Watch me grow - study widens

Drawing on the success of the “Watch me Grow – Electronic platform (WMG-E)” which forms part of a universal preschool development surveillance program, a new randomised controlled study is examining the use of this electronic platform to address a critical COVID-19 service delivery gap.

The study explores the use of an innovative digital platform (the WMG-E platform) to screen child development, as well as parental mental health and psychosocial needs as an alternative to Child and Family Health Nurse clinics to determine whether it improves uptake of, and ongoing engagement with, health care services.

The two-year study, led by Professor Valsamma Eapen of SPHERE’s Early Life Determinants of Health Clinical Academic Group and managed by Teresa Winata, Senior Research Officer at Infant Child Adolescent Mental Health Service (ICAMHS), has recruited 288 families across South West Sydney and the Murrumbidgee Local Health Districts who were unable to attend clinics due to COVID restrictions and isolation requirements and/or have limited access to services due to their remote locations. The study comprises two groups: a control and an intervention group. Both groups received access to WMG-E which screens three categories: parental mental health, the family’s psychosocial needs and child developmental checks. However, the intervention group receives an additional “service navigator” who is trained to provide relevant links once concerns are identified. The service navigator links the families to the right care at the right place in a timely away. The digital navigation also provides ‘warm handover’ when referrals are made and continuity of care during the six month follow-up period of the study.

“The idea is to provide wrap around health and social care in an integrated way by the service navigator who would also assess any changing needs of the families and provide the resources necessary to address those needs,” Teresa explains.

“We’ve received significant positive feedback from the intervention group including multicultural and Aboriginal families. Our service navigators are doing brilliant work in providing continuity of care for families by contacting and reminding them to take-up any necessary services. This encourages and empowers families to continue monitoring their child’s developmental checks which they might not otherwise have completed.”

The study is expected to be completed by mid-June 2023.