A theme running through this year’s ACCAN conference has been child protection as a public health issue. What are the opportunities to improve the protection of children in all families? And how might that kind of strategy benefit children whose unfortunate experiences are at the extreme of the continuum?
The bigger question is how to achieve whole-population protection? There are universal programs, such as variations on the Triple P parenting program reviewed in Prevention Action on 1st November [See: Accentuating the positives with a Triple P.] Action by government to change the pattern of family life, for example by altering the work-family life balance, could also be counted as a public health initiative.
Another potential avenue is involvement with mass media – and, in that connection, in between conference sessions last week, delegates had the opportunity to watch an Australian TV advert funded by the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.
Children See, Children Do shows children shadowing and mimicking parents, talking on the phone, getting impatient while waiting for a train, smoking, exploding with rage, and so on – all to shed light on the aberrations of adult behavior when seen through children's impressionable eyes.
I don't know enough about advertising to judge whether Children See, Children Do can be effective. We know that at best this kind of approach will have an impact on about two per cent of the population. But since television viewing is so universal, two per cent represents a lot of parents.
Two percent of the population
Hi Michael
NAPCAN's Children See, Children Do, appears to have hit the mark with Imaginif's target group.
We operate a child protection site, with a focus on a Safety Talk forum and Child Protection blog. Many of our readers and members have made reference to the television commercial. In my career, I could postulate that this short video is probably as successful as getting people to wear seat belts and not talk on mobile phones while driving. In short, the message seems to have hit parents where we have previously failed to reach. Mind you, this is anecdotal research that I reflecting upon.
In a similar vein - I have struggled to quit smoking for over a year. I saw the NAPCAN Children See, Children Do, and created an immediate cognitive shift toward smoking as child abuse. I have not touched a cigarette since.
I've just linked to your site to make it eaasy for me to continue to find my way back here.
Megan from Imaginif
www.imaginif.com.au