Improving Adolescent Gate-keeping And Help-seeking For Risky Drinking And Depression: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$655,495.00
Summary
Young people with mental health and substance use problems are reluctant to seek help. There is a significant gap in health promotion activities which specifically target help-seeking skills, particularly teaching friends to help friends to access treatment early. This project seeks to demonstrate the efficacy of a school-based intervention that focuses on improving adolescent gate-keeping and help-seeking skills for risky drinking and depression, using a cluster randomised controlled design.
Innovative School-based Interventions To Improve Mental Health And The Social And Emotional Development Of Australian Children
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$763,845.00
Summary
I am a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia and the Telethon Kids Institute. My research develops and delivers interventions that improve the quality of life, health, education, safety and social justice outcomes for Australian children. My work is particularly focused on ways to reduce harms from bullying and cyberbullying among children and adolescents.
A Randomised Trial Assessing A Shade Development Intervention In Secondary Schools For Adolescent Skin Cancer Prevention
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$709,615.00
Summary
Skin cancer is a significant burden to health costs, and morbidity and mortality in Australia. Reduction of exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in sunlight, particularly during childhood and adolescence is an important strategy for preventing skin cancer in later life. Adolescents have been particularly resistant to skin cancer prevention messages. Despite a high knowledge of skin cancer, the majority of Australian adolescents report a reliance on sunscreen, a resistance to hat wearing, and ....Skin cancer is a significant burden to health costs, and morbidity and mortality in Australia. Reduction of exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in sunlight, particularly during childhood and adolescence is an important strategy for preventing skin cancer in later life. Adolescents have been particularly resistant to skin cancer prevention messages. Despite a high knowledge of skin cancer, the majority of Australian adolescents report a reliance on sunscreen, a resistance to hat wearing, and commonly experience sunburn, an important indicator of increased risk of skin cancer. Psycho-social interventions have shown limited influence on adolescents' sun protective behaviours to date. The current research proposal explores an alternative approach to psycho-social interventions for adolescents. The study will assess the effect of increasing available shade at secondary schools. In a randomised control trial study design, the change in the number of students using certain outdoor areas at intervention schools will be observed 'before' and 'after' the installation of built shade sail structures. Our main hypothesis states that the number of students using these newly shaded areas in intervention schools will increase compared with use of equivalent unshaded areas in control schools. Shade development is increasingly becoming an issue for secondary schools and given both the high cost of providing shade structures and adolescents' resistance to other forms of sun protection it is important to establish that adolescents will use this form of sun protection. This study will determine whether adolescents actively avoid or seek shade and so provide evidence for informing decisions about further investment in shade provision in schools.Read moreRead less
A Randomised Trial Of An Intervention To Facilitate The Implementation Of Evidence Based Secondary School Physical Activity Practices.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$181,065.00
Summary
Only 15% of adolescents participate in adequate physical activity each day. Schools can be supported to adopt policies and practices which increase adolescent physical activity. This study aims to test a model of support to assist schools to offer a range of practices known to improve adolescent physical activity levels, within routine school practice. If effective, the model of support could be used to assist schools to implement a range of other policies and practices.
Randomised Controlled Evaluation Of A Complex Intervention To Promote Uptake Of School-based HPV Vaccination
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$750,911.00
Summary
Adolescents have little understanding and high levels of fear about HPV vaccination in the Australian school program. We plan to evaluate a multi-strategy intervention (incorporating an adolescent education intervention, a parental decision aid, and procedural facilitators) to promote uptake and informed participation in the school-based HPV vaccination program. The intervention will promote understanding, reduce fear, and have minimum impact on school and teacher resources.
Effectiveness Of A Resilience Intervention In Reducing Smoking And Alcohol Consumption Among Secondary School Students
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,491,446.00
Summary
A key factor in adult smoking and excessive alcohol consumption is commencement of these behaviours during childhood. Smoking and alcohol use by adolescents also has a direct harmful effect on their health at that time. The project aims to decrease adolescent use of tobacco and alcohol by improving adolescent's resilience and mental wellbeing. The project will involve the evaluation of a school-based resilience intervention delivered to grade 7 to 10 students in disadvantaged secondary schools.
Prospective Study Of The Influence Of Social Networks & School Environments On Emotional Well-being Of Young Adults
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$202,200.00
Summary
It has become clearer in recent years that the role of the social environment may be as important as individual or interpersonal factors in understanding the risk and protective factors associated with disease prevention. Adolescence is the time when many preventable causes of premature morbidity and mortality arise. It is likely that the social environments encountered during early adolescence will have an impact on the development of emotional and physical well being in early adulthood. This s ....It has become clearer in recent years that the role of the social environment may be as important as individual or interpersonal factors in understanding the risk and protective factors associated with disease prevention. Adolescence is the time when many preventable causes of premature morbidity and mortality arise. It is likely that the social environments encountered during early adolescence will have an impact on the development of emotional and physical well being in early adulthood. This study will prospectively research the impact of school environment and quality of social networks in early adolescence on the emotional well being and health risk behaviours of young adults through the continued surveillance of a cohort of 2,782 students participating in the Gatehouse Project. This cohort has been surveyed four times; twice in Year 8 1997; once in Year 9 1998 and Year 10 1999. In 2002 the cohort will be on average 18 years old and will be first year post-secondary school. The major aim of the study is to investigate the prospective relationships between school environment in early adolescence and the mental and behavioural outcomes for young people in young adulthood. The continued surveillance of this cohort will allow us to assess the long term effects of school environments and adequacy of social networks at early adolescence on the emotional well being and social connectedness of older adolescents. This will contribute to our understanding of risk and protective factors in school-social environments that impact the health and well being of young adults. It will also inform further preventive intervention work that needs to take place in schools and communities to improve health outcomes for young adults.Read moreRead less
Increasing Physical Activity Among Young Children From Disadvantaged Communities: A Group Randomised Controlled Effectiveness Trial.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,107,309.00
Summary
This project will evaluate the impact of a multi-level, multi-setting program to promote physical activity and movement skills among pre-school-aged children in disadvantaged communities. It will target the professional development of childcare educators and of parents. Childcare centres will be linked to the Early Start Facility at the University of Wollongong using state-of-the-art technology providing a unique opportunity to work with educators and parents in regional and remote areas.
Smoking Cessation For Youth Project Booster And Cohort Tracking Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$135,550.00
Summary
Adolescence is a critical period for the establishment of adult drug use behaviours. If smoking does not commence in teenage years it is unlikely to occur. This innovative project not only continues to address tobacco control with this important age group but also builds on evidence from a randomised intervention trial involving over 4,000 Year 9 students tracked over two years. This project was called the Smoking Cessation for Youth Project (SCYP). Preliminary longitudinal analyses of the SCYP ....Adolescence is a critical period for the establishment of adult drug use behaviours. If smoking does not commence in teenage years it is unlikely to occur. This innovative project not only continues to address tobacco control with this important age group but also builds on evidence from a randomised intervention trial involving over 4,000 Year 9 students tracked over two years. This project was called the Smoking Cessation for Youth Project (SCYP). Preliminary longitudinal analyses of the SCYP data indicate that the intervention students were significantly less likely to smoke heavily (smoking five or more days per week) than the control group and that intervention students were also significantly less likely to have tried smoking than the control group. These results represent a world first in evidence that population-based smoking cessation interventions among teenagers can be successful. The proposed project will determine the extent to which these positive intervention effects are sustainable, two years post intervention, as our cohort moves into Year 12. In addition to tracking the possible decay of SCYP intervention effects, the proposed project will also measure the effects of a booster intervention delivered students when they are in Year 12 (2002). The Year 12 intervention will comprise an innovative self-help 'magazine style' booster and a supportive environmental intervention involving school nurses and local GPs. This proposal represents a cost-effective opportunity to measure the effectiveness of a Year 12 tobacco cessation booster intervention. Further data on tobacco smoking behaviour in 2002 will also enable us to determine how long the SCYP intervention appears to affect behaviour and whether 'boosters' are needed in later secondary school years to maintain the benefits.Read moreRead less
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