A prospective study investigating factors related to foster placement stability and the developmental outcomes of foster children. The study will aim to identify factors that influence the stability of placements and the developmental outcomes of children in foster care. The results of the study will have implications for the recruitment, training and support of foster carers. The study will lead to the refinement of procedures for the recruitment of appropriate foster carers, and the developmen ....A prospective study investigating factors related to foster placement stability and the developmental outcomes of foster children. The study will aim to identify factors that influence the stability of placements and the developmental outcomes of children in foster care. The results of the study will have implications for the recruitment, training and support of foster carers. The study will lead to the refinement of procedures for the recruitment of appropriate foster carers, and the development of an intervention for foster families relevant to the Australian context. Improving the developmental outcomes of children in foster care will help to reduce the intergenerational transmission of abuse and neglect and thus promote the mental health of the nation.Read moreRead less
Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemp ....Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemployment benefits, social programs, mental health services, and incarceration. This project targets both these sources of loss to the nation by utilising a hitherto untapped community resource: Training parents of preschoolers to develop critical pre-literacy skills in their children at home before they begin to fail. Read moreRead less
Investigating older Australians' beliefs about and understanding of mental health and their practice of relevant protective behaviours. Healthy ageing and mental health are acknowledged national priorities. This project will generate new knowledge relating to older Australians' mental health literacy and the motivators and barriers influencing their engagement in protective behaviours. The resulting communications strategy will provide tangible outcomes for the industry partners to utilise. The ....Investigating older Australians' beliefs about and understanding of mental health and their practice of relevant protective behaviours. Healthy ageing and mental health are acknowledged national priorities. This project will generate new knowledge relating to older Australians' mental health literacy and the motivators and barriers influencing their engagement in protective behaviours. The resulting communications strategy will provide tangible outcomes for the industry partners to utilise. The project will thus produce knowledge advancement and tools for practitioners, both of which will enhance public welfare and reduce long-term healthcare costs. While this project focuses on older Australians, those of all ages will benefit from a communications campaign that provides individuals with knowledge to protect and strengthen their mental health.Read moreRead less
Developing useable markers of mental health deterioration. The project aims to improve risk management in mental health. Risk management in mental health is currently hampered because there is no nationally agreed set of markers of deterioration. One strand of the project aims to improve safety procedures by identifying the bases of decisions about adverse outcomes (i.e. symptom deterioration) and testing this knowledge to understand and predict other adverse events (e.g. non-suicidal self-injur ....Developing useable markers of mental health deterioration. The project aims to improve risk management in mental health. Risk management in mental health is currently hampered because there is no nationally agreed set of markers of deterioration. One strand of the project aims to improve safety procedures by identifying the bases of decisions about adverse outcomes (i.e. symptom deterioration) and testing this knowledge to understand and predict other adverse events (e.g. non-suicidal self-injury). A second strand aims to improve prediction of clinical deterioration and non-suicidal self-injury. By identifying ways to inform and implement decisions about risk management, the project intends to lay a foundation for the development of a nationally agreed set of markers for mental health deterioration to be used in occupational safety and health processes.Read moreRead less
A mental health "thermometer" to monitor and prevent adverse treatment outcomes and self-harm among psychiatric inpatients. Our project stands to prevent adverse outcomes in psychiatric patients. An estimated 660 000 people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals each year; 99 000 of these people are worse off following treatment (assuming a deterioration rate of 15 per cent). Since monitoring can halve that rate, if this project can halve the deterioration rate again, then 24 750 inpatients acr ....A mental health "thermometer" to monitor and prevent adverse treatment outcomes and self-harm among psychiatric inpatients. Our project stands to prevent adverse outcomes in psychiatric patients. An estimated 660 000 people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals each year; 99 000 of these people are worse off following treatment (assuming a deterioration rate of 15 per cent). Since monitoring can halve that rate, if this project can halve the deterioration rate again, then 24 750 inpatients across the nation would not be worse off after treatment representing an annual saving of nearly $19.2 million per annum and reduce the number of patients who fall into a cycle of admission and readmission. Further, although suicide occurs in less than one per cent of admissions, if this research is able to predict and then reduce the suicide rate by as little as 10 per cent, then 660 lives can be saved each year.Read moreRead less
Dignity Therapy: A Novel Psychotherapeutic Intervention for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Patients near the End of Life. Considering the scarcity of effective interventions for the kinds of distress and suffering that so commonly occur amongst MND dying patients, this novel therapeutic intervention could become a very easy, practical intervention adopted within palliative care facilities and MND organisations. Unlike most palliative care interventions, this approach, leading to the production of a ....Dignity Therapy: A Novel Psychotherapeutic Intervention for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Patients near the End of Life. Considering the scarcity of effective interventions for the kinds of distress and suffering that so commonly occur amongst MND dying patients, this novel therapeutic intervention could become a very easy, practical intervention adopted within palliative care facilities and MND organisations. Unlike most palliative care interventions, this approach, leading to the production of a generativity document, has the important added potential benefit of being a powerful bereavement intervention for carers. The potential benefits of this intervention could lead to a reduction in in-patient admissions and a reduced need for respite for both the person with MND and the family carer.Read moreRead less
The NSW child development study. Research shows that a child's development predicts health and social outcomes later in life. This Australian project will be the first to identify risk and protective factors associated with these outcomes in 87,000 children from birth to 10 years. The results will help inform governments to improve our children's health and educational achievements.
Reducing self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people in WA. Aims: reduce self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people by upskilling teachers and providing resources to respond rapidly to students at risk via an innovative intervention with near real-time measures of changes in vulnerability.
Significance: self-harm and suicidal behaviours are increasing at alarming rates in young people. Schools are ideally placed to respond but many struggle to do so. New regular measures and advance ....Reducing self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people in WA. Aims: reduce self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people by upskilling teachers and providing resources to respond rapidly to students at risk via an innovative intervention with near real-time measures of changes in vulnerability.
Significance: self-harm and suicidal behaviours are increasing at alarming rates in young people. Schools are ideally placed to respond but many struggle to do so. New regular measures and advanced machine learning algorithms measuring change in risk in real time will enable schools to respond in a timely and effective manner
and save lives.
Expected outcomes: a new intervention to reduce self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people that measures fluctuations in risk via a Temporal Vulnerability Index.Read moreRead less
Enhancing adolescent mental health through positive education. Positive education is a preventative, strengths-based approach to address the mental health needs of young people in schools. This project will use innovative methods to examine the contribution of positive education to adolescent mental health, and to social and learning outcomes; and will also guide effective and widespread dissemination of positive education, more generally.
Transition to retirement by adults with chronic disabilities: increasing community capacity. This project will contribute to healthy, productive ageing by people with chronic disabilities. This group are living longer and will retire from their disability-specific supported employment and day program services. They then risk social exclusion, loneliness and associated poor health outcomes. This project will provide training and support to local community groups and voluntary work settings, to in ....Transition to retirement by adults with chronic disabilities: increasing community capacity. This project will contribute to healthy, productive ageing by people with chronic disabilities. This group are living longer and will retire from their disability-specific supported employment and day program services. They then risk social exclusion, loneliness and associated poor health outcomes. This project will provide training and support to local community groups and voluntary work settings, to increase community capacity to support this group to participate actively in and contribute to their community in retirement. This will result in increased participation by this group and improvements in their well-being. Training resources developed by the project will be available to disability service providers nationally.Read moreRead less