Empowering culturally and linguistically diverse parents to support primary school-aged children

Project Details

Migration can be challenging for both families and children, increasing the risk of mental health problems. The Supporting Child Mental Health (SCMH) program, developed by researchers at the University of Melbourne in partnership with Mental Health First Aid Australia, aims to increase adults' mental health literacy and skills in supporting children aged 5-12 who are experiencing mental health problems, mental health crises, or adversity or traumatic events. By helping adults gain these skills, the program facilitates early access to evidence-based treatment, ultimately improving child mental health outcomes.

This project will assess how well the SCMH program works and how suitable it is for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) parents in three stages:

1. Phase I: Testing two new tools to measure adults’ knowledge, beliefs and skills of child mental health.
2. Phase II: Evaluating how effective the SCMH program is among CALD parents.
3. Phase III: Gathering feedback to understand how the program can be adapted to better suit the unique needs of CALD parents.

Findings from this project will help adapt the SCMH program to make it culturally appropriate, leading to better mental health outcomes for children in CALD communities.

Researchers

Dr Shurong Lu (Project Lead)
shurong.lu@unimelb.edu.au

Funding

Australian Rotary Health, Mental Health First Aid International