Community and Partnerships by Sara Branch
Implementation Through Community Coalitions: The Power of Technology and of Community-Based Intermediaries
The Journal of Primary Prevention
The Importance of Access, Time and Space: Developing the Collective Change Facilitator Role as Part of a Multipartner Research Programme
Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods
La prevención social del delito y la intervención en la infancia y la adolescencia
Proponents of social and developmental prevention start with the assumption that the conditions t... more Proponents of social and developmental prevention start with the assumption that the conditions that give rise to crime and antisocial behaviours lie in the processes of human socialization through families and communities, as well as in social arrangements1 that limit the opportunities for human flourishing and for full participation in mainstream institutions like school and work (France & Homel, 2006). In other words, what matters for social and developmental prevention practitioners is making conditions better for raising healthy, prosocial children, from before birth to at least early adulthood. In concrete terms, prevention scientists are concerned with reducing the impact on children and young people of a very wide variety of problems like family violence, harsh and inconsistent parenting practices, offending by parents, brutal, neglectful or discriminatory police practices, the absence of positive adult role models in the community, an individual’s inability to regulate emot...
Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, 2015
The idea has been gathering momentum for fifty years or more that institutions of care like famil... more The idea has been gathering momentum for fifty years or more that institutions of care like families or schools are more important in preventing crime than institutions of regulation such as the police. However there are big gaps in our knowledge about how well civil society initiatives work, including the effectiveness of family support services that are often available in socially disadvantaged communities. This paper addresses this knowledge gap through an analysis of data from the child longitudinal database constructed through the Pathways to Prevention Project, a ten-year developmental crime prevention initiative that operated until 2011 as a partnership between Mission Australia, Education Queensland, and Griffith University. The authors use a matched groups design and multilevel modelling to show that relatively low levels of family support were strongly associated with improvements in teacher-rated classroom behaviour, especially for children of parents who initially report...
Upwards bullying: Implications for how managers and organisations approach workplace bullying in the future
ABSTRACT Yes Yes
Report prepared for the Queensland Department of Commuities
ABSTRACT No Yes
Children's development is influenced by many contexts and institutional settings, including famil... more Children's development is influenced by many contexts and institutional settings, including families, schools, childcare centres, churches, and ethnic community groups. Positive development is more likely when the social systems that help shape
Eight-year-old Torie is physically small but stands defiant in the school principal's office. His... more Eight-year-old Torie is physically small but stands defiant in the school principal's office. His face betrays a painful mix of vulnerability and hostile bravado. He has just lashed out verbally and physically at his teacher. Clearly, such behaviour cannot be tolerated in the classroom, which must be a safe place for children to learn and grow. The behaviour must be responded to. But what is the correct response? And who will respond, and how, to the array of forces that brought him to the principal's door; to the complex constellation of contextual factors that led indirectly, but seemingly inexorably, to today's violent outburst? For surely there can be no genuine resolution unless these underlying problems are acknowledged and dealt with.
CAN FAMILY SUPPORT MODERATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISCIPLINARY SUSPENSIONS AND CHILD OUTCOMES? LP0560771, DP0984675, and DP140100921 * Griffith Criminology Institute ** Data Analysis Australia
Creating the Conditions for Collective Impact in Disadvantaged Communities in Australia Through an Enhanced Prevention Support System
There is a strongly felt need across the community services and education sectors in Australia fo... more There is a strongly felt need across the community services and education sectors in Australia for the development of integrated, evidence-based approaches to place-based services that tackle seemingly intractable problems affecting the wellbeing and ‘well-becoming ‘of children in disadvantaged communities. Communities for Children (CfC), a federal government program established in 2004 for children aged 0 to 12, functions in 55 disadvantaged communities throughout Australia. It is based on local partnerships of service providers coordinated by a facilitating NGO, and is the best available prevention delivery system in Australia. However, CfC falls short of best prevention practice in many ways, and has shown only modest improvements in child and parent outcomes at the whole of community level. A partnership was formed in late 2012 of four NGOs and three government departments, including the federal agency that administers CfC. Funding has been sought for a project that for the firs...
Evaluation of a place‐based collective impact initiative through cross‐sectoral data linkage
Australian Journal of Social Issues
CREATE-ing capacity to take developmental crime prevention to scale: A community-based approach within a national framework
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology
Parent Empowerment and Efficacy Measure
PsycTESTS Dataset
Sustaining Crime Prevention at Scale: Transforming Delivery Systems Through Prevention Science
Preventing Crime and Violence, 2016
In this chapter, we argue that to achieve sustained reductions in crime, violence or injuries on ... more In this chapter, we argue that to achieve sustained reductions in crime, violence or injuries on a large scale, it is necessary to transform prevention delivery systems so that they conform in their practices, on a continuing basis, with scientific evidence. We explain and defend our proposition, drawing on examples and case studies from our own research and that of others. Although we highlight two very successful innovations (random breath testing in Australia and the Evidence Based Prevention and Intervention Support Center (EPISCenter) in Pennsylvania), we take the view that failures are as instructive as successes, and include some brief examples of the former in our discussion. We also touch upon some of the lessons about Type 2 translation from crime prevention initiatives that have been designed and implemented on the basis of contrasting theoretical models and empirical methods, including criminal justice approaches, situational initiatives, and community-based developmental interventions.
Does Family Support Improve Child Outcomes? the Impact of the Pathways to Prevention Project in the Primary School Years
Introduction: Little is known internationally about the medium to long-term effects of family sup... more Introduction: Little is known internationally about the medium to long-term effects of family support on child outcomes. Pathways to Prevention was from 2002 to 2011 a comprehensive early prevention initiative with family support at its core. It was a partnership between national community agency Mission Australia, Griffith University, and seven primary schools (age 4-11, preschool to Grade 7) in an ethnically diverse, socially disadvantaged region of Brisbane, Australia. We report the effects of Pathways on child wellbeing and classroom behavior between Grades 1 and 7, moderated by parent efficacy. Methods: Classroom behavior was measured by teachers using the Rowe Behavioral Rating Inventory, and child wellbeing using a validated scale (Clowning Around) derived from an interactive computer game developed for this project. Sub-factors include positive social relations, school attachment, and regulation of negative emotions. The Parent Efficacy and Empowerment Measure (PEEM) is a va...
Report prepared for the Queensland Department of Commuities
ABSTRACT No Yes
The Parent Empowerment and Efficacy Measure (PEEM): A Tool for Strengthening the Accountability and Effectiveness of Family Support Services
Australian Social Work, 2014
Pathways to Prevention is an early prevention project founded on developmental systems theory ope... more Pathways to Prevention is an early prevention project founded on developmental systems theory operating through a schools-community agency-university partnership in a socially disadvantaged area of Brisbane. Circles of Care is a Pathways programme also implemented on a small scale by the same agency in a regional city. The Circles programme is designed to strengthen connections between schools, families and community services and harmonise activities in these settings by surrounding children with identified needs with a supportive group of adults. A Circle, which includes at least the child, parent(s), teacher and agency staff, sets goals, mobilises resources for the child, family and school, and monitors progress.
Uploads
Community and Partnerships by Sara Branch