Kidsmatter And Young Children With Disability: Evaluation Report, Katherine Dix, Jane Jarvis, Phillip Slee
Nov 2013
Kidsmatter And Young Children With Disability: Evaluation Report, Katherine Dix, Jane Jarvis, Phillip Slee
Dr Katherine Dix
The KidsMatter Early Childhood (KMEC) initiative is a pilot study that has been implemented in a very diverse group of Australian early childhood services that provide education and care for young children of differing ages. These early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are operating in a policy environment that is concerned with reform to early childhood services nationally, and so are experiencing significant change. As such the design of future versions of the KMEC initiative needs to be mindful of the diverse and dynamic nature of the early childhood education field.
Quality Of Implementation Of A School Mental Health Initiative And Changes Over Time In Students' Social And Emotional Competencies, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Michael Lawson, Phillip Slee
Aug 2013
Quality Of Implementation Of A School Mental Health Initiative And Changes Over Time In Students' Social And Emotional Competencies, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Michael Lawson, Phillip Slee
Dr Katherine Dix
This paper reports the theoretical conceptualisation, statistical development, and application of an Implementation Index to evaluate the quality of implementation of the KidsMatter Primary school mental health initiative in Australia. Questionnaires were received from the parents and teachers of almost 5000 students, and also from KidsMatter project officers. A conceptual framework of fidelity, dosage, and delivery guided the selection of questionnaire items to create the Implementation Index, which was refined using latent class analysis. Schools' scores on the Index were classified into high, average, and low implementation categories. Profiles of high- and low-implementing schools provided insights into the characteristics of …
Implementation Quality Of Whole-School Mental Health Promotion And Students' Academic Performance, Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Michael Lawson, John Keeves
Jan 2012
Implementation Quality Of Whole-School Mental Health Promotion And Students' Academic Performance, Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Michael Lawson, John Keeves
Dr Katherine Dix
Background: This paper argues for giving explicit attention to the quality of implementation of school-wide mental health promotions and examines the impact of implementation quality on academic performance in a major Australian mental health initiative.
Whole-School Mental Health Promotion In Australia, Phillip Slee, Katherine Dix, Helen Askell-Williams
Oct 2011
Whole-School Mental Health Promotion In Australia, Phillip Slee, Katherine Dix, Helen Askell-Williams
Dr Katherine Dix
Although there is increasing recognition internationally of the significance of social and emotional health and wellbeing for the healthy development of young people, the levels of support that governments provide for mental health policy and program initiatives vary widely. In this paper, consideration is given to Australia's approach to mental health promotion from early years to secondary school, including specific reference to the KidsMatter Primary mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative. Although it is now well established that schools provide important settings for the promotion of mental health initiatives, there are significant challenges faced in effectively implementing and …
Implementing A New Initiative In Mental Health In Australian Primary Schools, Michael Lawson, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Grace Skrzypiec, Barbara Spears
Oct 2009
Implementing A New Initiative In Mental Health In Australian Primary Schools, Michael Lawson, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Grace Skrzypiec, Barbara Spears
Dr Katherine Dix
Student wellbeing is of central concern for parents/caregivers and teachers and for state and national governments. In Australia in recent times several major initiatives have been undertaken to address the area of student mental health, including the KidsMatter Initiative. Across 2007-8 a trial of KidsMatter was carried out in 101 schools across Australia. Part of the roll-out of KidsMatter was a detailed evaluation of its implementation. Thus, in this paper we report on findings associated with the implementation of the KidsMatter Initiative. Underpinned by a framework of quality, fidelity and dosage we used Latent Class Analysis to create an Implementation …
Different Measures, Different Informants, Same Outcomes? Investigating Multiple Perspectives Of Primary School Students' Mental Health., Katherine Dix, Helen Askell-Williams, Michael Lawson
Oct 2008
Different Measures, Different Informants, Same Outcomes? Investigating Multiple Perspectives Of Primary School Students' Mental Health., Katherine Dix, Helen Askell-Williams, Michael Lawson
Dr Katherine Dix
Student wellbeing is of central concern for parents and teachers and for state and national governments. Policies on wellbeing are now articulated within all educational systems in Australia. Effective enactment of policy depends in part on the suitability of judgements made about students' mental health. This paper investigates teacher and parent/caregiver assessments of students' mental health based upon data from the evaluation of the KidsMatter mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention pilot Initiative in 100 primary schools across Australia. Goodman's Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was completed by parents/caregivers and teachers of almost 4900 primary school students in KidsMatter …
Early Challenges In Evaluating The Kidsmatter National Mental Health Promotion Initiative In Australian Primary Schools, Helen Askell-Williams, Alan Russell, Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Barbara Spears, Michael Lawson, Laurence Owens, Kelvin Gregory
Dec 2007
Early Challenges In Evaluating The Kidsmatter National Mental Health Promotion Initiative In Australian Primary Schools, Helen Askell-Williams, Alan Russell, Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Barbara Spears, Michael Lawson, Laurence Owens, Kelvin Gregory
Dr Katherine Dix
This article describes, analyses, and reflects upon the challenges of planning and conducting the evaluation of the KidsMatter Initiative (KMI) in Australian primary schools during the first year of the two-year initiative. The purpose of the evaluation is to inform the Australia-wide rollout of the KMI. The discussion is arranged under four headings: (a) conceptual challenges, (b) design challenges, (c) practical implementation challenges, and (d) managing collaborative complexity. Emphasis is placed on how the challenges were theorised as a basis for resp onding to the requirements of the evaluation. Conclusions include recognising and enabling contributions from diverse stakeholders; utilising the …
