Transcript Sylda Langford Director General Office of the Minister for

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A
NATIONAL SET OF CHILD
WELL-BEING INDICATORS
IRELAND
Sinéad Hanafin, PhD
Anne-Marie Brooks
CHILD WELL-BEING INDICATORS
Presentation overview
 Provide an overview of:
 the approach used to develop the national
set of child well-being indicators in Ireland;
and
 the characteristics of the national set of
child well-being indicators, including
guiding definitions, guiding principles and
selection criteria
 Highlight key considerations and
challenges when reporting on child
well-being.
CHILD WELL-BEING INDICATORS
Approaches to indicator development
 Data-driven
 Policy-driven
 Theory-driven
CHILD WELL-BEING INDICATORS
Guiding definition of well-being
‘Healthy and successful individual
functioning, positive relationships and a
social ecology that providers safety,
human and civil rights, social justice
and participation in civil society’
(Andrews et al., 2002, P. 103)
WELL-BEING INDICATORS
Guiding principles
 Go beyond basic survival in its
representation of well-being
 Focus on positive as well as negative
aspects of children’s lives
 Take account of the experience of
childhood in itself
 Include some of the new domains of
child well-being
WELL-BEING INDICATORS
Guiding selection criteria
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Comprehensive coverage
Children of all ages
Clear and comprehensible
Positive outcomes
Forward-looking
Rigorous methods
Geographically detailed
Cost-efficient
Reflective of social goals
CHILD WELL-BEING INDICATORS
Ireland’s approach to indicator development
1. A background review of indicators sets in use
elsewhere and the compilation of an inventory
of key indicators, domains and indicator
selection criteria;
2. A feasibility study of the availability of national
statistics to construct the indicators identified
in the previous step;
3. A study on Children’s Understandings of WellBeing; and
4. A consensus process referred to as a Delphi
technique, where participants on ‘a panel of
expertise’ agreed indicators for use in the Irish
context.
WELL-BEING INDICATORS
Outcome
42 child well-being indicators
7 socio-demographic indicators
4 to be developed
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Pets and animals
Quality of early childhood care and education
Values and respect
Nutritional outcomes
SELECTION CRITERIA
Comprehensive
95.8% agreed that the indicator set included
measures that assess well-being across a broad
range of domains including:
Abuse and maltreatment
Housing
Out of home placements
Health conditions and
healthcare
Economic security
Early childhood care and
education
Environment and places
Mental health (incl. self-reported
happiness)
Nutrition
Participation in decision-making
Public expenditure on services
for children
Children’s relationships
Self-esteem
Sexual health and behaviour
Things to do
Use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs
Values and respect
SELECTION CRITERIA
Children of all ages
83.3% agreed that the indicator set included
enough measures for children of every age
from birth through to adolescence including:
 The number of births within each 500g-weight
interval, expressed as a proportion of all
registered live and stillbirths.
 The number of children under 5 in various early
childcare and education arrangements,
 The number of children in age categories 8-11
and 12-17 who report to feel happy with the
way they are.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Positive and negative
93.8% agreed that the indicator set
included enough negative measures
and enough positive measures of wellbeing including:
 The number of children referred to the Garda
Juvenile Diversion Programme, expressed as
a proportion of all children.
 The number of children aged 11, 13 and 15
who report that students participate in
making the rules at their school.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Objective and subjective
90.0% agreed that the indicator set
included enough objective
measures and enough subjective
measures of well-being:
 The number of children living in households with a
household income below the national 60%
median, equivalised using the modified OECD
equivalence scale, expressed as a proportion of
all children.
 The number of children aged 11, 13 and 15 who
report to be happy with their life at present,
expressed as a proportion of all children in the
same age groups.
DEVLOPMENTS
 Middle childhood period
 HBSC Survey and Growing Up in Ireland –
the National Longitudinal Study
 Maximisation of existing data sources
 Inclusion of markers, e.g. disability and
ethnicity in surveys
 Development of new data sources, e.g.:
 Surveillance of Obesity of Irish Children
 Quality of ECCE and pets and animals data
 Children’s Data Strategy
 State of the Nations Children Reports
REPORTING ON CHILD WELL-BEING
Considerations
 Indicators need to be available over
time
 International comparisons are needed
 Information on subgroups is needed
REPORTING ON CHILD WELL-BEING
Indicators need to be available over time
E.g. Decrease in infant mortality rate:
3.7 per 1,000 in 2006
5.6 per 1,000 in 2002
REPORTING ON CHILD WELL-BEING
Indicators need to be available over time
Challenges:
E.g. Health Behaviour of School-Going Children
data collected on four-yearly interval
20
State of the Nations Children Report (2006)
15
10
5
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
REPORTING ON CHILD WELL-BEING
International comparisons are needed
E.g.: infant mortality rate:
Ireland:
3.7 per 1,000 in 2006
5.6 per 1,000 in 2002
Sweden and Finland:
2.8 per 1,000 in 2006
REPORTING ON CHILD WELL-BEING
International comparisons are needed
Challenges:
 Variation in socio-demographic variables used
across countries
 Variation in definitions used across countries
 e.g. in Ireland the first trimester of pregnancy is
defined as up to 12 weeks under the National
Perinatal Reporting System, while the World Health
Organisation defines the first trimester as up to 14
weeks.
 Variation in data quality and timeliness across
countries
REPORTING ON CHILD WELL-BEING
Information on sub-groups is needed
E.g. Breastfeeding levels across mother’s occupation
Higher Professional
70.9
Lower Professional
67.8
Skilled Manual Workers
61.4
Managers
55.9
Salaried Employees
52.2
State
47.5
Other Non-Manual Workers
44.1
Home Duties
42.0
Non-Manual Workers
41.5
Unemployed
30.3
Semi-skilled Manual Workers
29.8
0.0
10.0 20.0
30.0 40.0
50.0
60.0 70.0
80.0 90.0 100.0
% of infants who are breastfed (either exclusive or combined) on discharge from hospital
REPORTING ON CHILD WELL-BEING
Information on sub-groups is needed
Challenges:
 Not all data is capable of dissagregration by
 Age, Sex, social class, geographic location, or other
important variables (e.g. Traveller Children, Non-Irish
National Children, Asylum Seeking Children etc)
 Not all data sources have national coverage
 e.g. National Physical and Sensory Disability Database
has 70 per cent coverage
 Variations in geographic variables used across
data sources
 e.g. Health Board Region, NUTS Regions, Local Authority
Areas
Office of the Minister for Children and Youth
Affairs
Department of Health and Children
Hawkins House
Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel: + 353-1-6743200
[email protected]
www.omc.gov.ie
www.childrensdatabase.ie