A theme running through this year’s ACCAN conference has been child protection as a public health issue. What are the opportunities to improve the protection of children in all families? And how might that kind of strategy benefit children whose unfortunate experiences are at the extreme of the continuum?

The bigger question is how to achieve whole-population protection? There are universal programs, such as variations on the Triple P parenting program reviewed in Prevention Action on 1st November [See: Accentuating the positives with a Triple P.] Action by government to change the pattern of family life, for example by altering the work-family life balance, could also be counted as a public health initiative.

Another potential avenue is involvement with mass media – and, in that connection, in between conference sessions last week, delegates had the opportunity to watch an Australian TV advert funded by the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Children See, Children Do shows children shadowing and mimicking parents, talking on the phone, getting impatient while waiting for a train, smoking, exploding with rage, and so on – all to shed light on the aberrations of adult behavior when seen through children's impressionable eyes.

I don't know enough about advertising to judge whether Children See, Children Do can be effective. We know that at best this kind of approach will have an impact on about two per cent of the population. But since television viewing is so universal, two per cent represents a lot of parents.