Chief Investigator: 
Project Manager: 
Researchers:

For more information about the project, please email.

Summary: 
In collaboration with three Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS), this project will develop new resources for the maternal and early childhood sustained home-visiting program (MECSH), being implemented across remote communities in the Northern Territory. The objectives are to: 
  • Co-create culturally and contextually relevant resources for the program, together with mums and dads in the community and with nurses, Aboriginal Health Practitioners and social care workers within ACCHS. 
  • Test and evaluate the resources to examine how they are understood and received by parents, and their impact on MECSH practice. 
  • Embed high-impact resources into the MECSH program and more widely within health services, through practice guides, dissemination and ongoing support for training. 

Our initial scoping review and priority setting workshops found a need for more appropriate resources to support family partnership and trauma-informed practice, discussion tools for responsive parenting and gaps in information for dads. This project will meet a critical need for resources that can enhance communication, reflection and problem-solving with parents, and can provide support for child development that is based on deep engagement and two-way learning. 

Project dates

This project commenced in January 2022 and is due for completion in June 2025.

What is MECSH? Animation:

‘What is MECSH?’ is an animation to provide information to pregnant women, families, and communities about the Maternal and Early Childhood Sustained Home visiting (MECSH) program in the Northern Territory. MECSH is delivered in three remote regions of the Northern Territory by Miwatj Health Service, Katherine West Health Board, and Sunrise Health Service with funding from the Northern Territory Government. MECSH is a licensed program of Western Sydney University. The animation is also available in Yolngu Matha and Kriol for use by health services in the East Arnhem and Katherine regions.

This video was produced as part of the ‘Closing the Gap: antenatal and early childhood sustained home visiting’ translational research project. Through this project, the Centre for Child Development and Education, Menzies School of Health Research is developing contextually appropriate resources to support maternal and child health and parenting programs such as MECSH. This video was developed in consultation with Miwatj Health Service, Katherine West Health Board, and Sunrise Health Service, and based on interviews with First Nations women participating in the MECSH program. Thank you to all who participated in this research.

Watch the 'What is MECSH' animation here or via the clip below.

This project received grant funding from the Australian Government.

 

Funders: 
  • Medical Research Future Fund (MRRF) Rapid Applied Research Translation (RART) funding
 Collaborators:
  • Katherine West Health Board
  • Sunrise Health Service Aboriginal Corporation
  • Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
  • Northern Territory Department of Health
  • University of Western Sydney