Practice Resources

Practice Resource Topics

There is now a large amount of research evidence about the importance of the early years. Many professionals are unsure about how this evidence impacts on the services they provide for families and their professional practice.

CCCH has therefore developed eleven ‘Practice Resources’. Each Practice Resource provides professionals with:

an introduction to the topic
a summary of the latest research, and
practical strategies to support their daily work with young children and their families.

These Practice Resources aim to help professionals consider and understand the issues and the range of researched options and strategies available to discuss with parents and carers in addressing their concerns and increasing their confidence. They also aim to support management to make sensible decisions about the use of resources and directions for services to address important issues for children.

The project to develop these eleven Practice Resources has been made possible through funding from the Telstra Foundation.

About the Practice Resources

Why were Practice Resources developed?

The Practice Resources have been designed to bridge the gap between research and practice. Most professionals do not have the time to sift through and interpret the relevant research that can inform how they work with children and families, nor do they necessarily have access or opportunity to attend relevant professional development.

The aim of the Practice Resources is to broadly translate the research evidence on a number of important topics into easily understood practical information that can be readily used by a range of professionals, assisting their daily work with young children and their families.

While each resource is written for professionals working with children and families, the information will also be useful to managers of services.

How were the topics selected?

A number of criteria were used to select topics. These included:

The importance of the issue in relation to children’s health and development
Requests from professionals
Expression of need from communities
Parental needs and concerns
Perceived gap between evidence and practice
Ease of including in daily professional practice
Lack of information from other sources

Download Criteria for selecting topics (PDF) for more details.

How were the Practice Resources developed?

The content of the resources were drawn from the published research, expert advice, and information about innovative and promising practices. An expert committee oversaw the development of the content, and an expert in the field reviewed the content of each resource.

The format and design of the resources was focus tested and modified accordingly.

Are there limitations to these Practice Resources?

For a number of topics there were limited numbers of well researched interventions and strategies available in the literature. Therefore it is important to note the following:

Where possible National Health and Medical Research Council principles of assessing evidence were applied to research reviewed. For some topics there was very little evidence of high quality.
Interventions and strategies included in the resources were based on a combination of research-based principles and expert advice.
It is highly likely that the evidence for most topics will change over the next few years; suggested strategies may require ongoing review.

Production Team and Expert Advisory Group

A production team and an expert advisory group oversaw the development of the practice resources. For further information about the members of the production team and expert advisory group download Development of the Practice Resources (PDF).

Last Updated 03-Jul-2009. Authorised by: Frank Oberklaid. Enquiries: Penny Miller.