Case Study: Evaluation of the National Community Awareness Raising (NCAR) Strategy and the Building Capacity in Australian parents (BCAP) trial

Client: Australian Department of Social Services

Term: 2018 - 2020

Under the Third Action Plan of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020, the Commonwealth committed to initiating community awareness raising activities on effective parenting strategies to enhance safe and supportive environments in the early years, at both local and national levels.

The evaluation of the NCAR Strategy and the BCAP Trial, led by ISSR Professor Karen Thorpe, is informed by the recognised need to encourage evidence-informed active parenting in ways that empower parents to make good decisions for their children at critical time-points during the early life course. The parenting self-efficacy framework underpins the evaluation approach, which organises the desired attitudinal and behavioural changes by parents and the community into key domains. These domains include awareness and acceptance that informed parenting matters; knowledge of where to find evidence-based parenting information and assistance; and willingness and ability to seek or provide evidence-based help.