Bulletin

Issue: May 2005

News

La Trobe University’s leading role in world quest to alleviate family problems

La Trobe University is conducting the Australian segment of a cross national pilot study aimed at improving services to families with emotional difficulties.

The ultimate aim of a subsequent full scale study, in which universities and other organisations in nine nations involved in the pilot study hope to participate, is to pinpoint precise methods to prevent or alleviate such family problems as child abuse, domestic violence, child neglect, physical and sexual abuse and learning difficulties.

La Trobe University practice-based social work researcher, Dr Trish McNamara, conducted in Melbourne the Australian research of the pilot study entitled Outcome-based Evaluation in Child and Family Services (OECFS).

She reported on research she conducted with a Melbourne family in conjunction with the Berry Street Victoria family counselling program to the Fourth World Conference on OECFS at Ubano, Italy in early October.

More than 150 world specialists in family problems attended the conference in which the nine participating countries reported back on their initial pilot studies.

A lecturer in the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe, Dr McNamara is a member of the board of the International Association of OECFS and was one of a number of researchers who inaugurated the pilot project during a Third International OECFS Conference in Malosco, Italy in June 2003.

Dr McNamara said that the problems were found across families in all social classes in all countries, although they appeared to be more prevalent when economic stress was an important contributing factor.

She said that social workers around the world have over the years collected data which has provided some understanding of the outcomes of certain kinds of intervention into families with emotional problems.

However much more detailed knowledge was needed and the aim of the project was to gain greater sophistication in understanding how different interventions work.

‘The aim of this research is to identify the “steps along the way” to outcomes in community based child and family interventions. In the past we have understood something of the “crude” outcomes of interventions but have not identified the sensitive indicators of change,’ she said.

‘The “crude outcomes” of family preservation, reduction in family conflict and domestic violence and promotion of school retention, have been identified as central in this case study.

‘In the case of poor child school retention, children do not want to go to school for a number of reasons. Often it comes down to poor self esteem or a lack of any hope for the future.

‘In this instance, the answer is to inaugurate programs to discover why these two conditions exist. It can often be traced to learning difficulties, some of which can be resolved by a basic remedial program in literacy or numeracy.

‘A number of “Steps on the way” or changes leading to these “crude outcomes” have been identified in the pilot study.

‘We have found evidence that it is very helpful if family members express more emotion, providing feelings of warmth, affection and loyalty. Also encouraging distanced family members to re-enter the family circle can be extremely helpful as well as positive parenting strategies such as greater containment of anger and aggression.’

Dr McNamara said that the International Association of OECFS hoped that the pilot study would lead to a full scale international study with each country contributing studies on a number of families.

Professor Marianne Berry, world director of the study and Professor Mark Ezell, both of the University of Kansas, gave a seminar at La Trobe in April.

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