Allied Health in Children Centres Program
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Program Information |
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Community of Practice (CoP for Professional Development and Support) |
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Let's Talk about Service Evaluation |
Information About the Allied Health Program in Children's Centres
Welcome! It is with pleasure that we welcome staff and managers of the
Allied Health in Children's Centres Program to this website. The
International Centre for Allied Health Evidence (iCAHE) is honoured to host
this site and to work collaboratively with the dedicated allied health staff
in Children's Centres in SA. iCAHE is a centre within UniSA that provides
researchers, clinicians, teachers, patients and associated organisations
with a forum for undertaking and disseminating evidence-based research in
allied health locally, nationally and internationally. SA Health has engaged
the services of iCAHE to support the Allied Health Program. We are hoping to
use this online facility as a strategic communication forum to allow all
sites involved in the program to participate no matter where you are located
geographically and do so at a time that is convenient to you.
SA Health, DECD and iCAHE have embarked on a journey to
facilitate support for Allied Health staff in Children's Centre in their
professional development and evaluation of their services. We see
these two aspects as strategically linked in the support that the iCAHE
provides. Specifically, the evaluation support has the primary objective of
collaboratively refining the current evaluation framework that is in place
for the Allied Health In Children's Centres Program, in order to implement
an improved evaluation in subsequent evaluation cycles. We are aiming for
the following outcomes:
Outcomes from the Evaluation project include:
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To establish the use of consistent and practical outcome measures across all sites
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To refine the current staff, parent and service provider questionnaires
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To refine the current statistical reporting template
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To refine current case studies / good news stories
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To develop protocols for how to collect and report data via questionnaires, templates and case studies
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To develop a data collection sheet for use with the statistical template
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To develop a comprehensive report format for providing qualitative information and description of the site specific context of services
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To develop an evaluation kit for all of the above, including guidelines on the use of data collection tools and reporting templates
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To deliver a training session for allied health staff on the use of the revised tools and processes
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To establish processes and timeframes for implementation of the new evaluation framework for 2012
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Produce at least one peer-review publication and one conference presentation
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Facilitate a joint presentation with Allied Health staff on the development of the 2012 evaluation framework
For the Professional Development and support the focus will be on:
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Facilitating group discussion around practice issues related to working collaboratively in a Children's Centre context
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Assisting the group with drawing out learnings (e.g. on interagency, client and community work etc) from their shared practice issues
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Liaison with the allied health clinicians, their managers and the Allied Health in CC program manager
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Liaison with other allied health clinicians, researchers and academics from other relevant disciplines and from other Govt departments & Universities as required
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Providing information to the group on literature and recent research related to allied health best practice in a transdisciplinary context
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Establishing and documenting best practice protocols for allied health services in Children's Centres
When navigating these pages, you will notice that we
have developed 2 sections: one with a focus on service evaluation and one
with a focus on professional development and support. We are hoping that this journey
will be rewarding for everyone involved.
Kobie Boshoff
- iCAHE
representative &
Michelle Clark - Lead Program Officer, Early Childhood &
Children's Centres, SA Health
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