A Community Partnership with Parents: Investing in the Future

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a home based parents support program that focuses on the human environment surrounding children. In collaboration between a health service, a public health unit and a university school of nursing in Perth, Western Australia, a three year (1995-1998) health promotion pilot project has been implemented. The program model is based on the Child Development Program developed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland in the early eighties. This empowerment program is comprehensive, rather than targeting particular issues and focuses on the family's child-rearing environment in holistic terms. Raising the self-esteem of parents is a priority on the grounds that people lacking self-esteem and confidence often struggle to cope with life events and the demands of child rearing. The program, a partnership between community child health nurses and the community, recognises and builds on the skills of experienced mothers. Through semi-structured home visits, these women provide peer support and encouragement for new parents in their fundamental role of parenting. Evaluated through the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data, the outcomes of the pilot project have demonstrated an increase in the self-esteem of mothers, and gains in child development, immunisation, breast-feeding and family nutrition. In addition there is evidence of parents 'looking out for each other' and indications of a strengthening of social cohesion in the local community.