Adolescent Alcohol And Tobacco Use/abuse: The Efficacy Of A Brief Motivational Interviewing And Skills Training Program
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$153,610.00
Summary
Alcohol abuse (regular and episodic heavy drinking) and tobacco use are common and increasing amongst young Australians. Around 49% of adolescents are regular drinkers, and 15.5% of females and 33% of males are occasional binge drinkers. Between 17.5% and 35.5% of adolescents smoke and this has increased from 1987. While the majority of young Australians moderate their drinking and smoking over time, about 5% will become heavy drinkers and 20% will become regular smokers. The public health conse ....Alcohol abuse (regular and episodic heavy drinking) and tobacco use are common and increasing amongst young Australians. Around 49% of adolescents are regular drinkers, and 15.5% of females and 33% of males are occasional binge drinkers. Between 17.5% and 35.5% of adolescents smoke and this has increased from 1987. While the majority of young Australians moderate their drinking and smoking over time, about 5% will become heavy drinkers and 20% will become regular smokers. The public health consequences of heavy drinking and smoking are now well documented. There are many studies exploring the effectiveness of universal prevention programs designed to reduce the chance of alcohol and tobacco problems in high school students. These are associated with short term reductions in the chance of smoking and heavy drinking, however it is unclear whether these programs work for adolescents who are at high risk of alcohol problems and sustained smoking. We know a lot about the sorts of risk factors associated with these problems. They include early onset of use, parental involvement and use, particular personality traits, poor marks, peer use, and poor social skills. There is no research that clearly evaluates prevention programs for adolescents who show these risk factors. In this research, a program tailored for high-risk adolescents will be compared to an educational program similar to what is often received in Australian high schools. It is expected that high-risk students will not show changes in the educational program, but will show long-term improvements after completing the enhanced program. If these results hold, the research will have very important implications for detecting high-risk students and modifying the ways in which these adolescents are treated so that we minimise the chance of further development of alcohol and tobacco problems. This could result in large health cost savings in the future.Read moreRead less
SOLUTIONS For Present And Future Emerging Pollutants In Land And Water Resources Management
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$259,784.00
Summary
The European Union project SOLUTIONS will develop a novel conceptual framework to prioritise chemical contaminants for ecological and human health risk assessment of water resources and fish for human consumption. The Australian partner will implement health-relevant bioanalytical endpoints to inform cumulative risk assessment. The developed concepts and tools will be validated using European river case studies, with the knowledge generated to be transferred to the Australian context.
Food And Water For Life: Co-creation And Evaluation Of Sustainable Innovations To Strengthen Food And Water Security
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,169,419.00
Summary
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples suffer a disproportionate burden of non-communicable diseases. Poor diets, exacerbated by low quality water supplies, are one of the biggest contributors to this. Through our existing long-standing partnership, his project will establish a framework and use regulatory analysis to support the Aboriginal community in Walgett to develop a transformative community-led food and water security action plan to improve the long-term health and well-being.
Establishing Australian Health Based Targets For Microbial Water Quality
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$174,799.00
Summary
It is of great public health importance to ensure that our drinking water supplies are safe. This is true both for conventional drinking water supplies and for supplies derived from alternative water sources, including water derived from recycled sewage. National guidelines exist for management of drinking water and recycled water supplies, but currently there are no targets for determining whether water has an acceptably low level of infectious agents. This project involves a number of steps to ....It is of great public health importance to ensure that our drinking water supplies are safe. This is true both for conventional drinking water supplies and for supplies derived from alternative water sources, including water derived from recycled sewage. National guidelines exist for management of drinking water and recycled water supplies, but currently there are no targets for determining whether water has an acceptably low level of infectious agents. This project involves a number of steps to develop national consensus on health targets for microbial water qualityRead moreRead less