Creative Clinical Data Mining: Glimpsing the Engagement of Families with an Integrated Service System

Abstract

This article illustrates the potential of clinical data mining (CDM) for exploring families' engagement with integrated early intervention and prevention (EIP) service systems. New approaches to EIP under the Communities for Children program seek to achieve systemic change towards more integrated service provision in an area. To date, program monitoring has focused on contacts by families with individual services, not necessarily engagement across an emerging system. As part of an evaluative capacity-building (ECB) process, practitioners asked the question: What can we learn about users' engagement with the service system from existing records of use? The approach taken drew from CDM methodology. EIP does not usually involve significant user database systems as the work entails community development methodologies and users can be variously the community, groups, families and individuals. A partial dataset, from routinely recorded contacts, was available for one area. The dataset relied on a family number system created as a membership club for consciousness-raising on child-friendly communities. The de-identified dataset was mined for ‘connection’ with, and ‘movement’ within, the service system. There was evidence beyond the intuitive knowing of practitioners that the contractual obligation to engage families and children with services across a system was achieved. CDM provided a means to demonstrate this within a broader evaluative capacity-building process.