Health Mentoring Project for families who have children with disabilities

Facilitators: Linda Goddard, Sandi Mackey School of Nursing.

Contact- lgoddard@csu.edu.au

The Health Mentoring Project is an ongoing initiative of the Bachelor of Nursing program at Charles Sturt University - Albury. The project is an innovative local response to the reality that many mothers and other family members of children with disabilities have poorer health status due to the stress associated with around-the-clock caregiving.

A pilot project was held in 2004 and brought together Charles Sturt University (CSU) Albury academic staff, third year Bachelor of Nursing students and mothers and other family members of children with disabilities. The project is now in its 4th year, and aims to involve families in the health mentoring program, where the health of all members is assessed, health issues are identified, goals are set and health promotion activities are implemented, with the whole process being evaluated on an ongoing basis using an action research framework. In 2006, 4 students worked with 4 local families with teenagers with high support needs, carrying out a modified version of the program which included a 28 hours of respite for each family. Also this year, 8 student nurses traveled to Darwin to work with 7 families who had children 6-11 years of age, for an intensive 9 days.