64 research outputs found
How to provide good peer support - Peer Support Practice Review Easy Read Report
No full textThis report is about a project on peer support.
Peer support is people with similar experiences supporting each other.
The project was about how people and organisations do good peer support.
It was also about what resources they have to help with peer support.
Resources are guides, training or information.
This report can help organisations provide good peer support and support people better
Implementation of the NDIS in the Early Childhood Sector - Easy Read Report
No full textThis report is about a project on what families and service providers in NSW think about the move from Early Childhood Intervention services to the NDIS.
Early Childhood Intervention services are supports for children with disabilities and their families.
The NDIS is a new government program to support people with disabilities in Australia. The NDIS is run by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
The move from Early Childhood Intervention services to the NDIS gives families new choices about services for their children.
This report is about a project on what families and service providers in NSW think about the move to the NDIS
Evaluation of the Supported Decision Making Phase 2 (SDM2) project: Easy read report
No full textThis is an Easy Read version of the following main report:
Christiane Purcal, Trish Hill, Kelley Johnson and Rosemary Kayess (2017). Evaluation of the Supported Decision Making Phase 2 (SDM2) project: Final report (SPRC Report 14/17). Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
Parental joblessness, financial disadvantage and the wellbeing of parents and children
No full textThis paper used Longitudinal Study of Australian Children data to analyse links between parental employment and the wellbeing of families.The study found that jobless families and families with short part-time hours (fewer than 21 hours) were at considerable financial disadvantage compared to families with full-time or long part-time hours of employment.Of the children in the study, 5 per cent were living in a family with short part-time hours, and 11 per cent lived in a jobless family – this figure includes half of the children of single parents. Developmental outcomes for these children were lower than those for children in families working more than 21 hours. Joblessness and short part-time hours contributed to these poor outcomes for children through the effect of financial stress on parents.Authored by Jennifer Baxter, Matthew Gray, Kelly Hand, and Alan Hayes
National evaluation (2004-2008) of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy 2004-2009
No full textThis report covers three of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy initiatives - Communities for Children (CfC), Invest to Grow and Local Answers. It examines service provision, service coordination, Indigenous families and children in CfC sites, factors that facilitate or hinder service provision and outcomes, and sustainability.Many research participants compared the SFCS 2004–2009 model favourably with other funding models noting that it gave service providers considerable control over the types of services they could provide and the way they could deliver them. Programs benefited greatly from consultations and partnerships with Indigenous organisations and community members, but effective community engagement takes considerable time, especially in rural and remote areas.
Partnerships, better coordinated services, and a focus on early childhood may be long-term outcomes of the SFCS 2004–2009 initiative in some areas. However, without ongoing funding, it is unlikely that SFCS 2004–2009 programs will be sustainable. Short-term interventions can fuel resentment and mistrust. Furthermore, preliminary positive program outcomes may diminish, and potential benefits remain unrealised without sustained funding.
The evaluation was undertaken over four years by a consortium comprising the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, supported by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. This report is written by Kristy Muir, Ilan Katz, Christiane Purcal, Roger Patulny, Saul Flaxman, David Abelló, Natasha Cortis, Cathy Thomson, Ioana Oprea, Sarah Wise, Ben Edwards, Matthew Gray and Alan Hayes
School readiness program for Aboriginal children with additional needs: working with children, families, communities and service providers
No full textThis report presents an evaluation of a school readiness program for Aboriginal children with additional needs, assessing the benefits for the children, their families and communities as well as local service providers. The outcomes of the evaluation may be useful when considering future service models to support Aboriginal families of children with disabilities, developmental delay or challenging behaviours.Executive summaryNorthcott Disability Services in partnership with the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) is evaluating Northcott’s school readiness program for Aboriginal children with additional needs (the Program), which works with Aboriginal children with developmental delays or disabilities and their families to support school readiness and successful transition to school.In the Program, Northcott provides inclusive playgroups; preschool and school based support; family information, training and support; information and training for preschool and school teachers; and therapy. The Program is in two sites in NSW: one urban and one rural Local Government Area (LGA). The urban LGA is located in metropolitan Sydney, and the rural LGA consists of small towns and remote areas. In both sites, Program services are delivered in several locations from January 2012 to June 2013. The Program is funded by Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC), Department of Family and Community Services NSW.This interim report presents the findings of the first round of data collection for the evaluation. Data were collected close to the beginning of service provision, from February to April 2012. The evaluation applies participatory research principles and includes a literature review; interviews with teachers, service providers and families; and program data about changes in the capacity of children, families and communities. It is conducted over eighteen months to June 2013, concurrent with service provision.ConclusionsIn the rural Program site, staff recruitment and retention were difficult, travelling took considerable proportions of staff time, and a shortage of health specialist and therapy services impeded Program implementation.The Program needed a set up time of more than one year to build trust within communities, and it would benefit from longer service delivery times of more than one year to achieve sustainable outcomes. The Program was extended by six months to June 2013. Engaging Aboriginal families in the Program required time to build trust with the families and communities, identifying support for general needs of the family in addition to the child’s disability needs, and achieving some short-term goals. Collaboration with schools and preschools was facilitated by existing experience with disability issues among teaching staff, and by good internal communication within schools and preschools. Partnerships with other local service providers were easier to establish in locations where Northcott was well-known and staff had personal connections in the community. The participatory action research methodology used in the evaluation gave Northcott staff the opportunity to gain research and evaluation experience and to improve the Program as it progressed.Authored by Christiane Purcal, BJ Newton, Karen R. Fisher, Christine Eastman and Terri Mears
Self directed disability support (SDDS): building community capacity through action research
No full textDisability support has historically been organised and financially managed through government and service provider agencies (agency funding). Increasingly it is offered through individualised, person - centred packages of support (individual or self directed funding), which allow people to manage how their own funds are spent. Opportunities for self directed disability support (SDDS) – in both agency and individual funding approaches – are expanding across Australian states and territories, in line with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) reforms. This project explores how people with disability manage the transition towards self directed disability support. Australian evidence on this critical topic is thin. We know little about the impact of self directed options on people requiring support, informal carers and support providers (Prideaux et al 2009). Likewise, there is little systematic information about the effectiveness of existing disability support systems (Baxter et al 2010). Such information is gathered in this project, and it is important for assessing the impact of new approaches on equity of access, quality and availability of support, and community outcomes (Ungerson & Yeandle 2007) . The Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), in collaboration with People With Disability Australia (PWDA) and the Centre for Children and Young People (CCYP), Southern Cross University (SCU), is conducting the project. This plan explains the project methodology and management.
Authors: Karen R. Fisher, Sam Cooper, Christiane Purcal, Ngila Bevan and Ariella Meltzer
Young carers in receipt of Carer Payment and Carer Allowance 2001 to 2006: characteristics, experiences and post-care outcomes
No full textThis paper aims to provide a better understanding of the circumstances of young people (aged under 25 years) who receive transfer payments to support them in providing ‘informal’ care to people with disabilities and the frail aged. A specific motivation of the research was to examine the extent to which young carers are reliant on income support, both while caring and post-care, and their education participation.Author: J. Rob Bray, Social Policy Evaluation, Analysis and Research Centre, Australian National University
Effectiveness of individual funding approaches for disability support
No full text
This report was funded by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs under the Social Policy Research Services agreements, and undertaken by the Social Policy Research Centre and the Disability Studies and Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. It examined the effectiveness of individual funding of disability support and aimed to inform policy to improve the provision of disability support. Individual funding is defined in this report as a portable package of funds allocated for a particular person that facilitates control over how they purchase their disability support needs. The way individual funding is organised varies in relation to who holds the funds, which parts of it are portable and what disability support types it can be spent on from which parts of the market. Individual funding is more likely to be used by people of working age with low support needs, by male and non-Indigenous service users, by people with one disability and by people without informal care networks.
Authors: Karen R. Fisher, Ryan Gleeson, Robyn Edwards, Christiane Purcal, Tomasz Sitek, Brooke Dinning, Carmel Laragy, Lel D’aegher and Denise Thompson from the Social Policy Research Centre and the Disability Studies and Research Centre, University of New South Wales.
Image: strongria / flick
Self-directed disability support: building people’s capacity through peer support and action research
No full textHow are people with disability experiencing and managing the transition towards self directed support and preparing for the NDIS? In this project, small groups of people with disability around Australia met over 6 months to talk about their disability support. The peer support groups enabled action research about how they are deciding the practical details about support, such as how, when and by whom it is provided
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