removal by child protection. This project aims to provide new knowledge about the nature, extent and effect of removals of babies from their parents in Australia. Removal is the highest level of intervention by the child protection system, and one which some mothers experienced on multiple occasions. Little is known, however, about its incidence and effects, nor whether there are over-represented groups (e.g. Aboriginal mothers and babies) who would respon ....The nature, extent and effect of infant removal by child protection. This project aims to provide new knowledge about the nature, extent and effect of removals of babies from their parents in Australia. Removal is the highest level of intervention by the child protection system, and one which some mothers experienced on multiple occasions. Little is known, however, about its incidence and effects, nor whether there are over-represented groups (e.g. Aboriginal mothers and babies) who would respond to targeted interventions. This project aims to identify appropriate early intervention and prevention strategies, preventing the need for babies to spend their whole childhood in care at great financial and societal cost.Read moreRead less
Forgotten Australians: identifying long term outcomes for people who lived in institutional and other forms of out-of-home care. In line with international recognition that children who lived in orphanages have suffered disenfranchisement and disadvantage in adulthood, this project will add to empirical knowledge of this population, track experiences associated with adverse and the more optimal life outcomes, and identify areas for intervention to promote their wellness.
Pathways to better practice: developing human resources in child protection services for Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Queensland. This study addresses the serious and escalating problem of providing child protection services to Indigenous children and their families in rural and remote areas. Service delivery to rural and remote environments in Australia is a high cost exercise and, to date, little research has been conducted to understanding the complex nature of professiona ....Pathways to better practice: developing human resources in child protection services for Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Queensland. This study addresses the serious and escalating problem of providing child protection services to Indigenous children and their families in rural and remote areas. Service delivery to rural and remote environments in Australia is a high cost exercise and, to date, little research has been conducted to understanding the complex nature of professional (non-medical) interventions in communities with high proportions of Indigenous families and children. The study, conducted across two states, will contribute to national benefit in 3 key areas: the health and wellbeing of Indigenous children; skills shortage in rural areas and intergenerational change in professional disciplines.Read moreRead less
Effective Decision Making Support for People with Cognitive Disability. This project aims to produce and test evidence-based education resources that boost the ability of supporters of people with cognitive disability to put the supported person’s own desires and values at the centre of decisions, as required by treaty obligations and best practice. The project aims to develop innovative education resources, and to then investigate the impact of the resources on the practices of decision-making ....Effective Decision Making Support for People with Cognitive Disability. This project aims to produce and test evidence-based education resources that boost the ability of supporters of people with cognitive disability to put the supported person’s own desires and values at the centre of decisions, as required by treaty obligations and best practice. The project aims to develop innovative education resources, and to then investigate the impact of the resources on the practices of decision-making supporters and the person being supported in a randomised control trial in three jurisdictions. The anticipated outcome is a demonstrably effective capacity-building tool, able to cater for all types of cognitive disabilities and the full spectrum of support contexts from guardianship to informal support.Read moreRead less