The Youth Mental Health and Technology Team from the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre is leading the co-design, development and evaluation of evidence-informed content for Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five International Program. Thrive by Five aims to empower parents and other caregivers with the knowledge they need to support the healthy development of children from birth to age 5. The program seeks to ensure universal access to this valuable childrearing information regardless of region, socioeconomic status, literacy, gender, or alternate barriers such as digital literacy. The Thrive by Five app is the flagship product of the program; however, alternate means of content dissemination such as print and radio are also provided based on local, contextual requirements. The Thrive by Five International Program is being co-designed for and implemented in a range of low- and middle-income countries and is currently available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Namibia, Kenya, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

Before beginning the content development process, the research team, in collaboration with other University of Sydney academics with country-specific knowledge, conducts a comprehensive literature review to understand the cultural, anthropological, historical, social, economic, political and gender-based factors that impact on childrearing to develop an understanding of the sociocultural context in each country in which the program will be implemented. Examples of local songs, dances, children’s storybooks and authors, festivals and foods are also collected to adapt the content to the local sociocultural context.

All of the content is underpinned by a scientific framework that highlights key neurobiological systems that are critical to healthy development in the early years, such as the oxytocin system which is important for bonding and social development, and the circadian system which is critical for maintaining healthy body clocks. The Thrive by Five content is designed to target these systems behaviourally to support healthy development in early childhood. Specifically, the content includes a library of ‘Collective Actions’ comprised of scientific information about the principles of healthy early childhood development as well as childrearing activities for parents, extended family, and trusted members of the community to engage in with children to support their socioemotional and cognitive development.

Using an iterative co-design process, the content is actively developed, tested and refined in collaboration with local subject matter experts, parents and caregivers prior to being finalised for implementation. A mixed methods study is now being conducted to evaluate the impact of the Thrive by Five app and its content on parent and caregiver knowledge, behaviours, attitudes and confidence with regards to childrearing, and the connection between children and their parents, family, community, and culture. Secondary aims include the evaluation of cultural and contextual factors influencing engagement with the content and how content engagement influences relationships at the parental, familial and community level.