Normative study of a checklist of emotional and behavioural disturbance in adults with intellectual disability. People with intellectual disability (ID) are three times more likely to suffer mental illness than the general community, making this a bigger problem than schizophrenia. They are a great burden to their carers and cost to the community but their mental health problems remain largely untreated. This study aims to conduct the largest and most comprehensive survey of the mental health ....Normative study of a checklist of emotional and behavioural disturbance in adults with intellectual disability. People with intellectual disability (ID) are three times more likely to suffer mental illness than the general community, making this a bigger problem than schizophrenia. They are a great burden to their carers and cost to the community but their mental health problems remain largely untreated. This study aims to conduct the largest and most comprehensive survey of the mental health of adults with ID that has been undertaken internationally to date. The population will cover the age span of late adolescence (16 years) through the transition to adult life then through to the elderly. The research will establish the prevalence and nature of mental illness and potential risk factors in a large representative population of adults with ID.Read moreRead less
Internet technologies, health informatics and statistical methods, and new delivery platforms in call centres. Although depression is the major cause of health disability, 60% of Australians with depression do not receive professional help. There are few systems for delivering health information and resilience skills to members of the community. This project aims to develop a workable system to reduce unmet need. It will provide a model of information delivery applicable to other areas of the ....Internet technologies, health informatics and statistical methods, and new delivery platforms in call centres. Although depression is the major cause of health disability, 60% of Australians with depression do not receive professional help. There are few systems for delivering health information and resilience skills to members of the community. This project aims to develop a workable system to reduce unmet need. It will provide a model of information delivery applicable to other areas of the health industry, particularly those involving chronic disease. It has applicability to education and other sectors which involve the delivery of information to the public. Because e-health is an emerging field, the project also has the capacity to build expertise in an area which is under-resourced. Read moreRead less
Sino-Australian neurogenetics initiative. This project will undertake large population studies to identify genes that are associated with motor neuron disease, schizophrenia and intracranial haemorrhage. The project will determine genetic markers, aid development of diagnostic tools and identify new therapeutic targets for these common heritable neurological diseases.
Building capacity for online counselling for schools: developing and evaluating an online school counselling program. The wellbeing of children and young people is an important goal nationally and school-based online counselling has the potential to directly benefit them. The impact of mental health problems and poor life and career choices in adolescence is undisputed. This project will facilitate access to career and mental health support through technology.
Time scarcity in Australian families: another inequity? The globalising economy, financial uncertainties and major democratic changes are all affecting family time. Parent's time is a resource on which children depend, but time scarcity has become a widespread problem for families. Our study helps focus policy attention on this problem. We deliver new methods to assess the experience of time scarcity in families, identifying those who are most likely to experience it, where they live, and how ti ....Time scarcity in Australian families: another inequity? The globalising economy, financial uncertainties and major democratic changes are all affecting family time. Parent's time is a resource on which children depend, but time scarcity has become a widespread problem for families. Our study helps focus policy attention on this problem. We deliver new methods to assess the experience of time scarcity in families, identifying those who are most likely to experience it, where they live, and how time scarcity affects them. This evidence can help support policy approaches to time, benefiting the twin economic and social policy goals of encouraging workforce participation while supporting the health and wellbeing of families.Read moreRead less
Effectiveness of social skills training for children with autism. Our industry partner, Aspect Australia, is one of the world's largest providers of educational and other services for people with autism. The demonstration of effectiveness of the program in Aspect classes will likely lead to widespread use and benefit of the program in the education sector nationally and internationally. This in turn would lead to potential lessening of disability in children with autism with improvements in thei ....Effectiveness of social skills training for children with autism. Our industry partner, Aspect Australia, is one of the world's largest providers of educational and other services for people with autism. The demonstration of effectiveness of the program in Aspect classes will likely lead to widespread use and benefit of the program in the education sector nationally and internationally. This in turn would lead to potential lessening of disability in children with autism with improvements in their mental health and significant cost savings to the community.Read moreRead less
The impact of outdoor youth programs on positive adolescent development: an empirical evaluation. This project will seek to ensure that the nation's outdoor resources are fully utilised for the benefit of young people. Accordingly, this project will conduct the first comprehensive randomised controlled trial of a structured outdoor youth program in order to inform more strategic investment in outdoor programs to promote positive youth development.
Adolescent Gambling: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Opportunities for Controls and Interventions. This research will contribute to both scientific knowledge and public policy in an area of considerable public concern. It will measure the prevalence of gambling among adolescents in the ACT, and identify the proportion of youth with actual or potential gambling problems. It will assess their degree of exposure to gambling advertising and their awareness of services for young problem gamblers. The p ....Adolescent Gambling: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Opportunities for Controls and Interventions. This research will contribute to both scientific knowledge and public policy in an area of considerable public concern. It will measure the prevalence of gambling among adolescents in the ACT, and identify the proportion of youth with actual or potential gambling problems. It will assess their degree of exposure to gambling advertising and their awareness of services for young problem gamblers. The project will also identify risk factors for problem gambling, and protective factors and policy opportunities for the reduction of problem gambling. It will also contribute to methodological knowledge by assessing the validity of multiple measures of problem gambling.Read moreRead less
Interaction Mining for Cyberbullying Detection on Social Networks. This project plans to build an interactive mining system to detect cyberbullying on social networks that have a large number of participants and a variety of inputs, including conversation texts, time-variant changes and user profiles. The project is designed to change the existing cyberbullying prevention services from reactive keyword filtering to proactive social interaction pattern mining. The intended outcome will enable the ....Interaction Mining for Cyberbullying Detection on Social Networks. This project plans to build an interactive mining system to detect cyberbullying on social networks that have a large number of participants and a variety of inputs, including conversation texts, time-variant changes and user profiles. The project is designed to change the existing cyberbullying prevention services from reactive keyword filtering to proactive social interaction pattern mining. The intended outcome will enable the early detection and warning of cyberbullying and approach open a new way to discover interaction patterns with a large number of participants over evolving and complex social networks.Read moreRead less
Gambling and Pathways into Homelessness. Does gambling contribute to homelessness in Australia? What aspects of gambling are most likely to contribute to the incidence of homelessness and how does this relate to other dimensions of addictive behaviour? This project examines the role of gambling as a trigger of homelessness through direct means such as evictions and loss of employment, as well as indirect pathways such as serving as a contributing to the incidence of domestic violence and famil ....Gambling and Pathways into Homelessness. Does gambling contribute to homelessness in Australia? What aspects of gambling are most likely to contribute to the incidence of homelessness and how does this relate to other dimensions of addictive behaviour? This project examines the role of gambling as a trigger of homelessness through direct means such as evictions and loss of employment, as well as indirect pathways such as serving as a contributing to the incidence of domestic violence and family breakdown. The research will examine what types of intervention - at what points in the pathway into homelessness - are likely be most effective. The research will lead to better policies and the enhanced delivery of services to this vulnerable population.Read moreRead less