Development and evaluation of an Australian adult health literacy program for socially disadvantaged adults attending Tertiary and Further Education (TAFE). Improving health literacy, basic literacy and numeracy skills are national priorities in Australia. This project will develop and evaluate a health literacy program to help socially disadvantaged adults improve their health knowledge, language literacy and numeracy skills and feel empowered to participate in decisions about their health.
An exploratory cluster trial of a sustainable capacity building intervention to promote positive child mental health in Family Day Care. Rarely is solution-oriented intervention research built and conducted with rigorous research designs in communities of extreme disadvantage. This study builds on the enthusiasm of a leading child welfare organisation in its commitment to contribute to evidence for practice-oriented solutions. The research will serve as a model for the Family Day Care and childc ....An exploratory cluster trial of a sustainable capacity building intervention to promote positive child mental health in Family Day Care. Rarely is solution-oriented intervention research built and conducted with rigorous research designs in communities of extreme disadvantage. This study builds on the enthusiasm of a leading child welfare organisation in its commitment to contribute to evidence for practice-oriented solutions. The research will serve as a model for the Family Day Care and childcare sectors. The study is an essential step in the development of an intervention prior to a large-scale evaluation. With a strong evidence base, this program may be implemented widely within the sector nationally, thus addressing a key area of children's health inequalities - mental health.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
Effects of Positive Education during the critical post-school transition. Effects of Positive Education during the critical post-school transition. This project will examine if school-based positive education helps young people during their post-school transition, using a mixed method, longitudinal design. Positive education improves the short term mental health of high school students. Its sustained effects are not known, particularly at the post-school stage when young people negotiate challen ....Effects of Positive Education during the critical post-school transition. Effects of Positive Education during the critical post-school transition. This project will examine if school-based positive education helps young people during their post-school transition, using a mixed method, longitudinal design. Positive education improves the short term mental health of high school students. Its sustained effects are not known, particularly at the post-school stage when young people negotiate challenges in work, learning and relationships. This project will also examine whether a new youth-led Positive Transition Program provides added benefits, using in-the-moment experience sampling and bio-data. This research is anticipated to determine the utility of positive education to improve the transition experience for young people.Read moreRead less
Turning them on: engaging young people in disrupting silences about their sexual wellbeing. This project will investigate what young people think they should be taught in school-based sexuality education programs. This information will inform the re-design of these programs and promote the sexual health of the next generation of Australians.
Empowering and protecting children by enhancing knowledge, skills and well-being: a randomised trial of Learn to BE SAFE with Emmy™. By evaluating the school-based program, Learn to BE SAFE with Emmy™ developed by ACT for Kids, this multi-site, Queensland project will use innovative methods to guide efforts to prevent child abuse. This project will focus on young children to promote competence in protective behaviours and improve child and family well-being.
Promoting physical activity and wellbeing of rural- and regional-living girls. This research will attempt to improve the physical activity levels and the physical and mental wellbeing of girls who live in disadvantaged and isolated rural and regional areas. This will be achieved by working with the girls to find ways to improve their involvement in sport and active recreation. This information will be used to develop, implement and evaluate a year-long sport and active recreation program that ....Promoting physical activity and wellbeing of rural- and regional-living girls. This research will attempt to improve the physical activity levels and the physical and mental wellbeing of girls who live in disadvantaged and isolated rural and regional areas. This will be achieved by working with the girls to find ways to improve their involvement in sport and active recreation. This information will be used to develop, implement and evaluate a year-long sport and active recreation program that is offered in both schools and the community. The research will occur in Victoria and will involve girls in years 7-9 of secondary school. It will involve the sports of tennis and football (soccer) as well as the active recreation opportunities offered by the YMCA.Read moreRead less
A randomised trial of an intervention to maintain alcohol management practices in community sporting clubs. Despite significant investment in implementation, many public health initiatives fail to persist when program funding and resources are reduced, limiting the benefits to the community. This project will investigate the effectiveness of a web-based intervention in sustaining the impact of an alcohol management intervention in community sports clubs.
School drug education for junior high school students in Victoria - Assessing the impact of a state-wide, evidence-based intervention
. Young people are faced with numerous and powerful influences to use both legal and illicit drugs, and drug education can play an important counterbalancing role in shaping a normative culture of safety, moderation and informed decision making in this group. The research will develop, implement and evaluate one all encompassing, evidence-based, drug education pr ....School drug education for junior high school students in Victoria - Assessing the impact of a state-wide, evidence-based intervention
. Young people are faced with numerous and powerful influences to use both legal and illicit drugs, and drug education can play an important counterbalancing role in shaping a normative culture of safety, moderation and informed decision making in this group. The research will develop, implement and evaluate one all encompassing, evidence-based, drug education program for junior high school students across Victoria. The study is unique in its size and scope and will be of national benefit because its findings will influence the nature of future drug education in all secondary schools in Australia.Read moreRead less
Both Smart and Healthy: Learning Communities as a Settings-based Approaches to Health Promotion. This project will use a collaborative learning model to build health promotion capacity. The project brings together two innovative approaches to develop new knowledge about how setting-based approaches to health can be implemented in future. This approach could potentially address chronic disease at a national and international level by promoting healthy communities that can effectively manage chr ....Both Smart and Healthy: Learning Communities as a Settings-based Approaches to Health Promotion. This project will use a collaborative learning model to build health promotion capacity. The project brings together two innovative approaches to develop new knowledge about how setting-based approaches to health can be implemented in future. This approach could potentially address chronic disease at a national and international level by promoting healthy communities that can effectively manage chronic disease through collaborative learning and knowledge-building. The project represents an important collaboration between a university and its community with a view to improving health capacity.Read moreRead less