Welcome to the INFANT refresher training! We all know a child’s lifelong health relates strongly to what happens in the first 2,000 days – from pregnancy, across the early years of life and beyond.

It’s great to that you have completed the INFANT online training and are likely already implementing INFANT. If you haven’t started INFANT sessions yet, or you won’t be directly involved in INFANT groups, this training will still be relevant to you. The training will provide insights into implementation from other LGAs that are already running INFANT.

The evidence from INFANT, and likely your own practice shows we can, through supportive education and skills development, positively influence healthy eating and active play behaviours in both parents and their children across the first five years of life.

The emphasis of the annual INFANT refresher training is updating your knowledge, skills and strategies known to promote healthy eating and active play from the start of life. INFANT focuses on key determinants of these health behaviours in the home setting – parental knowledge and skills and in turn confidence, home availability of food and play opportunities, and parental modelling of healthy lifestyle behaviours.

Quick tip: Click on the hyperlinks in purple to find out more information throughout the course.

Meet the team 

You’ll be supported in discussion by the INFANT team whose research and experience focuses on early intervention and prevention of childhood obesity – meet our team here.

Follow INFANT on Twitter by using @infantprogram to keep up with the latest news.

Obtaining a new Statement of Accreditation 

You will need to ‘mark complete’ all of the refresher training steps in order to receive your new Statement of Accreditation at the end of the course. You do this by clicking the ‘mark complete’ button for each step as you progress through the course. There are ten steps to complete the refresher training, including a final quiz.

By undertaking the refresher training you will be accredited to continue facilitating and implementing INFANT sessions and have ongoing access to the INFANT website and resources for the next year. You will be required to complete the refresher training every two years to continue facilitating INFANT and to access the INFANT resources, even if you are not delivering INFANT groups.

If an LGA is implementing INFANT, an updated implementation plan is required every year (from the time the first Implementation Plan was submitted). This is an opportunity to check how things are going and gain implementation support. The INFANT team will be in touch to discuss your LGA implementation plan with the key INFANT contact person for your LGA (e.g. the MCH coordinator).

Your learning outcomes 

By completing this refresher training you should be able to:

• identify new evidence that supports the INFANT key messages and principles
• explore new INFANT support resources and consider how these will be used to enhance program delivery
• continue to collaborate with INFANT researchers and other INFANT facilitators for ongoing support.

Learning through conversation 

Getting the most out of your online learning experience with Deakin begins by getting involved. Just like the INFANT online training, during the refresher training you will be invited to comment on topics, discuss issues and ask and/or answer questions. After you have finished the refresher training, you can log back in to review comments and responses posted by the INFANT team and other participants, for the duration of the current training round.

Troubleshooting and set-up 

If you have any trouble accessing the INFANT training and/or the facilitator section of the INFANT website, please refer to the INFANT team’s troubleshooting information.

Your task 

Take this opportunity to re-familiarise yourself with the INFANT sites across Victoria and connect with other INFANT facilitators on this digital map – there could be new areas and facilitators since you last checked!

If you don’t see your own details, simply follow each prompt to add your name, contact details and a brief description of your local priorities as an INFANT facilitator – for example engaging diverse communities, supporting regional areas or working with young mums.

When you have completed your task, click the ‘mark complete’ button to track your progress, then select the ‘next lesson’ button for the next step. You can review any of the steps during the refresher training using the ‘previous step’ button.