Increasing organisational capacity of community residential units to facilitate ageing in place for people with intellectual disability. Unique challenges face the disability, aged care and health sectors because of the increased life expectancy of people with life-long intellectual disability (ID) and the likelihood of their premature ageing. Although this group is recognised by Federal and State governments as requiring specific and special service arrangements, little is known about adapting ....Increasing organisational capacity of community residential units to facilitate ageing in place for people with intellectual disability. Unique challenges face the disability, aged care and health sectors because of the increased life expectancy of people with life-long intellectual disability (ID) and the likelihood of their premature ageing. Although this group is recognised by Federal and State governments as requiring specific and special service arrangements, little is known about adapting disability and aged care services to their needs. This research will inform the development of policy and programs in the disability, aged care, and health sectors. The research aims to improve the capacity of disability group homes to respond to the health and ageing issues of older people with ID,to improve their quality of life.Read moreRead less
Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. This project aims to develop a policy suite to respond to an older workforce. By 2060, nearly half of Australians aged 64 or older will be employed. Failure to address their health problems could threaten Australia’s economy, tax base and provision of health and care services. This collaboration between national policy portfolios (employment, social services, workplace health and socia ....Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. This project aims to develop a policy suite to respond to an older workforce. By 2060, nearly half of Australians aged 64 or older will be employed. Failure to address their health problems could threaten Australia’s economy, tax base and provision of health and care services. This collaboration between national policy portfolios (employment, social services, workplace health and social equity) and expert scientists in work, health, social equality and policy process intends to reveal the diversity of older workers’ work-health dilemmas and effective ways for national policies to solve them. The policy suite will promote financial independence and meet social goals of equity and healthy ageing.Read moreRead less
Enabling engagement and inclusion: organisational factors that embed active support in accommodation services for people with intellectual disability. The study will investigate the processes and structures necessary to ensure frontline staff deliver high quality support to people with intellectual disability, which enables them to engage in meaningful activity. This knowledge will inform disability service organisation processes and provide indicators of structures necessary for effective servi ....Enabling engagement and inclusion: organisational factors that embed active support in accommodation services for people with intellectual disability. The study will investigate the processes and structures necessary to ensure frontline staff deliver high quality support to people with intellectual disability, which enables them to engage in meaningful activity. This knowledge will inform disability service organisation processes and provide indicators of structures necessary for effective services.Read moreRead less
Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institution ....Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institutional change. Expected outcomes include improved approaches to therapeutic care and to methods for enabling the participation of young people in care in matters that may change their life trajectory on exiting care. Expected benefits include more responsive policies and frameworks for practice.Read moreRead less
Researching an all-of-family program in family violence & substance misuse. Family violence services and drug and alcohol services have been inappropriately siloed given co-occurrence of these problems is common. This project aims to evaluate an innovative program which integrates these services, focuses on fathering to ensure recognition of the needs of children (50% of family violence victims) and provides all-of-family support to ensure the safety and well-being of women and children. Expect ....Researching an all-of-family program in family violence & substance misuse. Family violence services and drug and alcohol services have been inappropriately siloed given co-occurrence of these problems is common. This project aims to evaluate an innovative program which integrates these services, focuses on fathering to ensure recognition of the needs of children (50% of family violence victims) and provides all-of-family support to ensure the safety and well-being of women and children. Expected outcomes include better evidence for countering family violence, and policy frameworks for integrated service provision. Changing the behaviour of men who use violence is a significant social challenge and the outcomes of this targeted approach should have ramifications nationally and internationally. Read moreRead less
Developing a national rural volunteering roadmap. This project aims to investigate the challenges affecting rural volunteering in Australia. Conducting a national analysis of volunteering demand and supply, this project expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of the structural, demographic, organisational and personal factors affecting the sustainability of rural volunteering. Expected outcomes of this project include a world-first index of volunteering vulnerabilities and a spatial ....Developing a national rural volunteering roadmap. This project aims to investigate the challenges affecting rural volunteering in Australia. Conducting a national analysis of volunteering demand and supply, this project expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of the structural, demographic, organisational and personal factors affecting the sustainability of rural volunteering. Expected outcomes of this project include a world-first index of volunteering vulnerabilities and a spatial map of volunteering unevenness, leading to the development of an evidence-based National Rural Volunteering Roadmap (2025-2035), which will guide our volunteering peak body partners, governments and rural communities to plan for and support rural volunteering over the longer-term.Read moreRead less
Identifying Models of Personal and Community Resilience that enhance Psychological Wellness: A Stanthorpe Study. There are significant mental health problems in rural and remote Australia. Researchers in Australia are only just beginning to investigate mental health, and prevention is identified as a primary focus. A new innovative approach to mental health prevention is identifying and using characteristics that will enhance individual and community psychological wellness. Resilience has been i ....Identifying Models of Personal and Community Resilience that enhance Psychological Wellness: A Stanthorpe Study. There are significant mental health problems in rural and remote Australia. Researchers in Australia are only just beginning to investigate mental health, and prevention is identified as a primary focus. A new innovative approach to mental health prevention is identifying and using characteristics that will enhance individual and community psychological wellness. Resilience has been identified as one of those characteristics. The aim of this project is to work collaboratively with key stakeholders from a rural community (Stanthorpe in South East Queensland) to develop, implement, and evaluate a model that enhances psychological wellness in rural people and communities.Read moreRead less
Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena. Mental disorders attract social stigma and those diagnosed are widely misunderstood. This project aims to collect and analyse accounts of people living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - mainly women - and perspectives of social support practitioners. The intended outcome is to provide a sophisticated understanding of BPD as a social phenomenon, develop sociological evidence based on lived experiences and generate Australian digital resources ....Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena. Mental disorders attract social stigma and those diagnosed are widely misunderstood. This project aims to collect and analyse accounts of people living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - mainly women - and perspectives of social support practitioners. The intended outcome is to provide a sophisticated understanding of BPD as a social phenomenon, develop sociological evidence based on lived experiences and generate Australian digital resources including narratives of BPD, creative outputs and practitioner perspectives. The anticipated goal of this project is to inform policy and community responses addressing stigma and marginalisation, and the improvement of social support for those affected by BPD.Read moreRead less
Upholding the right to cultural connection for children in care. A positive sense of cultural identity is critical to wellbeing, yet children in out-of-home care often lose their cultural identities and connections. There is little evidence to guide out-of-home care agencies to support a culturally meaningful foster care placement for non-Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse children. This project tests promising practices identified by the partner organisations and research literatu ....Upholding the right to cultural connection for children in care. A positive sense of cultural identity is critical to wellbeing, yet children in out-of-home care often lose their cultural identities and connections. There is little evidence to guide out-of-home care agencies to support a culturally meaningful foster care placement for non-Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse children. This project tests promising practices identified by the partner organisations and research literature to produce an exemplary model of cultural care, with input from children, carers and birth families. Trial implementation in the partner organisations will inform guidelines and recommendations so that the model can inform policy and practice in out-of-home care across Australia.
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Activating social connection to address isolation in Australia. Surveys of wellbeing repeatedly emphasise social isolation, but there is a gap in positive approaches that can be used to grow connection. This research aims to design an approach to activate social connection for people and communities. Using a pre-tested evidence-based framework, experiences of vulnerable cohorts, and affordances of ways to connect on and offline, this project takes a strengths focus to develop a joined-up place-b ....Activating social connection to address isolation in Australia. Surveys of wellbeing repeatedly emphasise social isolation, but there is a gap in positive approaches that can be used to grow connection. This research aims to design an approach to activate social connection for people and communities. Using a pre-tested evidence-based framework, experiences of vulnerable cohorts, and affordances of ways to connect on and offline, this project takes a strengths focus to develop a joined-up place-based strategy. Expected outcomes include world-first practical tools and guidance for local social connection activation and new knowledge about how interwoven on/offline services assist social connection. Increasing social connection is expected to improve individuals’ mental wellbeing and community resilience.Read moreRead less