Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0989059
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$90,000.00
Summary
Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder: A critical analysis elucidating constructs that influence parental acceptance/rejection of diagnosis and response. Part of the controversy surrounding ADHD is the increasing use of stimulant medication to deal with children who have been given a diagnosis of ADHD. Given the absence of scientific evidence that demonstrates an underlying causal physical pathology for ADHD, many claim that medication is inappropriate, with some suggesting that it is harmfu ....Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder: A critical analysis elucidating constructs that influence parental acceptance/rejection of diagnosis and response. Part of the controversy surrounding ADHD is the increasing use of stimulant medication to deal with children who have been given a diagnosis of ADHD. Given the absence of scientific evidence that demonstrates an underlying causal physical pathology for ADHD, many claim that medication is inappropriate, with some suggesting that it is harmful. This research seeks to explicate parents' perceptions of ADHD & the impact of psycho-social constructs on parents' decisions to accept/reject a diagnosis & respond. This research offers important educational & social benefits. The outcomes of this research have the potential to 'break the cycle' of increasing medication; build parents' capacity to respond; & contribute to a healthy start to life.Read moreRead less
Establishing Breastfeeding: an analysis of the language and practices used by midwives and lactation consultants when interacting with new mothers. Breastfeeding confers extensive health benefits for infants and women, and social and economic benefits for Australian society. Studies indicate that although 80 to 90 percent of women initiate breastfeeding, approximately 25% cease within the first six weeks. It is estimated that if the prevalence of breastfeeding at three months post-birth increase ....Establishing Breastfeeding: an analysis of the language and practices used by midwives and lactation consultants when interacting with new mothers. Breastfeeding confers extensive health benefits for infants and women, and social and economic benefits for Australian society. Studies indicate that although 80 to 90 percent of women initiate breastfeeding, approximately 25% cease within the first six weeks. It is estimated that if the prevalence of breastfeeding at three months post-birth increased from 60% to 80%, a saving of at least $11.5 million would be made to the Australian health system. This study will provide knowledge about the impact of health professionals' practices on women's infant-feeding decisions, identifying effective components of professional support to inform interventions that increase breastfeeding durationRead moreRead less
Geelong Healthy Eating and Active Play for Under Fives. Helping children achieve a healthier weight is a major national health priority. About 30% of 4 and 5 year old children are already overweight or obese. Action is urgently needed to prevent further increases yet there have been very few studies in the area. The Geelong Under-5s project in will measure the impact of a comprehensive intervention designed to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity by modifying day care and kindergarte ....Geelong Healthy Eating and Active Play for Under Fives. Helping children achieve a healthier weight is a major national health priority. About 30% of 4 and 5 year old children are already overweight or obese. Action is urgently needed to prevent further increases yet there have been very few studies in the area. The Geelong Under-5s project in will measure the impact of a comprehensive intervention designed to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity by modifying day care and kindergarten settings, by increasing the capacity of staff to teach and model healthy eating and physical activity patterns, and by educating parents at receptive moments in their child's life.Read moreRead less
Improving the measurement and surveillance of child abuse in Queensland. Estimates of the prevalence of child abuse suggest 10-20% of children are affected, with financial costs to the community around $5 billion annually, and extensive health and social consequences. Despite these enormous costs, research into risk factors and prevalence of child abuse has been hampered by poorly validated statistics. The use of routine hospital data for the identification of child abuse cases offers an effici ....Improving the measurement and surveillance of child abuse in Queensland. Estimates of the prevalence of child abuse suggest 10-20% of children are affected, with financial costs to the community around $5 billion annually, and extensive health and social consequences. Despite these enormous costs, research into risk factors and prevalence of child abuse has been hampered by poorly validated statistics. The use of routine hospital data for the identification of child abuse cases offers an efficient nationally standardised data source to improve the precision of child protection departmental responses through routine monitoring and audits of linked health and child protection data. Improvement of data will inform identification, intervention and prevention strategies.Read moreRead less
Redefining bullying and adjustment to school: Japanese and Australian. School violence is an all too prevalent physically, socially, and psychologically damaging aspect of the everyday life of a significant portion of school students around the world. The aim of this collaborative Linkage Award is to compare Australian and Japanese school students's understanding of bullying, its stability over time and its association with school adjustment. This comparative research breaks new ground in inve ....Redefining bullying and adjustment to school: Japanese and Australian. School violence is an all too prevalent physically, socially, and psychologically damaging aspect of the everyday life of a significant portion of school students around the world. The aim of this collaborative Linkage Award is to compare Australian and Japanese school students's understanding of bullying, its stability over time and its association with school adjustment. This comparative research breaks new ground in investigating the particularly damaging form of bullying known as indirect/relational bullying. The research is part of a larger international consortium including China, Canada and Korea. The outcomes from this research will be reported back to the consortium, presented at international conferences , published and used to inform school intervention programsRead moreRead less
Engaging economically disadvantaged adolescent girls in physical activity and healthy eating to improve health and prevent obesity. Secondary school represents the final opportunity to influence individuals as they develop adult lifestyle behaviours and enter a transitional period in their lives. Considering the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases among Australian adults and increases in the prevalence of obesity among young Australians, targeting health-promoting behaviours in adolescent ....Engaging economically disadvantaged adolescent girls in physical activity and healthy eating to improve health and prevent obesity. Secondary school represents the final opportunity to influence individuals as they develop adult lifestyle behaviours and enter a transitional period in their lives. Considering the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases among Australian adults and increases in the prevalence of obesity among young Australians, targeting health-promoting behaviours in adolescents is clearly a national priority. Furthermore, rates of obesity are much higher in economically disadvantaged areas, with girls more susceptible to the SES disadvantages. This project has the potential to develop a knowledge base and improve the health behaviours of current and future Australians most at risk for the development of lifestyle diseases.Read moreRead less
Consistency and continuity in childhood adversity: the nature and history of multiple disadvantage in families with young children. This project has both theoretical and practical value and it falls within the National Research Priority Goal of 'A healthy start to life'. It will improve our understanding of how adversity influences children's development and long-term outcomes by focussing on multiple family disadvantage rather than individual adversities. It will help policy development and s ....Consistency and continuity in childhood adversity: the nature and history of multiple disadvantage in families with young children. This project has both theoretical and practical value and it falls within the National Research Priority Goal of 'A healthy start to life'. It will improve our understanding of how adversity influences children's development and long-term outcomes by focussing on multiple family disadvantage rather than individual adversities. It will help policy development and service delivery by identifying the extent to which families that experience one form of adversity are also likely to experience other types of adversity, either at the same time or in the future. At present, many policies and services are aimed at specific adversities and may not meet the needs of families experiencing multiple disadvantage.Read moreRead less
Critical Windows: Health-related Behaviour in Children After School. Global concerns for increasing body fatness and insufficient physical activity in children highlight the importance of health promoting behaviour in younger populations. A critical window for healthy behaviour is created after school. We aim to improve the ability to assess healthy behaviour during 3 pm-7 pm and subsequently to describe activity and nutritional practices in Grade 5 children (randomly selected) from Western Sydn ....Critical Windows: Health-related Behaviour in Children After School. Global concerns for increasing body fatness and insufficient physical activity in children highlight the importance of health promoting behaviour in younger populations. A critical window for healthy behaviour is created after school. We aim to improve the ability to assess healthy behaviour during 3 pm-7 pm and subsequently to describe activity and nutritional practices in Grade 5 children (randomly selected) from Western Sydney. Psychosocial and environmental correlates and the extent to which seasons and annual growth influence behaviour will be considered. Outcomes involve an effective instrument for future research and an enhanced understanding of healthy behaviour in Western Sydney children.Read moreRead less
Practical methods to evaluate school breakfast programs. This innovative project will provide a doctoral student with the opportunity to develop in-depth academic research within the practical constraints of field-based program evaluation. The candidate will develop a practical methodology to evaluate community-based programs, specifically school breakfast programs in New South Wales. The outcome of the project will be an evaluation protocol, set of tools and reporting proforma that can be appli ....Practical methods to evaluate school breakfast programs. This innovative project will provide a doctoral student with the opportunity to develop in-depth academic research within the practical constraints of field-based program evaluation. The candidate will develop a practical methodology to evaluate community-based programs, specifically school breakfast programs in New South Wales. The outcome of the project will be an evaluation protocol, set of tools and reporting proforma that can be applied by volunteers and teachers to evaluate school breakfast programs. The research process undertaken by the candidate also will be applicable to the development of evaluation methodologies of a range of community-based programs.Read moreRead less
Making prevention matter: Establishing characteristics of effective child sexual abuse prevention programs. Child sexual abuse is a significant public health problem requiring intervention and prevention. School-based child sexual abuse prevention programs aim to educate children to protect themselves and teach adults skills for protecting children. But programs vary widely in their quality and there is inadequate information available to guide program choice. This fundamental research, undertak ....Making prevention matter: Establishing characteristics of effective child sexual abuse prevention programs. Child sexual abuse is a significant public health problem requiring intervention and prevention. School-based child sexual abuse prevention programs aim to educate children to protect themselves and teach adults skills for protecting children. But programs vary widely in their quality and there is inadequate information available to guide program choice. This fundamental research, undertakes the necessary first steps towards implementing high quality, evidence-based child sexual abuse prevention programs. It will develop an overarching evidence-based conceptual framework for program design and evaluation thus advancing Australia's responses to child protection and enhancing children's healthy start to life.Read moreRead less