The Developmental Pathways Project (DPP) was established in 2005 to enable the linkage of de-identified population level data from Western Australian (WA) government departments and agencies to investigate risk and protective factors leading to differences in developmental outcomes for children and youth.
The DPP is governed by an inter-agency steering committee and has strict protocols for data usage. This project provides new knowledge to inform and enable future policy and prevention strategies to improve child health and wellbeing.
The project encompasses many important areas of research; mental and physical health, child abuse and neglect, alcohol and drug use, juvenile delinquency, disability, education and housing. We have a large number of research questions which overlap areas of focus. The questions can be grouped into two broad areas:
- Improving the understanding of the child, family and community factors involved in the pathways to juvenile offending, child abuse and neglect, poor physical and mental health outcomes, educational achievement and school attendance/suspension, and identification of required interventions to optimally influence pathways; and
- Monitoring of outcomes and evaluation of existing initiatives and policies.