{
  "abstract": "Introduction Forming secure attachment relationships provides children with the best possible start to life. Children from families with high psychosocial vulnerability and complex mental health needs (eg, caregivers with lived experience of trauma, experiencing mental illness or substance abuse, current or past domestic violence, and/or current or a history of child protection issues) are at the greatest risk of experiencing attachment disturbances. Nurturing Connections is a new early intervention service launched by the New South Wales State Ministry of Health targeting both caregiver adversity and the caregiver-child attachment relationships in families with high psychosocial vulnerability and complex mental health needs. This paper outlines the evaluation protocol of the Nurturing Connections Programme.Methods and analysis A mixed-methods design will be used to undertake an implementation and outcomes evaluation. The study will draw on both qualitative and quantitative data, including routinely collected service data, surveys, participant observations, and semi-structured interview and yarning circle data. Appropriate descriptive and inferential techniques will be used to analyse quantitative data while thematic analysis will be drawn on to analyse qualitative data.Ethics and dissemination This research was approved by the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Research Ethics Committee (2024/ETH01715). The Mid North Coast Local Health District also received ethics approval from the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of New South Wales (2380/25). Evaluation findings will be shared via published manuscripts, conference presentations, as well as a final report to funding bodies.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia",
        "Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry (AUCS), Sydney South West Area Health Service, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Sara Cibralic"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Mental Health Branch, New South Wales Ministry of Health, St. Leonards, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Tracey Fay-Stammbach"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nurturing Connections, Mid North Coast Local Health District, Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Angeline Landry"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nurturing Connections, Northern Sydney Local Health District, St. Leonards, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Lee Meredith"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nurturing Connections, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Danielle Pretty"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nurturing Connections, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Ashleigh Allan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Stats Central, University of New South Wales Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Nicholas Olsen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Mental Health Branch, New South Wales Ministry of Health, St. Leonards, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Jacinta Heath"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "MDC Associates, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Deborah Costa"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia",
        "Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry (AUCS), Sydney South West Area Health Service, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Valsamma Eapen"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Mixed-methods evaluation protocol for the Nurturing Connections Programme: a new Australian perinatal and infant mental health service",
  "uid": "ce545156-792c-5ef0-8f08-27e2d0134372"
}