pdf [5.3MB] - Department of Families, Housing, Community Services

3. EFFICIENCY OF CURRENT AUSTRALIAN ANDINTERNATIONAL INTERVENTIONSPolicy interventions targeting FF have historically been difficult to measure and implement,primarily as a result of the large number of interacting and confounding factors involved inraising functional children from functional families (Carneiro and Heckman, 2003).Interventions targeting FF aim to reduce risk factors that are the product of a complex web ofprenatal, social, cultural, demographic, family, neighbourhood, economic and political factors(AIHW, 2005).Interventions, whether they be through the provision of social services or long term socialmarketing campaigns, fall into one of three categories (Donovan et al, 2007) depending onwhere they are designed to take effect (Figure 3-1). Primary prevention is largely aimed atinfluencing public opinion and attitudes, with the aim of reducing the overall distal risk factorsfor NFF within society as a whole. Secondary prevention strategies are aimed at providingservices to those who are most at risk of NFF, focusing on proximal risk factors. Tertiaryprevention is aimed at reducing risks of recurrence where an adverse NFF outcome hasoccurred (such as child abuse or neglect).FIGURE 3-1: PREVENTION CONTINUUMSource: Donovan et al (2007).There are a number of points in the family life cycle where a FF intervention may beimplemented, from the pre-birth stage through to the child’s adolescent years, with someinterventions providing a specific focus on risky transition periods and others targeting overallfamily and society environment changes. For example, Carneiro and Heckman (2003)showed that interventions made early in the lifecycle provided the most optimal investmentsin terms of human capital outcomes (Figure 2-3).Interventions at the FF level can be thought of as targeting adverse outcomes (health,productivity or criminality) through generally distal risk factors as opposed to the morecommon proximal risk factors. This is in line with a recent shift in paradigm in theexamination of causal relationships of diseases, illnesses and injury towards the associateddistal risk factors. In brief:52