Physical activity in the construction of occupation for primary school aged children. Children become less physically active as they make the transition from childhood to adolescence. The physical, medical, social and concomitant psychological sequela of inactivity is of major concern to the community. The aim of this study is to map change in physical activity patterns in an identified group of 315 children currently aged between 6 and 7 years of age. Studies with children in their primary sc ....Physical activity in the construction of occupation for primary school aged children. Children become less physically active as they make the transition from childhood to adolescence. The physical, medical, social and concomitant psychological sequela of inactivity is of major concern to the community. The aim of this study is to map change in physical activity patterns in an identified group of 315 children currently aged between 6 and 7 years of age. Studies with children in their primary school years and of a longitudinal nature such as this one have not to date been undertaken. The study will utilize quantitative and qualitative methodolgies to: (a)describe change,(b) determine the primary socioeconomical, environmental, child and family level factors which explain a decrease in physical activity, and (c) try to understand at the level of child and family what has driven these changes. The outcomes of this study will enable researchers to move forward in developing targeted interventions appropriately at this important age group.Read moreRead less
Increasing Visitor Frequency: approach to understanding and forecasting how cultural attraction visitors respond to various incentives to increase visitation rates. Museums have been steadily losing visitors over the past decade. While current research indicates that this may be attributed to greater leisure competition, little is understood about how people make choices to visit or not to visit cultural attractions. The aim of this project is to develop, demonstrate and test a Random Utility Th ....Increasing Visitor Frequency: approach to understanding and forecasting how cultural attraction visitors respond to various incentives to increase visitation rates. Museums have been steadily losing visitors over the past decade. While current research indicates that this may be attributed to greater leisure competition, little is understood about how people make choices to visit or not to visit cultural attractions. The aim of this project is to develop, demonstrate and test a Random Utility Theory (RUT)-based modelling approach allowing managers of cultural attractions to understand and predict the likely visitation consequences of potential initiatives. We wish to model visitor choices of museums versus other competing attractions to allow museums to identify specific strategic actions (or combinations) to achieve organisational goals.Read moreRead less
Work-life tensions: Time pressure, leisure and well-being among dual-earner parents in Australia. Empirical studies of work-life tensions, especially for women, have rarely considered how individuals actually experience time pressures.
The main aim of this project is to examine the hypothesis that well-being is positively related to reduced time pressure, more leisure and greater control over time schedules.The project will use an innovative time-use sampling method to examine this hypothesis ....Work-life tensions: Time pressure, leisure and well-being among dual-earner parents in Australia. Empirical studies of work-life tensions, especially for women, have rarely considered how individuals actually experience time pressures.
The main aim of this project is to examine the hypothesis that well-being is positively related to reduced time pressure, more leisure and greater control over time schedules.The project will use an innovative time-use sampling method to examine this hypothesis for parents in dual-earner households.
The project will also investigate relationships between women's time use, life course experience and measures of physical and mental well-being through being nested within the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.
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Identifying better practice for volunteer management in community sport organisations. This project will: (i) research the approaches of community sport organisations (CSOs) to volunteer management and retention; (ii) investigate how volunteers' motivations, commitment, and behaviour influence their intention to continue involvement in CSOs; and, (iii) generate innovative solutions for the problem of volunteer retention in CSOs. The study will both contribute to research knowledge as well as und ....Identifying better practice for volunteer management in community sport organisations. This project will: (i) research the approaches of community sport organisations (CSOs) to volunteer management and retention; (ii) investigate how volunteers' motivations, commitment, and behaviour influence their intention to continue involvement in CSOs; and, (iii) generate innovative solutions for the problem of volunteer retention in CSOs. The study will both contribute to research knowledge as well as understanding of the association between organisational practices and volunteer requirements. It will assist CSOs and policy makers to identify how best to increase volunteer retention levels and contribute substantially to developing a theory of volunteer retention that will enhance the sustainability of Australian sport organisations.Read moreRead less
Critical Windows: Health-related Behaviour in Children After School. Global concerns for increasing body fatness and insufficient physical activity in children highlight the importance of health promoting behaviour in younger populations. A critical window for healthy behaviour is created after school. We aim to improve the ability to assess healthy behaviour during 3 pm-7 pm and subsequently to describe activity and nutritional practices in Grade 5 children (randomly selected) from Western Sydn ....Critical Windows: Health-related Behaviour in Children After School. Global concerns for increasing body fatness and insufficient physical activity in children highlight the importance of health promoting behaviour in younger populations. A critical window for healthy behaviour is created after school. We aim to improve the ability to assess healthy behaviour during 3 pm-7 pm and subsequently to describe activity and nutritional practices in Grade 5 children (randomly selected) from Western Sydney. Psychosocial and environmental correlates and the extent to which seasons and annual growth influence behaviour will be considered. Outcomes involve an effective instrument for future research and an enhanced understanding of healthy behaviour in Western Sydney children.Read moreRead less
Popping the Bubblewrap, Unleashing the Power of Play. The long-term costs of childhood obesity, bullying and poor mental health are staggering. Despite the investment of billions of dollars for prevention and intervention, the statistics continue to worsen. We offer a simple, sustainable, cost-effective programme of prevention aimed at important national priorities within health and research. We expect to demonstrate a significant effect on children's activity levels, coping and social skills th ....Popping the Bubblewrap, Unleashing the Power of Play. The long-term costs of childhood obesity, bullying and poor mental health are staggering. Despite the investment of billions of dollars for prevention and intervention, the statistics continue to worsen. We offer a simple, sustainable, cost-effective programme of prevention aimed at important national priorities within health and research. We expect to demonstrate a significant effect on children's activity levels, coping and social skills through strategies that are replicable in every school playground in the nation and to contribute to policy regarding play, health, and education.Read moreRead less
The Influence of Context on Player Attitudes to Drugs: Implications for Sport Policy in Australia. This research project will generate evidence about drug use in sport that can be used to both evaluate current policy and better inform the drugs-in-sport debate. In addition it will provide significant benefits to both the collaborating partners and the sport industry in general. Collaborating partners will benefit by being able to contribute to the research project, and having full access to the ....The Influence of Context on Player Attitudes to Drugs: Implications for Sport Policy in Australia. This research project will generate evidence about drug use in sport that can be used to both evaluate current policy and better inform the drugs-in-sport debate. In addition it will provide significant benefits to both the collaborating partners and the sport industry in general. Collaborating partners will benefit by being able to contribute to the research project, and having full access to the results of the research. It is anticipated that the results will directly assist their strategic goals of education, advocacy and harm minimisation. The sport industry will benefit by obtaining a more detailed understanding of how players view drugs-in-sport and in particular how they discriminate between various drug types. Read moreRead less
Fostering pro-environmental behaviour of zoo visitors through strategic communication. A key part of achieving an Environmentally Sustainable Australia is to change human behaviour. Given annual visitation to Australia's zoos of 14.5 million, including about 4.2 million to the partner organisations, there is great potential for zoos to use their experiential platform to foster pro-environmental behaviour. How best to persuade people to change their behaviour, however, is still poorly understood ....Fostering pro-environmental behaviour of zoo visitors through strategic communication. A key part of achieving an Environmentally Sustainable Australia is to change human behaviour. Given annual visitation to Australia's zoos of 14.5 million, including about 4.2 million to the partner organisations, there is great potential for zoos to use their experiential platform to foster pro-environmental behaviour. How best to persuade people to change their behaviour, however, is still poorly understood. This research will improve the capacity of zoos to achieve pro-environmental behaviours among their visitors and thus have significant environmental and social benefits. Linking motivational factors with visitors' susceptibility to persuasion will assist any organisation that seeks to foster pro-environmental behaviour.Read moreRead less
Understanding Sydney's changing role as a global city in the Australian urban and regional network. In recent decades Sydney has changed from being a capital city linked mainly to a hinterland of NSW towns and regions, to a global city with a 'blizzard' of linkages in new sectors involving cities and territories around Australia and across the globe. As yet we know little about this blizzard apart from what can be inferred from the global cities literature and from minimal evidence that is large ....Understanding Sydney's changing role as a global city in the Australian urban and regional network. In recent decades Sydney has changed from being a capital city linked mainly to a hinterland of NSW towns and regions, to a global city with a 'blizzard' of linkages in new sectors involving cities and territories around Australia and across the globe. As yet we know little about this blizzard apart from what can be inferred from the global cities literature and from minimal evidence that is largely selective and anecdotal. This Project will produce a detailed profile of Sydney's linkages - locally, nationally and internationally. Better data and analysis on Sydney's place in the global economy is a critical issue for government and corporate planning especially in and around the Sydney basin where growth pressures are intense.Read moreRead less
Young people, physical activity and physical culture: a longitudinal study. The relationship between physical activity and the health of young people is currently a matter of national and international concern. This project will investigate the place and meaning of health, physical activity and physical culture in young people's lives from a longitudinal and qualitative perspective. It will build on the findings of a three year study of young people's engagement with physical activity. Specifica ....Young people, physical activity and physical culture: a longitudinal study. The relationship between physical activity and the health of young people is currently a matter of national and international concern. This project will investigate the place and meaning of health, physical activity and physical culture in young people's lives from a longitudinal and qualitative perspective. It will build on the findings of a three year study of young people's engagement with physical activity. Specifically it will follow cohorts of students from different social, cultural and geographical locations as they move beyond school and make choices associated with health and physical activity in relation to the changing conditions of their lives.Read moreRead less