A comprehensive study will begin this week to strengthen early childhood development services in the province by evaluating public health nursing programs and other supports during the prenatal period and the period after babies are born.
The survey is a project of the Department of Health and Social Services staff and public health nurses in the five health regions.
During the coming month, interviews will be conducted with 1000 of the 1496 women who delivered a child in 1998. Community groups and health service providers will also be interviewed to identify ways to strengthen services and supports for expectant parents and their newborns.
Health and Social Service Minister Mildred Dover advised that the study supports the Department's direction to strengthen early childhood development services. "National current research points to the increasing importance of supporting families and children in the early years. This study will help us determine how we can improve these services in our province," she said.
"The study will take into account easily measured factors such as birth weight, family size and use of public health nursing services," advised Jo-Ann MacDonald, Coordinator of Public Health Nursing with the Department of Health and Social Services. "But, for the first time, this survey will also provide us with information on other relevant factors such as quality of coverage of public health nursing services, gaps in services and supports, and how we can best reach parents and children earlier and when they need us most."
Focus groups will be held in each region to discuss the results of the surveys and design action plans to improve services.
The study is part of the LoPHID (Local Public Health Infrastructure Development) project now being piloted with the assistance of Health Canada in five regions of Atlantic Canada. CIETcanada, a non-governmental organization, has been contracted to provide technical guidance for the project. Twenty-minute interviews will be conducted in Island homes by trained interviewers. All survey information will be kept confidential. There is no means to trace information back to any individual participant.
Ms. MacDonald said that the survey results will enable staff to assess their performance and plan improvements to services. "For example, we know that only half of first-time mothers attend prenatal classes and we'd like to increase that number. We are also very interested in increasing the number of mothers who breastfeed their babies," she said.
For more information on the project, contact Jo-Ann MacDonald, Public Health and Evaluation Division, Department of Health and Social Services, (902)368 5272.