Exploring Wellbeing Outcomes in the Aquatic and Recreation Industry. This project aims to investigate the impact on individual wellbeing through use of public aquatic and recreation centres in Australia. Through the use of mixed methods across multiple locations, the project expects to generate new knowledge on the effect on users of different management and service models for the provision of aquatic and recreational infrastructure. Expected outcomes include a quantifiable measure of social and ....Exploring Wellbeing Outcomes in the Aquatic and Recreation Industry. This project aims to investigate the impact on individual wellbeing through use of public aquatic and recreation centres in Australia. Through the use of mixed methods across multiple locations, the project expects to generate new knowledge on the effect on users of different management and service models for the provision of aquatic and recreational infrastructure. Expected outcomes include a quantifiable measure of social and emotional wellbeing that can be utilised by centre management and government. This will help assessment of best practice for maximising community wellbeing, and can guide investment decisions by state and local government.Read moreRead less
Safety management system for heavy vehicle transport. Crashes involving heavy vehicles result in around 330 deaths, over 3000 serious injuries annually, and cost over $6 billion per year. Trucks deliver 72% of Australia's total freight. The quantity delivered by trucks has increased by 40% over a decade and will double over the next 20 years. Conservatively the transport industry contributes about 5.6% to GDP and employs nearly 5% of the workforce. Safe transport is crucial for Australia's heal ....Safety management system for heavy vehicle transport. Crashes involving heavy vehicles result in around 330 deaths, over 3000 serious injuries annually, and cost over $6 billion per year. Trucks deliver 72% of Australia's total freight. The quantity delivered by trucks has increased by 40% over a decade and will double over the next 20 years. Conservatively the transport industry contributes about 5.6% to GDP and employs nearly 5% of the workforce. Safe transport is crucial for Australia's health and economic recovery. If a 10% reduction in casualty truck crashes were to result from this study, the cost benefit ratio would be around 200 to 1.Read moreRead less
Diffusion and dissemination of a mental health innovation in an educational setting. The aim of this project is to develop and evaluate sustainable strategies for disseminating mental health promotion programs into primary schools in Western Australia. The Aussie Optimism Program is a school-based mental health promotion program, which has shown efficacy in preventing anxiety and depression in young adolescents. These common childhood mental health problems, affect up to 18% of younger adolesce ....Diffusion and dissemination of a mental health innovation in an educational setting. The aim of this project is to develop and evaluate sustainable strategies for disseminating mental health promotion programs into primary schools in Western Australia. The Aussie Optimism Program is a school-based mental health promotion program, which has shown efficacy in preventing anxiety and depression in young adolescents. These common childhood mental health problems, affect up to 18% of younger adolescents in Australia. If the project's implementation and dissemination strategies are successful, school-based implementation of this program has the potential to reduce the prevalence of anxiety and depression in young adolescents by one third. Read moreRead less
Individual, social and physical environmental influences on children's active transport and independent mobility. Childhood obesity is likely to have significant economic and social impacts on Australian society. Preventing further increases in this disease is crucial, particularly among children at high risk such as those living in rural or disadvantaged areas. The promotion of behaviours such as active transport may have a significant benefit for public health; however little is known about wh ....Individual, social and physical environmental influences on children's active transport and independent mobility. Childhood obesity is likely to have significant economic and social impacts on Australian society. Preventing further increases in this disease is crucial, particularly among children at high risk such as those living in rural or disadvantaged areas. The promotion of behaviours such as active transport may have a significant benefit for public health; however little is known about what influences active transport among children in rural or disadvantaged areas. This study will identify important factors influencing active transport and will directly inform strategies aiming to promote health and wellbeing, thereby creating a healthier generation of Australian children.Read moreRead less
Australia's Baby Boomer Generation, Obesity and Work - Patterns, Causes and Implications. In Australia's ageing crisis, baby boomers play a key role. Not only will they double the size of the aged population and its ratio to the workforce age group but the extent to which they remain in the workforce and their health will be crucial to future national productivity and prosperity. Baby Boomers have the highest level of obesity of any Australian age cohort and this threatens to seriously reduce ....Australia's Baby Boomer Generation, Obesity and Work - Patterns, Causes and Implications. In Australia's ageing crisis, baby boomers play a key role. Not only will they double the size of the aged population and its ratio to the workforce age group but the extent to which they remain in the workforce and their health will be crucial to future national productivity and prosperity. Baby Boomers have the highest level of obesity of any Australian age cohort and this threatens to seriously reduce their workforce participation and productivity and increase chronic disease incidence. There is a narrow closing window of opportunity for intervention which will reduce obesity and improve health and workforce outcomes.Read moreRead less
Intergenerational transmission of dietary behaviour. The health of future generations depends largely on the health of current generations. Bad eating habits associated with obesity and other chronic diseases are often passed from parents to children. This study will provide insight into the ways in which these habits are perpetuated within families of various cultural backgrounds. It will establish how assessing family health history can be used as a tool to help identify and modify the risk of ....Intergenerational transmission of dietary behaviour. The health of future generations depends largely on the health of current generations. Bad eating habits associated with obesity and other chronic diseases are often passed from parents to children. This study will provide insight into the ways in which these habits are perpetuated within families of various cultural backgrounds. It will establish how assessing family health history can be used as a tool to help identify and modify the risk of chronic, life-threatening disease in families and individuals. If proven effective, this tool can be rolled out nationwide to help promote and maintain healthier diets in Australian families and reduce the economic burden on the government.Read moreRead less
Quantifying intake of food prepared outside home during emerging adulthood. This project aims to explore the role that food prepared outside the home versus within the home plays in the diets of young adults. The project plans to use data mining to understand where, when and with whom young adults buy food, and the nutritional composition and overall contribution to diet of these foods. The project will use a newly designed and tested Smartphone application to transform data collection and proce ....Quantifying intake of food prepared outside home during emerging adulthood. This project aims to explore the role that food prepared outside the home versus within the home plays in the diets of young adults. The project plans to use data mining to understand where, when and with whom young adults buy food, and the nutritional composition and overall contribution to diet of these foods. The project will use a newly designed and tested Smartphone application to transform data collection and processing, and enable continuous digital photography. The knowledge gained is intended to form the evidence base for formulation of policy and electronic and mobile-health promotion to reverse the problem of young adults gaining more weight than any other group in Australia.Read moreRead less
Coalitions for Community Health: A Community-based Response to Chronic Disease. This project will provide a methodology for assisting communities to address chronic disease more effectively. It will improve the services available to people with chronic disease by facilitating local planning and delivery processes through collaboration and partnership across all sectors. The methodology will enable communities to access complex statistical and spatial data to use in their planning and decision ma ....Coalitions for Community Health: A Community-based Response to Chronic Disease. This project will provide a methodology for assisting communities to address chronic disease more effectively. It will improve the services available to people with chronic disease by facilitating local planning and delivery processes through collaboration and partnership across all sectors. The methodology will enable communities to access complex statistical and spatial data to use in their planning and decision making about chronic disease and will, therefore, improve service systems.Read moreRead less
Improving child safety in cars. This study aims to reduce the number of children killed and injured as passengers in car crashes. These deaths and injuries currently impose huge social and emotional costs on the community and the families involved. Any injury will compromise child health and development, and many result in temporary or long-term disability and care needs. From an economic viewpoint alone, child passenger fatalities and injuries have been conservatively estimated to cost in ex ....Improving child safety in cars. This study aims to reduce the number of children killed and injured as passengers in car crashes. These deaths and injuries currently impose huge social and emotional costs on the community and the families involved. Any injury will compromise child health and development, and many result in temporary or long-term disability and care needs. From an economic viewpoint alone, child passenger fatalities and injuries have been conservatively estimated to cost in excess of $400 million per year. Thus, this research will contribute to both social and economic savings and contribute to better health outcomes for the nation's childrenRead moreRead less
Cancer culture: understanding anti-cancer campaigns in Australia. How do we change culture to improve public health? This project investigates the history of Australian anti-cancer campaigns to understand the nexus between science, advocacy, policy and behavioural change. The campaigns of Cancer Council Victoria modified government policy, pushed Australia into international prominence in public health research and translation, and influenced behaviour. The project seeks to analyse the deploymen ....Cancer culture: understanding anti-cancer campaigns in Australia. How do we change culture to improve public health? This project investigates the history of Australian anti-cancer campaigns to understand the nexus between science, advocacy, policy and behavioural change. The campaigns of Cancer Council Victoria modified government policy, pushed Australia into international prominence in public health research and translation, and influenced behaviour. The project seeks to analyse the deployment of such campaigns, the socio-cultural and political context that allowed them to leverage policy change, and their connection to life-saving behaviours. Distilling elements of success and failure will better inform advocates and governments in preventing cancer and other diseases through future health promotion.Read moreRead less