Improving Outcomes For Children With Emotional And Behavioural Difficulties Through A School-based Intervention: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$88,662.00
Summary
Over 50% of adult mental illness begins during childhood. Our health system is under increasing strain to support such children, especially public services. Teachers are in an ideal position to detect emerging issues and organise intervention, but they need help. This project aims to explore the potential for a collaboration between health and education to identify children with emotional and behavioural difficulties sooner and more accurately, and put in place effective strategies of support.
Improving School Transition By Improving Child Sleep: A Translational Randomised Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$745,827.00
Summary
A successful transition to school sets a child on a path for life. A poor transition can lead to early drop out, poor peer relationships and poor emotional skills. In 2008/09, we found that a brief sleep intervention for children improved key determinants of a successful transition including social-emotional functioning and parent mental health. We now plan to see if the same intervention, delivered by school nurses, can have a similar effect.
A Randomised Trial Of The Augmentation Of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy With Fluoxetine For Anxious School Refusing Youth
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$539,191.00
Summary
School refusing youth consistently suffer from anxiety and sometimes depression. They become severely emotionally distressed when taken to school and experience social and academic difficulties in the short and long term as well as psychiatric illness in adulthood. Our program investigates whether treatment can be improved by enhancing psychotherapy (cognitive behaviour therapy) which helps over half of anxious school refusing children, with antidepressant-anxiety medication compared to placebo.
A Healthy Promoting School Approach To Encourage Children To Wear Helmets
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$165,708.00
Summary
Each year around sixty Australians die as a result of bicycle crashes and thousands more are injured, some so severely they are permanently disabled. The largest proportion of the population affected by bicycle-related injuries are children and adolescents. These injuries are largely preventable if riders wore helmets. Some studies suggest wearing a helmet reduces the likelihood of head injury by more than 75%. Approximately 80% of Western Australian primary school students who ride to school we ....Each year around sixty Australians die as a result of bicycle crashes and thousands more are injured, some so severely they are permanently disabled. The largest proportion of the population affected by bicycle-related injuries are children and adolescents. These injuries are largely preventable if riders wore helmets. Some studies suggest wearing a helmet reduces the likelihood of head injury by more than 75%. Approximately 80% of Western Australian primary school students who ride to school wear a helmet. Students aged 10-12 years are on the cusp of a dramatic decline in helmet usage - secondary school students helmet usage rates are observed at 43%. This project aims to provide a supportive school environment for road users, and with the assistance of their peers, skill children with strategies and dialogue to resist peer pressure not to wear a helmet in order to arrest this rate of decline when they reach secondary school. This three-year study will compare the impact of a whole-school road safety intervention based on the health promoting school model to the standard road safety curriculum. For the study cohort ie: Year 5 - 6 students, the focus will be on bicycle safety, in particular, correct helmet usage. The intervention includes innovative participatory strategies to develop a supportive school environment for road users plus peer-teacher classroom activities that encourage the correct use of bicycle helmets for Year 5 - 6 students (and their parents). The intervention trial will be conducted with 30 Western Australian primary schools in 2000 and 2001. Other target groups of the intervention are teachers, Year 7 peer teachers, school administrators and the school community. Potential benefits of this project include the provision of a model health promoting school intervention to increase the frequency of correct helmet wearing by children which in time may lead to a reduction in bicycle-related morbidity and mortality in Western Australia.Read moreRead less
How well people perform in everyday situations is often determined by memory function. When required to perform under stress memory performance is often affected. The effect of a psychological stress test on memory function in healthy volunteers and the ability of a dietary supplement, tyrosine, to prevent the effects will be studied. The data may suggest that depletion amino acids is responsible for the decrements in performance that are evident after an acute stressor.
Testing A Comprehensive Targeted Intervention To Reduce Student Bullying.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$620,000.00
Summary
The serious effects of frequent bullying suffered by targets remains a major public health problem, with limited evidence to help school staff to successfully treat students who frequently bully others. This study is innovative as it involves students at a time of heightened risk of bullying and measures the additional contribution of comprehensive training and support to school staff, such as school psychologists who work with students who bully, to a whole school bullying prevention program.
Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Mobile Preschool For Child Health And Development In Remote Aboriginal Communities
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$456,369.00
Summary
This project is a retrospective study of the effectiveness of the NT Mobile Preschool Program using assessment data for children's emergent literacy, social and emotional competencies and health status. Effectiveness will be established by comparison with achievement and health status data for children not attending preschool and those in communities with no preschool service. The study will identify and describe the key factors influencing the health and learning outcomes of the three groups.