Outline of Presentation What is Clinical Research? Children's Health

Why Research in Children’s Health
� Early years of children's lives and significant impact on
physical, behavioural & social development later in life.
� Many childhood conditions & problems are preventable or
can be improved if recognised and managed early.
� Best results = professionals work in close partnership
with parents who are supported & empowered to make the
best choices for their children.
� Translate up-to-date research and evidence (those shown
to be effective and appropriate) into policy formulation at
all levels (children / families, to school and community /
country).
Ref: http://www.rch.org.au/ccch/index.cfm?doc_id=10694
Unique features of Clinical Research in Children’s Health*
� Often involve multi-disciplinary team – various methodological
approaches
� Often aims to study full spectrum of child development &
behaviour – reliability & validity
� Often addresses more abstract issues – e.g. community support,
adjustment to illness (validated measures not available)
� Ecological perspective (i.e. socio-cultural influences on child
development and behaviour) – difficulty to measure, report
accurately, and interpret/explain
� Often relies on parent report – influenced by parents’ own
perception of state
� Advocacy issues (protecting interest of the children)
� Ethical issues (confidentiality, disclosure, ability to consent, use
of placebo)
*Research Foundation, Methods & Issues in Developmental-Behavioural Paediatrics: D
Schonfield, B Dreyer, Developmental-Behvaioural Paediatrics by Wolraich et al, 2008
Main research themes in CCCH, RCH:
� Development, behaviour and mental health
� Hearing
� Language, learning and literacy
� Obesity & Healthy Weight
� Safety promotion and injury prevention
� Children with additional needs
*New Millennium Morbidities in Paediatrics
What works? The need of evidence and the
“best-buy” concept)
� Like any other health care intervention, health
promotion activities can do harm as well as good (e.g.
inaccurate/incorrect information offered, poor screening test for a
variety of reasons, health information causing anxiety/guilt, etc.)
� Ethical imperative to ensure that child health
promotion activities are subjected to as robust an
evaluation as any other health care intervention.
� Research base in health promotion takes time to
develop and absence of evidence of effect is not the
same as evidence of absence of effect.
Ref: D Hall & D Elliman: Health for All Children, 4 th ed. 2003, p 22-25
Common / Important
Children’s Health
Research Topics