Improving health equity of young people? The role of social enterprise. This project aims to explain the effects of social enterprise on the social determinants of health inequities among young people. During the transition to adulthood, health inequities may become entrenched, and young people in disadvantaged areas experience relatively poorer health than the wider population. Addressing health inequities upstream is critical to reducing them, with social enterprise gaining recent attention as ....Improving health equity of young people? The role of social enterprise. This project aims to explain the effects of social enterprise on the social determinants of health inequities among young people. During the transition to adulthood, health inequities may become entrenched, and young people in disadvantaged areas experience relatively poorer health than the wider population. Addressing health inequities upstream is critical to reducing them, with social enterprise gaining recent attention as one vehicle for doing this. The project will examine if, and how, social enterprises redress the root causes of health inequities. Intended outcomes include innovation in social policy, health promotion and social enterprise design to improve health equity for disadvantaged young people and their communities.Read moreRead less
The impact of gambling advertising, promotions, and sponsorship on children. This project aims to provide new and informative qualitative data aimed at preventing and reducing children’s exposure to gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship (GAPS) in sport. It uses a Commercial Determinants of Health Framework which investigates the impact of industry mechanisms on health outcomes. It explores this issue from three perspectives - children; sporting organisations; and policy makers. The pro ....The impact of gambling advertising, promotions, and sponsorship on children. This project aims to provide new and informative qualitative data aimed at preventing and reducing children’s exposure to gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship (GAPS) in sport. It uses a Commercial Determinants of Health Framework which investigates the impact of industry mechanisms on health outcomes. It explores this issue from three perspectives - children; sporting organisations; and policy makers. The project will have significant policy benefits by providing important evidence about the impact of gambling industry marketing strategies within sport, the decision making processes associated with gambling policy, and identifying leverage points for improving strategies to prevent GAPS from having a negative impact on children. Read moreRead less
Community capacity building for healthy lifestyles (CBHL) initiative: engaging communities in childhood obesity prevention in disadvantaged areas. This project will develop and focus-test a new community engagement model for engaging disadvantaged communities in childhood obesity prevention programs. The community engagement model will overcome disadvantaged communities' non-participation in prevention programs, and inform culturally tailored childhood obesity prevention strategies.
Belonging and sexual citizenship among gender and sexual minority youth. In the context of well-documented threats to the mental health and well-being of minority young people, this project will examine the experiences of two different generations of gender and sexual minority youth growing up in Australia, and the sources of support they have found most useful. Innovative contextual analysis will involve documentary and archival research alongside individual and group interviews. Through a focu ....Belonging and sexual citizenship among gender and sexual minority youth. In the context of well-documented threats to the mental health and well-being of minority young people, this project will examine the experiences of two different generations of gender and sexual minority youth growing up in Australia, and the sources of support they have found most useful. Innovative contextual analysis will involve documentary and archival research alongside individual and group interviews. Through a focus on the promotion of well-being and participatory citizenship in a rapidly changing social world, the findings aim to contribute new theory concerning transitions from youth to adulthood, improved methodology for the study of marginal and sometimes hard-to-reach populations, and better quality policy and practice.Read moreRead less
Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children. The Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children project aims to determine if integrated Hubs are effective in increasing access to child and family services for disadvantaged urban and regional families with children aged 3 years and under, thus improving early identification of developmental vulnerability, parental wellbeing and capacity, and addressing unmet psychosocial needs. If these issues are not identified a ....Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children. The Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children project aims to determine if integrated Hubs are effective in increasing access to child and family services for disadvantaged urban and regional families with children aged 3 years and under, thus improving early identification of developmental vulnerability, parental wellbeing and capacity, and addressing unmet psychosocial needs. If these issues are not identified and addressed early, these children will go on to struggle in school and life. We will use a pragmatic trial design (meaning the research is embedded in our usual practice), determine the social return on investment, and establish what is needed to scale up the Hubs across NSW and Australia.Read moreRead less
Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk ....Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk of poor mental health, absenteeism, and exit from the workforce. This project will analyse data following people over time to investigate the long-term health and employment consequences of poor psychosocial job quality, and consider the special case of mature age workers. It will identify those individuals at greatest risk, and factors that can buffer against the adverse effects of poor quality work.Read moreRead less
Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss ....Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss. The proposed model, an international first, will be a powerful tool to comprehensively model the cost impacts of illness and simulate policy options related to health and productivity. This will provide answers to critical policy questions for government with potential significant economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Creating and sustaining a strong future for volunteering in Australia. This project seeks to answer the question of how to increase social participation by converting non-volunteers to the benefits of volunteering. In Australia today, communities and governments are increasingly dependent on volunteers to build social capital and deliver an increasing range of services. A world first, this project aims to create new theory by examining three levels of analysis: the micro level of the individual ....Creating and sustaining a strong future for volunteering in Australia. This project seeks to answer the question of how to increase social participation by converting non-volunteers to the benefits of volunteering. In Australia today, communities and governments are increasingly dependent on volunteers to build social capital and deliver an increasing range of services. A world first, this project aims to create new theory by examining three levels of analysis: the micro level of the individual volunteer or non-volunteer; the mezzo level of the volunteer-involving organisation; and the macro level of society. This innovative approach aims to identify, analyse and develop a tool to help organisations build Australia’s civil society and develop policy to create a sustainable volunteer sector into the future.Read moreRead less
An examination of Refugee "Women at Risk" in Australia's refugee policy. The passage of refugees from situations of danger to the comparative safety of resettlement is becoming increasingly more complex.Australian refugee policy has a quota of resettlement places for women and children at risk. This policy is not fulfilling its aim of targeting those most in need of protection. This three year longitudinal study will employ action research to examine the reasons for this phenomenon. It will iden ....An examination of Refugee "Women at Risk" in Australia's refugee policy. The passage of refugees from situations of danger to the comparative safety of resettlement is becoming increasingly more complex.Australian refugee policy has a quota of resettlement places for women and children at risk. This policy is not fulfilling its aim of targeting those most in need of protection. This three year longitudinal study will employ action research to examine the reasons for this phenomenon. It will identify potential solutions which will assist some of the world's most vulnerable women reach a situation of safety. At an academic level it will address issues of policy failure.Read moreRead less
Corporate political activity of tobacco, alcohol and gambling companies in Australia. This project investigates how tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries influence the policy process, by stalling or defeating the implementation of effective public health policies in favour of ones which do not affect profit. The study will develop guidelines for industry-government interaction to ensure maximum public benefit.