Nurse education protects children
by Lisa McDonald
The
Australian Centre for Child Protection (ACCP) has just been awarded
a $210,000 grant from one of Australia’s largest philanthropic
trusts - The Ian Potter Foundation - to support maternal and child
health nursing training in the prevention of child abuse and
neglect.
In partnership with nursing educators and practitioners the Centre will produce a DVD training documentary and curriculum materials for nurse and midwifery education and in-service training focussing on the skills and knowledge required to underpin best practice in the prevention child abuse and neglect.
The education package will centre on the delivery of nurse home visiting for vulnerable families with infants – an approach being pioneered by Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service in SA and already showing promising results.
Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection, Professor Dorothy Scott says the grant will draw together ACCP research undertaken by Dr Fiona Arney and its professional education initiative led by Dr Lyn Arnold.
"The training will be designed with the very latest technology
applications in mind including options for program pod casting, web
streaming and integration into other cutting-edge curriculum
materials,"
she said.
"Its flexibility means that it will be suitable for nurse training across a variety of environments which means the training can be used an applied in more settings and for more nurses."
Professor Scott says the nurse home visiting program for vulnerable families was an important start in nurse education to support child protection because international evidence shows that it can yield major short and long term benefits.
"Maternal and child health nurses have special access to families and therefore are in a strong position to help families during the critical early years," she said.
"In Victoria 98 per cent of all families with a baby use the maternal and child health service. In South Australia 95 per cent of families receive an initial home visit by a nurse following the birth and 12 per cent of families are now being offered a two year Family Home visiting program.
"We hope to help other States and Territories to develop similar services and the education and training program we develop can underpin that.
"There is no doubt that prevention of child abuse and neglect is a critical area in child protection. The costs of prevention in both dollar terms and the impact on society are much less than dealing with the devastating consequences of child abuse and neglect."
The Chief Executive Officer of The Ian Potter Foundation, Janet Hirst says the The Ian Potter Foundation is pleased to be able to support the project.
"This innovative project has great alignment with the Foundation’s emphasis on innovation and the prevention and elimination of serious problems such as child abuse and neglect on a national basis," she said.
Prof Scott says the project illustrates how the Australian Centre for Child Protection translates research into action to improve the lives of vulnerable children.
"This project is part of the Centre’s Professionals Protecting Children initiative, where the Centre is working with educators across a broad range of disciplines to ensure that the new generation of professionals are best equipped to prevent and respond to child abuse and neglect."