Comprehensive Monitoring System

An AEDC Extension Project

Today, children and young people face futures that are filled with promise but also considerable challenge. They face a growing global burden of mental health problems and a rapidly changing world. The challenge is to not only to protect the emotional wellbeing of young people but also to prepare them for future adversities not yet fully apparent.

To do this effectively we need comprehensive data mapping social and emotional development, at a whole of population level, from early childhood to young adulthood. The best we have, currently, is a patchwork of disconnected data, at different ages, using different indicators. This means we are ‘flying blind’ when it comes to delivering programs to reduce mental disorder and grow future global citizens.

We have addressed this data gap by building a new Comprehensive Monitoring System (CMS) designed to map each age and stage of development, from early childhood to young adulthood, across eight developmentally interconnected census surveys, separated by 3-year intervals, and delivered through universal services serving each age group.

The CMS has been specifically designed to extend the reach of the highly successful Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), which is a federally funded, triennial, census of more than 300,000 school-aged children (5-6 years) that captures over 95% of all children this age across Australia. The aim is to develop a government-ready system which could eventually be rolled out state-wide, or nationally.

Surveys within the CMS have been developmentally sequenced using findings from some of Australia’s most mature life-course and intergenerational cohort studies of emotional life, the oldest of which now spans four decades and crosses three generations. The scientific integrity of indicators is strengthened by machine learning based (living) systematic reviews of the global cohort literature.

In addition, through the CMS, community and government planners are provided with a menu of evidence-based interventions to guide investment choices for responding to early life course risk and resilience profiles measured through Comprehensive Monitoring. The scientific integrity of this menu is maintained by machine learning based (living) systematic reviews of the global trials literature.

Since 2015, the infant, toddler, and middle years surveys have been successfully trialled multiple times in pilot sites across Victoria. Investment in this vision by the Victorian Government at a time of fiscal austerity is highly significant; it represents commitment to the broader goal and signifies substantial opportunity for project expansion to national partners in the future.

The first phase of the system has been successfully trialled in the Loddon-Mallee Region in Northwestern Victoria. The full system is now ready to be tested within larger and more diverse communities, including rural, regional, and metropolitan.

The CMS represents a partnership between the Deakin University Lifespan Institute and the Victorian Department of Education.

Details of the implementation of the Comprehensive Monitoring system can be found on our recently published CMS protocol paper available for download. 

Following implementation, ACIL Allen Consulting was engaged by the Lifespan Institute and the Department of Education to undertake an evaluation of the Comprehensive Monitoring system trials in North Central Victoria. The CMS Trial Evaluation Report highlights the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of this project. 

The Comprehensive Monitoring Surveys

The Comprehensive Monitoring System draws on existing surveys. These eight questionnaires focus on social and early emotional development at the community level and include population-level questions that are developmentally appropriate for different ages and stages of development.

Australian Early Development Census (AEDC):

The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) is a national measure of young children’s development at the commencement of school (age 5) across five areas of early childhood development – physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. The AEDC is based on the Canadian Early Development Instrument (EDI) and has been implemented nationally since 2009.

For more information about AEDC data, see the 2021 release here, or check out the 2024 results and more on the AEDC Data Hub.

Toddler Development Instrument (TDI):

The Toddler Development Instrument (TDI) is completed by parents of children age 16 – 20 months, and measures six constructs associated with children’s healthy development – social interactions and play; health, nutrition, and development; family/community resources and barriers; social environment and support; caregiver beliefs and wellbeing; and sociodemographic context. The TDI has been tested with parents, community leaders, and child development professionals, and shows potential to identify community strengths and improvement areas to ensure all children and their families have supports to realise the best possible start in life.

Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI):

The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) is a self-report measure for children ages 10 and 14 that asks about five areas of development – physical health and wellbeing, connectedness, social-emotional development, school experiences, and use of after school time – that are strongly associated with children’s health, well-being, and academic achievement. Like the AEDC, MDI data are used at a population level to understand the factors that promote children’s health and wellbeing for the purpose of informing policies, practices, and collaborations to improve children’s social and structural environments.

Our team has previously implemented the TDI and MDI in communities. This has provided us with valuable knowledge and feedback from communities, parents, educators and children. These learnings will enable the successful implementation of all seven surveys in the Comprehensive Monitoring System.

 

SEED POD Living Knowledge Portal

SEED POD gives families, schools and communities easy access to information on effective, evidence-based programs for promoting positive social and emotional development from early childhood to young adulthood.

The portal is based on a unique Living Knowledge Review System that scans the global literature to ensure that the best information worldwide is made available to you. Programs are rated by researchers based on the strength of scientific evidence available to support them. Highly rated programs are well suited to responding to challenges in your community.

Once a community has completed all Comprehensive Monitoring System (CMS) surveys, they can access the SEED POD Menu of Evidence Based Programs to find the ‘best fit’ interventions to address areas identified as in need of intervention, as well as to build on strengths highlighted by their results.  

This system has been designed by Deakin University’s Lifespan Institute in collaboration with the Deakin Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative, Deakin Library and Deakin Research Communications.

 

 

Our team

  • Professor Craig Olsson holds an NHMRC leadership Fellowship in Life Course Epidemiology and is Scientific Director of the Australian Temperament Project which is one of Australia’s longest running cohort studies now spanning 40 years and three-generations. He is committed to bringing findings from cohort studies to life in communities through enhanced population monitoring of child, adolescent and young adult development.
  • Catherine Nolan is Project Director for the Comprehensive Monitoring Project and the Victorian State & Territory Coordinator for the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). She has considerable experience in policy, health administration, direct service delivery, data collection, stakeholder engagement and translation of data to action. She is a committed advocate of utilising evidence from large population data for policy, programs, and practice.
  • Professor Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz is co-Lead of the Data Science unit within Deakin’s Strategic Research Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development. He and his team focus on use of contemporary quantitative methods for analysing and communicating large scale data projects to academic and community audiences.
  • Dr Christopher Greenwood  is an Early Career Research Fellow at Deakin University, specialising in quantitative analytic methods. He is co-Lead of the Data Science unit within the Strategic Research Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development.
  • Ms Joyce Cleary  is currently an NHMRC PhD candidate documenting the measurement and psychometric properties of key CMS outcomes. She brings 15+ years of government experience in child health and wellbeing surveillance, offering particular specialty in the design and selection of measures and the translation of evidence to inform policy.
  • Dr Primrose Letcher is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, Deakin University and a Clinical Psychologist. She has expertise in project management, participant engagement, survey development, and the assessment and treatment of mental health problems from childhood to adulthood. Her work on the CMS will involve bringing together monitoring of emotional health and wellbeing with evidence-based initiatives to allow communities to identify and support those in need.
  • Professor Toumbourou is the Chair in Health Psychology at Deakin University, Australia. He is the Leader of Translation Science in the Deakin University Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development.
  • Dr Kate Lycett is a co-funded NHMRC and National Heart Foundation Early Career Researcher. Kate’s research focuses on building healthy environments that can wrap around and nurture child wellbeing. Her research interests span child mental health, sleep, obesity, cardiovascular health, epidemiology, air pollution, public health, and wellbeing at both the individual and societal levels. Dr Lycett is the research lead for The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index and The Breathe Melbourne Citizen Science Project.
  • Tom Peachey is a Principal at ACIL Allen with over Tom is a principal at ACIL Allen with over fifteen years’ experience in supporting policy formulation and review through roles as a government executive, manager and principal consultant.
  • Dr Kimberly Thomson is an is an Evaluation Specialist with the Population and Public Health unit at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver, Canada. Her role supports the monitoring and evaluation of health promotion initiatives including population mental wellness and healthy schools and communities. Kim’s research background is in social determinants of mental health across the early life course and into the next generation. She completed her postdoctoral training both in Melbourne and Vancouver, at the Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development at Deakin University, the Human Early Learning  Partnership at the University of British Columbia, and with the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences.
  • Dr Camille Deane is a postdoctoral fellow with the Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development (SEED) at Deakin University. She co-leads the Systematic Review Hub, a group that develops evidence synthesis materials for staff and students and facilitates a review internship program for students. Camille is the project manager of the Living Knowledge System, a collaborative project between SEED, Deakin’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute, Deakin Library, and Deakin Comms. The Living Knowledge System uses artificial intelligence to semi-automate systematic review tasks and enable living systematic reviews that provide end-users with the most contemporary evidence.
  • Dr Martin Guhn is an Associate Professor at the Human Early Learning Partnership, School of Population and Public Health, UBC. He is also a member of the Canadian Council on the Social Determinants of Health. Dr. Guhn has a PhD in Human Development (UBC), and degrees in Psychology and Music. His research focuses on understanding how early childhood experiences and social, cultural, demographic, and socio-economic context factors are related to children’s and adolescents’ development, health, wellbeing, and education.
  • Dr Anne Gadermann is an Assistant Professor at the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), School of Population and Public Health, and Research Scientist at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences (CHÉOS), Providence Health Care Research Institute. Her research focuses on examining how risk and protective factors at different ecological levels (i.e., family, school, neighbourhood) are associated with mental health and well-being outcomes in children and youth. This research draws from large-scale linked datasets, including student- and teacher-reported survey data as well as administrative health and education data.
  • Ms Fernanda Bertram de Moraes has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology (Honours) from Deakin University. Fernanda moved to Australia after working as a Dentist in Brazil where she also conducted research in Public Health. Fernanda joined the project through the Department of Education, working alongside stakeholders to promote community engagement and coordinate data collection for the AEDC and Comprehensive Monitoring Project.

Partner organisations

We extend our thanks to the Shires of Loddon and Buloke for partnering with our team in 2020. The project is led by the Deakin Lifespan Institute at Deakin University, the Victorian Department of Education, and the Human Early Learning Partnership (University of British Columbia, Canada). The project is funded by the Ian Potter Foundation, National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Victorian Department of Education.

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