Performance and image enhancing drug injecting in Australia. This project aims to research the use of performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIED), to understand the associated social practices and to assess what health information PIED injectors need. PIEDs use is increasing in Australia and is associated with serious health issues, including the transmission of blood-borne viruses, especially hepatitis C (HCV). Little is known about PIED injecting and the nation's harm reduction framework is u ....Performance and image enhancing drug injecting in Australia. This project aims to research the use of performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIED), to understand the associated social practices and to assess what health information PIED injectors need. PIEDs use is increasing in Australia and is associated with serious health issues, including the transmission of blood-borne viruses, especially hepatitis C (HCV). Little is known about PIED injecting and the nation's harm reduction framework is unprepared to meet the problems it poses. This project expects to directly inform policy and practice, potentially averting an epidemic of HCV in this population, and aims to minimise HCV transmission among people who inject PIEDs.Read moreRead less
Impediments to uptake and diffusion of take-home naloxone. This project aims to investigate impediments to uptake of ‘take-home’ naloxone (THN), which reverses opioid overdose. Opioid overdose is a major health and social problem in Australia. Programmes to provide opioid consumers with THN to reverse overdose exist in some Australian cities, but uptake in Australia remains minimal. The reasons for this are not well understood. This project will interview opioid consumers, prescribers and pharma ....Impediments to uptake and diffusion of take-home naloxone. This project aims to investigate impediments to uptake of ‘take-home’ naloxone (THN), which reverses opioid overdose. Opioid overdose is a major health and social problem in Australia. Programmes to provide opioid consumers with THN to reverse overdose exist in some Australian cities, but uptake in Australia remains minimal. The reasons for this are not well understood. This project will interview opioid consumers, prescribers and pharmacists to better understand THN, and produce an online resource on experiences of overdose and THN. The aim is to inform those affected by overdose, professionals and the wider Australian community about THN, to support THN distribution, save lives and protect communities.Read moreRead less
Experiences of addiction, treatment and recovery: An online resource for members of the public, health professionals and policymakers. Alcohol and other drug addiction is a major health and social issue in Australia. Treatment success rates are modest and little is known about how people experience and manage addiction and the stigma that accompanies it. This project will generate new knowledge on alcohol and other drug addiction by applying a proven qualitative methodology to these issues for t ....Experiences of addiction, treatment and recovery: An online resource for members of the public, health professionals and policymakers. Alcohol and other drug addiction is a major health and social issue in Australia. Treatment success rates are modest and little is known about how people experience and manage addiction and the stigma that accompanies it. This project will generate new knowledge on alcohol and other drug addiction by applying a proven qualitative methodology to these issues for the first time. It will produce an effective, innovative online resource for affected Australians, their family and friends, and the wider Australian community including health professionals and policymakers.Read moreRead less
Community spirit, social transformation, sustainable partnership: community capacity building for community transformations. This partnership is at the forefront of developments in the provision of community services. The project will contribute to a growing international field of research focused on developing integrated frameworks for measuring community wellbeing. The community capacity building approach will serve as a best practice model for other Australian municipalities. The indicators a ....Community spirit, social transformation, sustainable partnership: community capacity building for community transformations. This partnership is at the forefront of developments in the provision of community services. The project will contribute to a growing international field of research focused on developing integrated frameworks for measuring community wellbeing. The community capacity building approach will serve as a best practice model for other Australian municipalities. The indicators are a tool for engaging communities in making informal decisions and developing shared goals; a policy tool for evidence based planning; and a reporting tool to track and communicate progress towards agreed goals and outcomes. The outcomes will be efficient use of available funding for community services and lower cost of provision of social welfare.Read moreRead less
Analysing and comparing concepts of addiction for improved social and health outcomes in Australia. Australia invests heavily in responding to alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. This project will analyse a key concept shaping AOD responses, namely addiction. The analysis will help develop new, more productive approaches to AOD prevention, education and treatment, contributing to improved AOD-related social and health outcomes.
Creating Age Friendly Communities. The project aims to explore ways in which Australian communities can enhance the social belonging of their older citizens. The study addresses significant questions at the heart of age care: how to ensure that older people are able to remain active members of their communities, without feeling isolated as they age. The research will take place in an inner city community which is multi generational, economically and culturally diverse. The main expected outcome ....Creating Age Friendly Communities. The project aims to explore ways in which Australian communities can enhance the social belonging of their older citizens. The study addresses significant questions at the heart of age care: how to ensure that older people are able to remain active members of their communities, without feeling isolated as they age. The research will take place in an inner city community which is multi generational, economically and culturally diverse. The main expected outcome is the development of age friendly practices at community level. The project embodies concepts central to the mission of the Industry partner, St Ives Aged Care Services.Read moreRead less
Household Vulnerability and the Politics of Social Protection in Indonesia: Towards an Integrated Approach. Despite rapid economic growth in the middle income countries of Asia, rural populations face multiple shocks and new sources of stress, and significant pockets of chronic poverty remain. While states have instituted new social protection policies to deal with household vulnerability, these programs have had limited effectiveness. This project addresses the weaknesses in diagnostic approach ....Household Vulnerability and the Politics of Social Protection in Indonesia: Towards an Integrated Approach. Despite rapid economic growth in the middle income countries of Asia, rural populations face multiple shocks and new sources of stress, and significant pockets of chronic poverty remain. While states have instituted new social protection policies to deal with household vulnerability, these programs have had limited effectiveness. This project addresses the weaknesses in diagnostic approaches to poverty and vulnerability in Indonesia. Combining case-study analyses of poverty drivers, investigations of social protection practices, and an analysis of the politics of social protection, it will develop a new integrated framework for conceptualising vulnerability and social protection programs. Read moreRead less
Social auditing for positive change and indigenous life-world experiences in the resource rich Pilbara. Roebourne is an impoverished Indigenous community in the heart of the booming resource industries of the Pilbara. The town symbolises the challenges and opportunities for contemporary Australia. This project has been initiated by the Ngarluma and Yjindibarndi Peoples and will be co-funded and directed by these Peoples. The Project will adapt and extend approaches developed by Indigenous commun ....Social auditing for positive change and indigenous life-world experiences in the resource rich Pilbara. Roebourne is an impoverished Indigenous community in the heart of the booming resource industries of the Pilbara. The town symbolises the challenges and opportunities for contemporary Australia. This project has been initiated by the Ngarluma and Yjindibarndi Peoples and will be co-funded and directed by these Peoples. The Project will adapt and extend approaches developed by Indigenous communities in Canada to record the needs, hopes and ambitions of the people of the Roebourne region and in doing so document their solutions to real and significant problems. The project does not just enable consultation with an Indigenous community rather it helps create a platform for that community, if it chooses, to make decisions for the future.Read moreRead less
Effectiveness of a whole-school intercultural approach aimed at removing barriers to learning for students from non-mainstream backgrounds. This project will involve the study of localising, implementing and evaluating a whole-school intercultural approach that emphasises inclusion, diverse curricula and the monitoring of attitudes. It is anticipated that the approach will remove barriers to learning for non-mainstream students to help to address systemic inequity.