Understanding And Influencing Physical Activity To Improve Population Health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,668,376.00
Summary
Three of Australia's leading researchers on physical activity and population health will use new NHMRC program grant funding to consolidate and extend their already internationally-recognised studies. Doing regular physical activity is very important for maintaining good health. It helps to prevent weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and breast and colon cancer. Unfortunately, most Australian adults are not active enough for health benefits. Rates of overweight and obesity are increasing ....Three of Australia's leading researchers on physical activity and population health will use new NHMRC program grant funding to consolidate and extend their already internationally-recognised studies. Doing regular physical activity is very important for maintaining good health. It helps to prevent weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and breast and colon cancer. Unfortunately, most Australian adults are not active enough for health benefits. Rates of overweight and obesity are increasing rapidly; more than 50% of Australian adults are above the healthy weight range. Rates of type 2 diabetes have doubled in the past 20 years. New ideas and practical tools are therefore needed to tackle these serious ‘diseases of inactivity’. To this end, Professors Neville Owen, Adrian Bauman and Wendy Brown will bring together innovative and practically useful scientific approaches drawn from psychology, epidemiology and exercise physiology. The approach is interdisciplinary – it combines theories and methods from their individual disciplines in an innovative manner, within a public health framework. Their research to date has developed better methods for measuring people’s exercise habits and has provided new insights into how personal, social and environmental circumstances can make people less active. They have also shown how to design and deliver wide-reaching programs for different social groups and evaluated their effectiveness. Their new research program will build on and significantly extend these ideas and approaches into new areas.For example, they will develop new measures of incidental physical activity and sedentary behaviour and will develop and test new, complex community interventions.Their new program will involve in-depth study of some of the most challenging researchproblems in an important and under-researched area of public health. They will further combine their disciplines and the skills of their research team in new, creative and practical ways, to answer important research questions about physical activity and population health. These ideas and approaches will be used to identify practical ways to help more people to be more physically active.Read moreRead less
Building Capacity For Physical Activity Research In Population Health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,118,560.00
Summary
The program will focus on the 'diseases of inactivity' and will look at factors like obtaining accurate statistics on rates of inactivity and better statistics on which social groups are least active. It will look at: • the types of activity that are best for different people; • what the best types of exercise programs are; • the types of information campaigns that will be most effective; and • how community amenities and local environments might be used to help people to be active in ways that ....The program will focus on the 'diseases of inactivity' and will look at factors like obtaining accurate statistics on rates of inactivity and better statistics on which social groups are least active. It will look at: • the types of activity that are best for different people; • what the best types of exercise programs are; • the types of information campaigns that will be most effective; and • how community amenities and local environments might be used to help people to be active in ways that are more convenient and enjoyable.Read moreRead less
Centre Of Research Excellence In The Early Prevention Of Obesity In Childhood
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,483,243.00
Summary
One in five Australian children are already overweight or obese at age 5 years, by the time of school entry. Early childhood is a period when physical inactivity and poor eating habits become established and may persist life-long. We propose a Centre of Research Excellence in the Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood. The Centre aims to reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related behaviours in the first five years of life, and their future impact.
Enhancing Understanding Of The Combined Influence Of Physical Activity And Sleep As CVD Risk Factors
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$476,728.00
Summary
Physical activity and sleep both impact health but are rarely considered as joint influences of health. I lead a research group that combines epidemiology and intervention research to generate unique insights to better understand how these behaviours jointly impact health and develop, evaluate and disseminate interventions to improve these behaviours.
Scalability Of The Transform-Us! Program To Promote Children's Physical Activity And Reduce Prolonged Sitting In Victorian Primary Schools
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$549,823.00
Summary
Transform-Us! is an innovative primary school program that has been found to substantially increase children’s physical activity levels, reduce sitting time and benefit health. With simple changes to the school and classroom environments and teaching practices (eg, standing lessons) we will work with partners in the education and health systems to translate this program across Victorian primary schools to determine the real-world implementation and impact of this program over 5 years.
Sitting Less And Moving More: Population Health Research To Understand And Influence Sedentary Behaviour
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$6,367,518.00
Summary
The majority of Australian adults spend most of their waking hours sitting: at home, at work, and in their cars; most do not participate in exercise or sport. This leads to weight gain and to diseases of inactivity (particularly diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression). New research will measure sitting time and the physical activity in people's daily lives, what factors encourage inactivity, and how to increase activity levels, especially among the ageing 'baby boomer' population.
Innovative Methods For Assessing And Intervening On Children’s Sedentary Behaviour And Health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$745,823.00
Summary
Very little is known about the independent health consequences of time spent sitting among children. This is in part because of the challenges of assessing these behaviours. In addition, evidence of the effectiveness of strategies to reduce children’s sitting time is lacking. This fellowship will use cutting-edge techniques to objectively assess children’s sitting time and will also examine the effectiveness of interventions to reduce sitting time and promote health.
Advancing Population-based Approaches To Physical Activity Participation In Rural Communities
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$443,964.00
Summary
Nationally the public health burden of inactive lifestyle is increasing; yet no research is being conducted in rural areas. My research will contribute new knowledge on best-practice physical activity programs designed to reach and meet the needs of people in rural areas. This is an innovative extension of my previous research that has produced programs that reduce the burden of chronic disease risk factors, by helping people to achieve optimal health and well-being through physical activity.
Improving Health And Wellbeing In The Tasmanian State Service Workfoorce
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$886,921.00
Summary
Workplaces are increasingly being seen as important settings for health promotion interventions to promote health, prevent chronic disease, and improve workforce productivity. This project, which involves researchers at the University of Tasmania in partnership with the Tasmanian Government, aims to assess the effectiveness of a major health and wellbeing program (Healthy@Work) being delivered to all Tasmanian State Service employees and to guide the development of future programs.