The Heart of Health Care: Advancing Emotional Well-being, Engagement and Performance in Hospitals. This research will improve our understanding of the drivers of effective health care delivery and will identify practical ways to improve the well-being, performance, retention and engagement of health care professionals and improve patient care, satisfaction and safety. In light of significant staffing shortages of health care professionals, the knowledge created will have substantial benefits in ....The Heart of Health Care: Advancing Emotional Well-being, Engagement and Performance in Hospitals. This research will improve our understanding of the drivers of effective health care delivery and will identify practical ways to improve the well-being, performance, retention and engagement of health care professionals and improve patient care, satisfaction and safety. In light of significant staffing shortages of health care professionals, the knowledge created will have substantial benefits in developing more effective models of quality care. In addition this research will enable health care professionals to build holistic, adaptable and multidisciplinary approaches to patient care in order to ensure a sustainable health care system for the future.Read moreRead less
Delivering Better Patient Care: Promoting Well-Being and Performance of Health Care Professionals. The research offers three broad benefits. First, given the serious challenges currently facing the Australian health care system, the research addresses a national research priority and will have significant policy implications. Second, it will improve our understanding of how to enhance health care professionals' performance and well-being, and thereby increasing staff retention, organisational ef ....Delivering Better Patient Care: Promoting Well-Being and Performance of Health Care Professionals. The research offers three broad benefits. First, given the serious challenges currently facing the Australian health care system, the research addresses a national research priority and will have significant policy implications. Second, it will improve our understanding of how to enhance health care professionals' performance and well-being, and thereby increasing staff retention, organisational effectiveness, and improving the quality and efficiency of health care delivery. Third, the knowledge generated will be a valuable input into development programs aimed at improving managerial practices within Australian health care organisations.Read moreRead less
Motivating Employee Proactivity by Redesigning the Work Context. Self-starting and innovative employees are increasingly important in today's decentralised organisations. The central question investigated in this project via a longitudinal research design is how organisations can facilitate this type of proactive behavior amongst employees. The project also investigates the nature of employee proactivity (e.g. how it differs from other behaviors), and its consequences for employee performance, i ....Motivating Employee Proactivity by Redesigning the Work Context. Self-starting and innovative employees are increasingly important in today's decentralised organisations. The central question investigated in this project via a longitudinal research design is how organisations can facilitate this type of proactive behavior amongst employees. The project also investigates the nature of employee proactivity (e.g. how it differs from other behaviors), and its consequences for employee performance, innovation, and mental health. The project is significant because it focuses on how to promote behaviors that have often been neglected in research.Read moreRead less
An empirical evaluation of an innovative occupational stress intervention to improve the health and retention of high-risk employees. Occupational stress costs Australian organisations $105.5m, accounts for 6.5% of workplace injuries and 18.4 weeks absenteeism, per annum. This project introduces an occupational stress intervention in a State Government Department to improve the health and retention of employees who have experienced stress or who are a high risk for submitting a stress claim. The ....An empirical evaluation of an innovative occupational stress intervention to improve the health and retention of high-risk employees. Occupational stress costs Australian organisations $105.5m, accounts for 6.5% of workplace injuries and 18.4 weeks absenteeism, per annum. This project introduces an occupational stress intervention in a State Government Department to improve the health and retention of employees who have experienced stress or who are a high risk for submitting a stress claim. The intervention will reduce occupational stress costs by 40% and will be generalisable to other public and private organisations. The project will demonstrate how Australian employers can meet their legal and ethical obligations to protect employee's psychological health, with a view to ultimately reducing the occurrence and financial consequences of occupational stress claims.Read moreRead less
An international evaluation of work-family balance: Validation of the work-family balance measure and theoretical model. Work-family imbalance costs Australia $8 billion per annum, via staff absenteeism, turnover, and health costs. By employing two Australian and three international experts, this project will investigate the long-term process of work-family balance, identify effective employment policies, and produce a new balance measure for use by industry and government. This will lead to imp ....An international evaluation of work-family balance: Validation of the work-family balance measure and theoretical model. Work-family imbalance costs Australia $8 billion per annum, via staff absenteeism, turnover, and health costs. By employing two Australian and three international experts, this project will investigate the long-term process of work-family balance, identify effective employment policies, and produce a new balance measure for use by industry and government. This will lead to improved health, personal satisfaction and employment choices for working Australians, and hence higher productivity for industry. The research addresses the second national research priority: promoting and maintaining good health. The consequential contributions to knowledge will directly benefit Australia's regard within the global academic community.Read moreRead less
Measuring and modelling the childhood determinants of human capital formation and human capability expansion. This project aims to address significant gaps in the data infrastructure needed to advance Australian's current human capital reform agenda. It will draw on existing population and longitudinal datasets and collect specific community and family data to analyse how the social, economic and ecological contexts of child development enable life-course outcomes in health and human capability ....Measuring and modelling the childhood determinants of human capital formation and human capability expansion. This project aims to address significant gaps in the data infrastructure needed to advance Australian's current human capital reform agenda. It will draw on existing population and longitudinal datasets and collect specific community and family data to analyse how the social, economic and ecological contexts of child development enable life-course outcomes in health and human capability. Existing human capital measures will be refined to develop data standards to support the monitoring of the reform agenda. New modelling techniques to predict patterns of economic, civic and social participation in individuals and populations will also be developed and tested.Read moreRead less
The Australian-Netherlands project on work and stress research. Rapid changes in the nature of work globally require critical surveillance for effects on worker well-being and productivity. Occupational health policy trends in Australia and The Netherlands support continuous monitoring of the work environment. This project therefore provides a timely opportunity structure for intellectual exchange and capacity building for Australian and Dutch work and organisational psychologists, specifically ....The Australian-Netherlands project on work and stress research. Rapid changes in the nature of work globally require critical surveillance for effects on worker well-being and productivity. Occupational health policy trends in Australia and The Netherlands support continuous monitoring of the work environment. This project therefore provides a timely opportunity structure for intellectual exchange and capacity building for Australian and Dutch work and organisational psychologists, specifically in work stress and unemployment research. Highly experienced and emerging researchers together will develop and implement projects transnationally. Outcomes will include: joint doctoral-post doctoral supervision; joint publications and grants; advanced knowledge and applications, with international policy implications for improving working life and productivity.Read moreRead less
Combining Community Based Social Marketing and Technological Innovation to Combat Wood-Smoke Pollution in Regional Australia. There is considerable evidence to suggest that wood smoke pollution represents a serious health threat. This project will provide valuable information about the relative effectiveness of social marketing and technology-based interventions to reduce wood smoke pollution, and how these interventions may be combined to maximise their impact. The resulting improvements in ai ....Combining Community Based Social Marketing and Technological Innovation to Combat Wood-Smoke Pollution in Regional Australia. There is considerable evidence to suggest that wood smoke pollution represents a serious health threat. This project will provide valuable information about the relative effectiveness of social marketing and technology-based interventions to reduce wood smoke pollution, and how these interventions may be combined to maximise their impact. The resulting improvements in air quality may produce substantial health benefits for the residents of Australian communities that depend heavily on wood as a domestic heating fuel during winter months. Read moreRead less
The initiation and maintenance of plasma and platelet donation in Australia: An analysis of the role of donor identity and commitment. Australia strives to be self-sufficient in the provision of plasma and platelets in a context where demand is forecast to grow. Our research will be of significant social and applied benefit to Australia in identifying the key psychosocial determinants of plasma and platelet (apheresis) donation initiation and maintenance. In addition, our research will design an ....The initiation and maintenance of plasma and platelet donation in Australia: An analysis of the role of donor identity and commitment. Australia strives to be self-sufficient in the provision of plasma and platelets in a context where demand is forecast to grow. Our research will be of significant social and applied benefit to Australia in identifying the key psychosocial determinants of plasma and platelet (apheresis) donation initiation and maintenance. In addition, our research will design and assess practical interventions to facilitate the recruitment and retention of apheresis donors. Greater understanding of the determinants of apheresis donor behaviour will help to increase the numbers of Australians choosing to become regular apheresis donors. This will allow Australia to ultimately meet its goal of self-sufficiency in providing critical medical resources.Read moreRead less
Self-Leadership towards Innovation & Well-Being. Innovation and well-being in the workplace are of paramount importance in maintaining Australia's social and economic environment. Self-leadership training provides employees with strategies to build confidence and resilience, identify opportunities in the environment, deriving greater meaning and enjoyment from work. Self-leadership training has already been shown to improve performance; this project extends self-leadership research by testing th ....Self-Leadership towards Innovation & Well-Being. Innovation and well-being in the workplace are of paramount importance in maintaining Australia's social and economic environment. Self-leadership training provides employees with strategies to build confidence and resilience, identify opportunities in the environment, deriving greater meaning and enjoyment from work. Self-leadership training has already been shown to improve performance; this project extends self-leadership research by testing the effects of self-leadership training on employee innovation and well-being. It also elucidates the psychological processes underlying improvements in innovation and well-being. The project addresses ARC Research Priorities 2 and 3 and contributes to Australia's social and economic advancement.Read moreRead less