Farming 4 Care: Using nature to cultivate resilience in young people. This project aims to explore how passive and active engagement with nature might influence outcomes for young people who have experienced trauma, maltreatment and disrupted families. These people are extremely vulnerable, but often slip through the system. As they rarely engage in traditional therapy, non-traditional interventions may offer a viable alternative that should be explored and harnessed for this population. In addi ....Farming 4 Care: Using nature to cultivate resilience in young people. This project aims to explore how passive and active engagement with nature might influence outcomes for young people who have experienced trauma, maltreatment and disrupted families. These people are extremely vulnerable, but often slip through the system. As they rarely engage in traditional therapy, non-traditional interventions may offer a viable alternative that should be explored and harnessed for this population. In addition, traditional interventions are delivered at enormous cost and with minimal success for this group. Using an innovative multidisciplinary design, the project plans to test four hypotheses about nature engagement to contribute to the growing field of nature-based interventions. Our approach offers an alternative that draws on existing community resources and benefits local organisations, young people and farmers.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101206
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Offending across the life-course: testing developmental and life-course theories of crime. There are many different explanations for why people start and stop offending. This project will draw on a range of Australian and international data to determine which explanations provide the most accurate description of why people engage in offending and the processes which lead offenders to stop offending.
Reducing recurrence in the child protection system. The project examines the factors associated with once-only and repeated notifications of child abuse and neglect. It is important that early intervention services for vulnerable children are targeted to ensure an evidence-based match between child and family needs and services.
A study of best practice in intervention with parental agreement: creating change with families in statutory child protection services. This project will explore how parental agreements can be used in statutory child protection services as an alternative to more intrusive forms of intervention. Expected outcomes include better use of parental agreements to enhance the protection of children and promote the well-being of vulnerable families.
A Prospective Study Of Traumatic Stress In Children Involved In Motor Vehicle Accidents
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$185,889.00
Summary
Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are relatively frequent major life trauma that represent significant life threatening experiences. Not surprisingly evidence suggests that MVAs represent a frequent trigger for the development of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), although studies have typically focussed upon adult survivors. Local statistics indicate a significant proportion of children will experience a MVA of sufficient severity to warrant attendance at hospital. This project is of significa ....Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are relatively frequent major life trauma that represent significant life threatening experiences. Not surprisingly evidence suggests that MVAs represent a frequent trigger for the development of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), although studies have typically focussed upon adult survivors. Local statistics indicate a significant proportion of children will experience a MVA of sufficient severity to warrant attendance at hospital. This project is of significance because it will provide badly needed information about the prevalence and course of emotional and behavioural problems in children following exposure to a serious MVA. More broadly the study should provide valuable information on post-traumatic stress responses in children. Furthermore, it will enable us to identify the factors that place children at particular risk of developing psychological problems following a MVA. This will provide information to help design of interventions to prevent the development of PTSD and other forms of psychopathology following MVAs. Such data will also permit identification of those children who are at particular risk of psychological morbidity after MVA trauma and for whom preventive interventions are most likely to be beneficial.Read moreRead less
Preventing Early Internalising Problems In The Preschool Setting: Randomised Controlled Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$893,870.00
Summary
Internalising mental health problems reflect inner emotional distress and encompass all symptoms of anxiety and depression. Affecting 1 in 7 Australian school-age children, many internalising problems persist into adulthood, impacting on personal wellbeing, family relations and workforce capabilities. This randomised prevention trial in the preschool-setting, screens for children at-risk and tests if a parenting program can reduce internalising problems across the population by school-entry.
Lost in Transition: supporting young people with complex support needs. This project seeks to improve the lives of young people with complex support needs who experience overlapping forms of disadvantage. It intends to investigate how best to support their frequent transitions between services, institutions and care environments. These transitions are particularly problematic for this group, and if poorly supported, have significant social and economic costs. The project aims to analyse early li ....Lost in Transition: supporting young people with complex support needs. This project seeks to improve the lives of young people with complex support needs who experience overlapping forms of disadvantage. It intends to investigate how best to support their frequent transitions between services, institutions and care environments. These transitions are particularly problematic for this group, and if poorly supported, have significant social and economic costs. The project aims to analyse early life transitions and the supports available and to suggest best practice for transition support and a framework for how to track transitions using existing data. Intended outcomes will inform policy and practice in how best to invest in supports for young people with complex needs as they make multiple transitions.Read moreRead less
What's best for my child? Parents' perspectives of childcare quality and early learning as contributors to childcare choice. This project will explore parents' understandings of early learning and childcare quality, and how these understandings contribute to childcare choice. The project will inform the Australian Government's policy directive of giving children the best start in life and support parents' capacity to make choices that they consider are best for their child.
Improving contact between children in out-of-home care and their birth parents: developing and trialling a contact intervention. There is little evidence on how to best manage contact between the 37,648 children in care nationally and their birth parents. The aim of this project is to develop and trial a new model of contact which will reduce distress, improve children's relationships with their birth parents and increase successful reunifications in the long term.
Cognitive Impairments And Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms In Children With Traumatic Brain Injury: A Longitudinal Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$482,250.00
Summary
Traumatic brain injury in children is common with more than 2000 new cases a year in Queensland and Victoria alone. Many children who experience a brain injury go on to have long-term difficulties such as significant educational and social problems. Post-traumatic stress occurs in children following traumatic physical injury. However it is not clear to what extent this is so for children who have received a traumatic brain injury. Furthermore, when there is a traumatic brain injury and traumatic ....Traumatic brain injury in children is common with more than 2000 new cases a year in Queensland and Victoria alone. Many children who experience a brain injury go on to have long-term difficulties such as significant educational and social problems. Post-traumatic stress occurs in children following traumatic physical injury. However it is not clear to what extent this is so for children who have received a traumatic brain injury. Furthermore, when there is a traumatic brain injury and traumatic stress, it is not clear how these interact, how they influence long-term outcomes, and what factors such as pre-injury functioning and family support and distress mediate outcomes. These issues are very important since effective rehabilitation of children following traumatic brain injury is essential to maximise long-term functioning and minimise disability. To be effective, rehabilitation must be guided by the knowledge about key factors that determine the recovery process. This study aims to provide answers to these questions by following two cohorts of children (aged 6-14) over 18 months after receiving a traumatic brain injury. In total 240 children will be recruited from Brisbane and Melbourne hospitals. They will be assessed at three, six, twelve and eighteen months post-injury using measures of cognitive, psychological and social functioning. Information on parent distress and behaviours will also be obtained. The information obtained will provide the basis for the development of a specific rehabilitation strategy for children with traumatic brain injury, including information on strategies to help prevent any confounding impact of post-traumatic stress on recovery.Read moreRead less