Thriving in the First 1000 Days: Lessons from Positive Deviance Among Young Families

Andrew P. Hills (), Sisitha Jayasinghe, Kylie Mulcahy and Nuala M. Byrne
Additional contact information
Andrew P. Hills: UTAS Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7250, Australia
Sisitha Jayasinghe: Independent Researcher, Newcastle NE1, UK
Kylie Mulcahy: Burnie Works, Burnie, TAS 7320, Australia
Nuala M. Byrne: UTAS Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7250, Australia

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 10, 1-9

Abstract: The first 1000 days (F1D), from conception to a child’s second birthday, constitute a critical window for shaping long-term health, development, and wellbeing. While conventional approaches often rely on external interventions to support young families, the Positive Deviance (PD) framework offers a compelling alternative: identifying and amplifying successful behaviours already present within communities facing similar constraints. This paper explores how PD can be harnessed to foster sustainable, community-led change during the F1D. By uncovering local success stories, promoting participatory engagement, and strengthening caregiver self-efficacy, PD enables communities to co-create solutions that are culturally relevant and contextually grounded. However, effective application of PD requires careful attention to structural inequities, ethical storytelling, and rigorous methodological standards to avoid inadvertently shifting responsibility onto individuals. When implemented thoughtfully, PD reveals “what works” in resource-limited settings, empowering communities to build child-inclusive environments rooted in local expertise and resilient practices.

Keywords: first 1000 days; positive deviance; community-led change; child health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1600/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1600/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:10:p:1600-:d:1776361

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().