Evaluation of a Training Program for Staff to Recognize Depression Among Aged People Living in Residential and Community Care. Depression is a significant problem among older people, and is likely to increase in prevalence with the aging of the population. A large percentage of depressed older people fail to receive treatment because their depression is not diagnosed. This illness leads to high economic and social costs if it is not diagnosed and treated. This project will evaluate the effective ....Evaluation of a Training Program for Staff to Recognize Depression Among Aged People Living in Residential and Community Care. Depression is a significant problem among older people, and is likely to increase in prevalence with the aging of the population. A large percentage of depressed older people fail to receive treatment because their depression is not diagnosed. This illness leads to high economic and social costs if it is not diagnosed and treated. This project will evaluate the effectiveness of a training program to assist carers to detect depression, and so refer older people for treatment of this condition. Read moreRead less
Intergenerational transmission of dietary behaviour. The health of future generations depends largely on the health of current generations. Bad eating habits associated with obesity and other chronic diseases are often passed from parents to children. This study will provide insight into the ways in which these habits are perpetuated within families of various cultural backgrounds. It will establish how assessing family health history can be used as a tool to help identify and modify the risk of ....Intergenerational transmission of dietary behaviour. The health of future generations depends largely on the health of current generations. Bad eating habits associated with obesity and other chronic diseases are often passed from parents to children. This study will provide insight into the ways in which these habits are perpetuated within families of various cultural backgrounds. It will establish how assessing family health history can be used as a tool to help identify and modify the risk of chronic, life-threatening disease in families and individuals. If proven effective, this tool can be rolled out nationwide to help promote and maintain healthier diets in Australian families and reduce the economic burden on the government.Read moreRead less
Fertility Management of Koalas, Kangaroos and Wallabies. The aims of this work are to test a commercially available long-acting contraceptive on large populations of kangaroos and koalas, and to devise efficient, economic and practical ways of delivering these contraceptives to the animals. The outcome will be a system of controlling the number of these animals which is economically realistic and acceptable to national and international communities. The contraceptive is administered as a small, ....Fertility Management of Koalas, Kangaroos and Wallabies. The aims of this work are to test a commercially available long-acting contraceptive on large populations of kangaroos and koalas, and to devise efficient, economic and practical ways of delivering these contraceptives to the animals. The outcome will be a system of controlling the number of these animals which is economically realistic and acceptable to national and international communities. The contraceptive is administered as a small, subcutaneous implant in the back of the neck. It can be inserted very quickly and has no harmful side effects. A further outcome may be its adoption in other parts of the world, to the advantage of the company which manufactures it.Read moreRead less
Strengthening community partnerships to promote adolescent school engagement and prevent problems such as alcohol misuse and violence. The project will reduce community rates of adolescent school non-attendance, adolescent alcohol misuse and antisocial behaviour. Adolescent school exclusion, alcohol use and antisocial behaviour are highly prevalent in Australia, and can be reduced using a variety of strategies that are coordinated at the school and community level. The project will decrease adol ....Strengthening community partnerships to promote adolescent school engagement and prevent problems such as alcohol misuse and violence. The project will reduce community rates of adolescent school non-attendance, adolescent alcohol misuse and antisocial behaviour. Adolescent school exclusion, alcohol use and antisocial behaviour are highly prevalent in Australia, and can be reduced using a variety of strategies that are coordinated at the school and community level. The project will decrease adolescent problems through community improvements in child and adolescent protective influences and reductions in risk influences. Furthermore, the project will equip communities with the capacity to learn how to identify and implement strategies to address the major influences that have the potential to reduce adolescent behaviour problems.Read moreRead less
Understanding and Addressing Informal Voting in Victoria. Victoria's informal vote rate is high and rising. In order to combat the problem of hundreds of thousands of 'lost votes' at Victorian state and local government elections we must first understand it. This collaboration with the Victorian Electoral Commission addresses the problem at both state and local levels over 3 election periods using 4 distinct studies. We combine experimental data, aggregate-level data and individual-level data to ....Understanding and Addressing Informal Voting in Victoria. Victoria's informal vote rate is high and rising. In order to combat the problem of hundreds of thousands of 'lost votes' at Victorian state and local government elections we must first understand it. This collaboration with the Victorian Electoral Commission addresses the problem at both state and local levels over 3 election periods using 4 distinct studies. We combine experimental data, aggregate-level data and individual-level data to provide a thorough and multi-dimensional picture of informal voting. We will then propose remedies to be trialled and assessed. Taken together, our studies will represent the first multi-dimensional analysis of informality to be conducted in any Western democracy.
Read moreRead less
Exploring resilience in relation to physical activity and dietary behaviours among children from neighbourhoods of low socioeconomic position. The link between social disadvantage and poor health, across a broad age range, is a serious public health challenge. Current interventions to promote healthy weight-related behaviours among young people ignore the motivators and barriers unique to demographic sub-groups, and are largely ineffective. The personal and socio-environmental correlates of heal ....Exploring resilience in relation to physical activity and dietary behaviours among children from neighbourhoods of low socioeconomic position. The link between social disadvantage and poor health, across a broad age range, is a serious public health challenge. Current interventions to promote healthy weight-related behaviours among young people ignore the motivators and barriers unique to demographic sub-groups, and are largely ineffective. The personal and socio-environmental correlates of healthy behaviours among young South Australians identified in this study are likely to be relevant to low socioeconomic neighbourhoods in other states and territories. As such, this study will offer new insights into intervention design that will give impetus to the efforts of researchers, policy makers and practitioners throughout Australia.Read moreRead less
Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. This project aims to equip governments and civil society stakeholders with evidence-based options to improve the structure and operations of integrity institutions, by undertaking a second National Integrity System Assessment. Public integrity is vital to social and economic prosperity and the quality of democracy. This project intends to identify new, more effective strategies to prevent co ....Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. This project aims to equip governments and civil society stakeholders with evidence-based options to improve the structure and operations of integrity institutions, by undertaking a second National Integrity System Assessment. Public integrity is vital to social and economic prosperity and the quality of democracy. This project intends to identify new, more effective strategies to prevent corruption and other integrity violations; coordinate the work of integrity institutions; ensure their accountability; and measure the effectiveness of integrity and anti-corruption policy settings. This research is expected to contribute to better evaluation of integrity policies worldwide.Read moreRead less
Are kangaroos jeopardizing conservation outcomes? There is concern that grazing by over-abundant kangaroos is jeopardising the goals of arid conservation reserves, but there is little evidence about the extent of their impacts. The goal of this proposal is to quantify kangaroos' grazing effects on biodiversity within arid conservation reserves. The results will provide a whole ecosystem understanding of how overgrazing by kangaroos influences the biodiversity conservation value of the vast lands ....Are kangaroos jeopardizing conservation outcomes? There is concern that grazing by over-abundant kangaroos is jeopardising the goals of arid conservation reserves, but there is little evidence about the extent of their impacts. The goal of this proposal is to quantify kangaroos' grazing effects on biodiversity within arid conservation reserves. The results will provide a whole ecosystem understanding of how overgrazing by kangaroos influences the biodiversity conservation value of the vast landscapes of arid Australia. Managers of many conservation reserves, including our project partners, and policy-makers need the information that our experiments will provide to inform the development of strategies to optimise biodiversity conservation and manage the impacts of kangaroos.Read moreRead less
Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess c ....Understanding Australia by analysing wastewater during the Census 2021 . This project aims to utilise the Australian Census 2021, a unique opportunity to link exposure to chemical and biological hazards with catchment socio-demographic data via systematic wastewater analysis. The project is expected to advance our capabilities to identify emerging hazards and understand factors that affect spatiotemporal trends in hazards across Australia. Moreover, in a world first, the project aims to assess chemical fate on a national level by linking sales/use with fate and release from wastewater treatment plants and assess treatment efficiency at >100 plants around Australia. The project expects to provide insight for government, wastewater managers and industry into hazards that may affect environmental and human health.Read moreRead less
Understanding and Managing the Occupational Health Impacts on Investigators of Internet Child Exploitation. Through developing best practice models for managing vicarious trauma in investigators of Internet child exploitation, the project will result in enhanced job satisfaction and less burnout of workers, and reduced health costs for policing organisations. Thus the project addresses a serious occupational health issue and contributes to the goal of promoting and maintaining good health. Furth ....Understanding and Managing the Occupational Health Impacts on Investigators of Internet Child Exploitation. Through developing best practice models for managing vicarious trauma in investigators of Internet child exploitation, the project will result in enhanced job satisfaction and less burnout of workers, and reduced health costs for policing organisations. Thus the project addresses a serious occupational health issue and contributes to the goal of promoting and maintaining good health. Further, by better managing the occupational health of investigators, the project will enhance the capacity of police organisations to deliver on their mission of investigating and preventing Internet child exploitation. This in turn contributes to the reduced consumption of Internet child exploitation and the associated traumatisation of abused victims. Read moreRead less