Design of an Early Year's Intervention With and for the Community: A Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis

Outcomes of health and wellbeing are shaped in the first 5 years as childrens' brains and bodies develop in response to their environment. Families at sociodemographic disadvantage face barriers to early intervention that may be reduced through access to integrated care across health, early education, and welfare services. There is, however, internationally documented evidence of difficulty in sustaining and translating such services. This needs assessment sought to understand existing knowledge on creating safe, accessible integrated service hubs for families with young children, providing a foundation for longitudinal evidence-based translation of early intervention into practise.

Building on a formative evaluation, this needs assessment analysed data to identify strengths and gaps in support for children pre-birth to age 5 and their families in the low socioeconomic area of Armadale, Western Australia, including mapping, definition of family, and review of evidence for outcome measures.

Combined evidence identified priorities to support access in a location of unmet need in the local government area. The focus on one-place that is culturally safe with trained professionals empowering people using a relational model of care to build trust for families who have experienced disadvantage through poverty and social barriers.

We identified a priority to empower families through consumer engagement and co-design, with a need for evidence-based measures to evaluate intervention effectiveness. This provides a focus for ongoing intervention development and research and evaluation.

This needs assessment provides an example of health promotion action towards evidence-based early years support.