The development of the Child360 app was a collaborative process across the National Workforce Centre, our child and family partners and health practitioners. Emerging Minds Workforce Development Officer, Sophie Guy, facilitated this collaboration and here is what she has to say about the app development.
Describe the Child360 app in ten words or less.
A tool for parents to strengthen their children’s social and emotional wellbeing.
Why was the app developed?
The Child360 app was created as a simple guide to help parents to support their child’s social and emotional wellbeing. There is so much information out there about raising children, which can be confusing. Using evidence as well as families’ real-life experiences, the app simplifies this information into five areas (known as the PERCS domains) and directs parents to high-quality resources that can help them to take action to strengthen their child’s resilience.
How did you go about developing the app?
Child360 was developed in collaboration with a group of child and family partners and health professionals, drawing upon research about what works to strengthen children’s resilience. After drafting an initial prototype using the PERCS domains as a basis, staff at Emerging Minds conducted a focus group with five child and family partners (CaFP) to develop the structure, content, and language of the app. Our CaFPs continued to be involved in refining the app through an iterative process of testing and feedback, all the way to launch.
What is your favourite feature of the app?
My favourite feature is the “check-up”, which takes users through five simple but insightful questions related to the PERCS domains. These questions allow parents to quickly gauge how their child is going in relation to five key areas of social and emotional wellbeing, and to easily determine which areas they might like to focus on.
Why should parents download the app?
Parents who feel overwhelmed by all the information out there but who want to support their child’s social and emotional wellbeing will find that the Child360 app is a simple and easy-to-use tool to help them start taking action today.
What else can parents do to support their children’s social and emotional wellbeing?
One of the most important things a parent can do to support their child’s wellbeing is to ensure that they look after their own mental health. Stress and adversity, if not addressed, can take a heavy toll on children’s social and emotional wellbeing and so any steps that parents take to reduce the stress in their own life has positive impacts on their children.
