Kidsmatter Early Childhood Evaluation Report, Phillip Slee, Rosalind Murray-Harvey, Katherine Dix, Grace Skrzypiec, Helen Askell-Williams, Michael Lawson, Susan Krieg
Dec 2011
Kidsmatter Early Childhood Evaluation Report, Phillip Slee, Rosalind Murray-Harvey, Katherine Dix, Grace Skrzypiec, Helen Askell-Williams, Michael Lawson, Susan Krieg
Dr Katherine Dix
KidsMatter Early Childhood (KMEC) is a mental health promotion and early intervention initiative developed for early childhood services. It provides a framework for services to plan and implement evidence-based strategies to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children from birth to school age, based on four risk and protective factors: 1) Creating a sense of community, 2) Developing children's social and emotional skills, 3) Working with parents and carers, and 4) Helping children who are experiencing mental health difficulties. In 2010-2011 the initiative was trialled with over 5,000 children from 111 long day care services and preschools across Australia. …
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 …
Students With Special Needs: State Of The Nation, Katherine Dix
Oct 2011
Students With Special Needs: State Of The Nation, Katherine Dix
Dr Katherine Dix
This presentation draws key findings from three nation-wide, federally funded, research projects conducted in Australia over the last six years. It brings together data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, the KidsMatter Primary for Students with a Disability, which was a side-project of the KidsMatter Primary Evaluation, and preliminary data from the KidsMatter Early Childhood Evaluation. In all three projects, children’s disability status was collected, along with parent/caregiver assessment of children’s mental health as being ‘normal’, ‘borderline’, or ‘abnormal’ according to the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Differences in mental health status due to age and extent of disability, touching …
Kidsmatter For Students With A Disability: Evaluation Report, Katherine Dix, Jo Shearer, Phillip Slee, Christel Butcher
Dec 2009
Kidsmatter For Students With A Disability: Evaluation Report, Katherine Dix, Jo Shearer, Phillip Slee, Christel Butcher
Dr Katherine Dix
KidsMatter (KM) is an Australian national primary school mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative. It was recently trialed in 100 schools across Australia during 2007 and 2008, with an evaluation report published in 2009. The South Australian Minister for Education has now commissioned further analyses of the findings, focusing on children with a disability in South Australia. This new report examines whether there is a correlation between students with a disability and mental health problems, whether implementation and engagement processes differed for parents and teachers of students with a disability, and the impact of the program on students …
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 …
The Kidsmatter Evaluation: Final Report, Phillip Slee, Michael Lawson, Alan Russell, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Laurence Owens, Grace Skrzypiec, Barbara Spears
Dec 2008
The Kidsmatter Evaluation: Final Report, Phillip Slee, Michael Lawson, Alan Russell, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Laurence Owens, Grace Skrzypiec, Barbara Spears
Dr Katherine Dix
KidsMatter (KM) is an Australian national primary school mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative. It uses a whole-school approach and a framework built around the four components of: Positive school community; Social emotional learning; Parenting support and education; and Early intervention for students experiencing mental health difficulties. It was recently trialed in 100 schools across Australia during 2007 and 2008. This report presents findings from the evaluation of this pilot phase, which examined the implementation, engagement, and impact aspects of the of the initiative for schools, teachers, parents, and students.
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 …
