Professor Anne McMurray- Murdoch University Peel Health Campus Chair in Nursing
World first study to track children’s health
Over 2000 Western Australian families are expected to take part in a proposed world-first health study aimed at building better communities for children.
Leading the Murdoch University community health study will be world child heath expert, Professor Anne McMurray.
The study will track hundreds of children from conception to teenage years, giving experts unparalleled insight into child development.
Professor McMurray will work closely with child health experts from Dr Fiona Stanley’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.
Family affair
The study will focus on the growing Peel region which has a high proportion of young families but also a number of health risks in some groups.
“We want to create a profile of the Peel region and then look at how a child’s biologically embedded predispositions towards health are actually helped along by the community,” Professor McMurray said.
“What we’ll try to do is show how a child is affected by the environment in which they live.
“We’ll be looking at their physical, social and family environments, including education, culture and recreation.”
The team is seeking government and private sector partners to help fund the project, expected to start this year.
Impact on children
The study will seek to find how the community impacts on child development and how it can help create a healthy environment for children.
“It is the first time we’ve been able to mobilise an entire community to bring knowledge of child health. It will show a detailed picture of the health of the Peel community,” Professor McMurray said.
“As partners with the community, we will be looking at biological indicators of child health and feeding that information back to the community every step of the way as the children grow up.”
It is expected about 2000 families will take part in the study which will track the development of children from conception through to the age of 15.
The researchers will work closely with GPs and other medical professionals, as well as social service providers and families to look at the range of services in the region and the types of families who use these.
Fly-in, fly-out under the microscope
The project could be extended to cover other aspects of family life, such as transitional parenting forced by the fly-in, fly-out nature of mining and military jobs and the pressures faced by working grandparents who look after young children.
“When you bring people together like this study will do, the chances of people falling through the cracks are lower,” Professor McMurray said.
“We want to look at the potential of a community to reduce risks and create a more connected environment.”
Professor McMurray is passionate about community health and has written six books on the subject. The Peel Development Commission has funded a preliminary study to map the scope of services in the region as a basis for the project.
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