Once You'Ve Built Some Trust: Using Playgroups to Promote Children's Health and Wellbeing for Families from Migrant Backgrounds

Abstract

service access paradox', it is noted that disadvantaged or marginalised families who could potentially derive considerable benefits from being involved in early childhood services may be the least likely to attend such services (Carbone, Fraser, Ramburuth & Nelms, 2004; CCCH, 2010; McDonald, 2011). Families experiencing high levels of disadvantage are often described in the literature as 'hard to reach'. These families may be reluctant to access support services because of cynicism or lack of awareness of the value of

Local community playgroup participation and associations with social capital

“…36 New playgroups may need to be supported to become established and would benefit from training of parent mentors and, where possible, transitioning to parent-led playgroups. 32 Parent-led (community) playgroups help to build the capacity of the families that participate and, in turn, the local community in which they reside. 37 Therefore, it is important to ensure there are sufficient amenities, infrastructure and opportunities 38 to meet the needs of all families with young children in their local communities.…”

“…31 In our sample parents born overseas scored significantly higher for local reciprocity than Australian-born parents, which is encouraging as overseas-born mothers of young children can experience isolation in local communities. 32 Whereas participation locally appears to be the key to social capital, a lack of participation locally may result in poorer fostering of social capital in the local area. 33 Although no effect for age of residential area was found, newer residential areas sometimes have difficulties in establishing and maintaining playgroups due to limited facilities and support 1 and commonly have a lag in implementation of the physical and social infrastructure 25 that supports community participation.…”

“…34 Although many playgroups in Australia are parent-led, facilitated playgroups can help to build local community connections for families, such as those from disadvantaged areas 3 or from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who otherwise can have difficulty in engaging with playgroups. 32 Facilitated playgroups can be colocated with child health services or primary school communities, which also creates opportunities for families to connect with health and education services in their local communities. 35 Colocation of playgroups with health and education facilities may also improve the establishment and access to playgroups in areas not well serviced.…”

Why Mothers Attend Playgroup

“…This membership consists of more than 22 000 children attending one of approximately 1500 playgroup sessions held in Western Australia every week (Playgroup WA [Inc], 2013). While there has been recent research on evaluating playgroups (Dadich, 2008;Jackson, 2011;Oke, Stanley & Theobald, 2007;Warr et al, 2013), and research on playgroup in relation to other programs (Greenwald, Siegel, & Greenwald, 2006;Lamb-Parker, LeBuffe, Powell & Halpern, 2008;Timber, Volger-Elias & McGill, 2007), there is, to date, a lack of Australian research into who uses playgroup and, importantly, why (Dadich, 2008;Jackson, 2011).…”

“…WHILE PARENTHOOD BRINGS changes for both parents, the changes for mothers are greater than those for fathers (Barkin & Wisner, 2013). As the twenty-first century progresses, mothering ideology has become more focused on 'intensive mothering' whereby mothers put the needs of their child before their own, and the interests of mother and child merge to one identity (Warr, Mann, Forbes & Turner, 2013). The dyads in ideologies of motherhood mean that mothers are viewed as 'good' or 'bad' mothers (Hays, 1996;Johnston & Swanson, 2004), and that they either devote themselves to children or a career (Apple, 2012;Vejar, 2003).…”