Newsletter November 2022

This month we’re delighted to share a few exciting announcements from CEI’s global work – including a new office opening for the Nordic region, a dispatch from the inaugural CHILD Conference, and news on a major new evaluation with men’s mental health funder Movember.
 
We’re also delighted to share a new journal article on Common Elements in the International Journal on Child Maltreatment authored by our team alongside partners as well as a range of publications, events, and studies underway.

Opening CEI Nordic – our 5th global office!

The global movement for good evidence and effective implementation is growing. In September, CEI’s first northern European office opened in Oslo. CEI’s CEO, Dr Robyn Mildon, noted: “We are delighted to establish our presence in the Nordic region and draw on the expertise of world-class experts like Professor Arild Bjørndal, who is leading our work from Oslo. The Nordic countries already have world-class welfare structures, but too many people are still slipping through the cracks. Now is the time to ensure that we use evidence and implement it well to improve lives across the region.”

The Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway – are known for their well-functioning welfare states. Despite this, the social inequalities are increasing and there are not systematic, holistic, or sustainable approaches to delivering improved outcomes for people facing adversity. “There is enough money and will,” says CEI Associate Director Professor Arild Bjørndal, who is leading the Nordic office. “However, we need to radically change the way we approach these challenges. Therefore, CEI Nordic wants to use the mission methodology, promoted by the EU. We will bring key stakeholders together to handle social inequalities locally.”

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Driving cross-sectoral transformation in early childhood: CHILD’s inaugural conference

CEI and our partners were delighted to participate in the inaugural conference of the Centre for Holistic Initiatives for Learning and Development (CHILD) in Singapore. Leading local and international practitioners, policymakers, and researchers came together at the two-day event to share insights and stimulate discussion about how to support young children to thrive and reach their full potential. We capture key themes of the event in a more detailed article on our website and summarise them here:

  • Supporting holistic child development requires collaboration across institutions, disciplines, and sectors 
  • Early intervention is critical and extends to areas where systems may not yet be adequately supporting families and caregivers  
  • Implementing effective and scalable solutions to the challenges we currently face is possible. But we must listen to the voices of families, contextualise programs, and respond to communities.   
  • Integrating evaluation activities into program implementation is key to ensure solutions are working as intended for target groups 
  • Implementation science holds promise for early childhood researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to support efforts to drive evidence-driven policy and practice 

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Can Common Elements support a public health approach to child maltreatment?

Despite decades of reform, the number of children in contact with statutory child protection services continues to increase. Currently, the challenge researchers, policymakers, and practitioners face is that the evidence is not always 'implementable'. How can we innovate and build upon the existing evidence to mobilise a public health response to address child maltreatment? 

CEI is pleased to share a new journal article authored by members of our team across all geographies in partnership with global collaborators; “Can Common Elements Support a Public Health Approach to Child Maltreatment?” has been published in the International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice. The article explores how common elements can assist in some of the challenges that arise in the public health response to the maltreatment of children.

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Evaluating a $10m+ global grant fund in men's mental health and suicide prevention with Movember

CEI is delighted to announce a partnership with global men’s health charity Movember to evaluate a global program of work. Movember has announced a new AUD $10.38 million grant fund, “Scaling What Works”, which will support projects globally aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of boys and men over the next two years. CEI is partnering with Movember to conduct an evaluation of these programs to assess several factors, including scalability, sustainability, implementation, and outcomes, as well as developing a community of practice for knowledge sharing and capacity building for innovative programs working with men and boys. We expect this work to generate rich insights into “what works” for scaling men’s mental health programs, a traditionally overlooked area, and to further support the program teams to achieve their goal of improving men’s mental health.

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Understanding the feasibility of an intervention to reduce reoffending and improve wellbeing with the Youth Endowment Foundation

Approximately half of the 15,800 children cautioned or sentenced in the Youth Justice System in England and Wales from 2020-21 already had prior convictions. Reframing the approach taken toward these children has begun to shape programmes and policies in recent years leading to the Youth Justice Board’s 2019 “Child First” approach. The SHiFT model aligns with this approach and aims to support children and young people (aged approximately 11-25) who are caught in a destructive cycle of crime, to reduce reoffending and improve wellbeing. CEI's feasibility evaluation of this innovative youth justice approach has just been published by the Youth Endowment Foundation. The evaluation is informed by implementation science models to assess the early implementation and feasibility of SHiFT and how its approach and implementation could be strengthened.

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Registrations are open for a new course on ‘Behavioural and Implementation Science for Health and Healthcare Services' 

CEI and the NUS Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions (BISI) are collaborating to deliver a live online course to be conducted by Executive Director Dr Robyn Mildon and Director Dr Cheryl Seah. It will take place on two half days, 1-2 December 2022 and will enrol healthcare professionals as well as individuals involved in research. The course provides an introduction to behavioural and implementation science and will provide leaders and managers within the healthcare system with strategies to improve the uptake of interventions into routine practices, thereby increasing public health impact. This course is an excellent opportunity to learn more about evidence-based interventions and behavioural and implementation science. The last day for registration is 7 November.

REGISTER

Events, News, and Publications

  • CEI Singapore is seeking interns. Please consider applying!
  • The open online course “Pathways to Research Impact” on uptake and translation of research is available now.
  • In September, CEI’s Executive Director Dr Robyn Mildon and Director Anna Williamson moderated a fireside chat at the Our Reform conference hosted by the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC), Tandem, and Mental Health Victoria.
  • In September, CEI’s Executive Director Dr Robyn Mildon moderated a panel for BISI, the Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions: “Innovations in Behavioural and Implementation Science for Healthcare – Adding Value and Reducing Unwarranted Variation”.
  • In October, CEI Managing Director Mary Abdo hosted a panel at 1880 Singapore on “Singapore: Asia’s Hub for Philanthropy”.
  • In October, CEI’s Executive Director Dr Robyn Mildon and Senior Advisor Dr Karla Lopez spoke at the inaugural conference of the Global Collaboration of Evidence-Based Policing. The conference theme was Exceptional Policing – The Evidence-Based Way.
  • In October, CEI Managing Director Mary Abdo was a panel member at The Majurity Trust’s roundtable for “Navigating Social Impact Measurements”.
  • In October, CEI’s Executive Director Dr Robyn Mildon gave the closing address at “What Works Global Summit 2022: Recovery and resilience in crisis”.