The production, use and effect of social work research. This project aims to reform social work research to improve the quality and effectiveness of human services. The human services industry is vital to many people’s quality of life, but lacks innovation and struggles to demonstrate its effectiveness. Crucially for social work, research expands thinking about how to respond to social disadvantage. This project intends to examine the scope and quality of Australian social work research in child ....The production, use and effect of social work research. This project aims to reform social work research to improve the quality and effectiveness of human services. The human services industry is vital to many people’s quality of life, but lacks innovation and struggles to demonstrate its effectiveness. Crucially for social work, research expands thinking about how to respond to social disadvantage. This project intends to examine the scope and quality of Australian social work research in child protection, disability services, and aged care; assess the use of this research to the human services sector and its effect on generating innovation; and develop strategies to advance the production, uptake, and effect of social work research.Read moreRead less
Rebuilding fiscal federalism in Australia: reforming the financial relationship between the Commonwealth and the States. The finances of the Australian States in the modern day face serious structural challenges. The aim of this project is to analyse and develop appropriate alternatives for reform of fiscal federalism in Australia, which would allow the States to gain access to income tax revenue as a secure source of funding in the future.
Markets, migration and the work of care in Australia. The objective of this project is to strengthen the conceptual foundations for social policy in the critical domains of aged care and child care. Projected child care and aged care labour shortages and shifts in government policy towards consumer-directed provision, including in-home care, have intensified calls for increased care migration in Australia. Yet the links between care markets and migration, and their consequences for the provision ....Markets, migration and the work of care in Australia. The objective of this project is to strengthen the conceptual foundations for social policy in the critical domains of aged care and child care. Projected child care and aged care labour shortages and shifts in government policy towards consumer-directed provision, including in-home care, have intensified calls for increased care migration in Australia. Yet the links between care markets and migration, and their consequences for the provision of care and the care workforce are poorly understood in the Australian context. The project aims to explain the links between care policies, employment regulation and migration in cross-national perspective, generating new analytical insights and strengthening the evidence base for policy.Read moreRead less
Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job qua ....Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job quality affects aged care quality; and identify care markets, policy regimes and work organisation that best support sustainable quality aged care.Read moreRead less
Selling The Punt: An interdisciplinary analysis of the extent and impact of sports wagering marketing strategies in Australia. Sports wagering is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market in Australia. Despite widespread concern about the impact of marketing strategies on the risky consumption of wagering products by young men and adolescents, research and policy has failed to keep up with this rapidly growing industry. This study will provide: detailed information about the range of ma ....Selling The Punt: An interdisciplinary analysis of the extent and impact of sports wagering marketing strategies in Australia. Sports wagering is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market in Australia. Despite widespread concern about the impact of marketing strategies on the risky consumption of wagering products by young men and adolescents, research and policy has failed to keep up with this rapidly growing industry. This study will provide: detailed information about the range of marketing strategies used to sell sports wagering in Australia; important qualitative insights into the impact of these marketing strategies on gambling behaviours; and, recommendations for a comprehensive public health approach to help counter the potential long and short term risks associated with sports wagering marketing.Read moreRead less
Maternal mental health and anaemia as determinants of infant health and development in resource constrained settings. A healthy start to life is an explicit Australian priority. Maternal health is a major determinant of the health and development of infants. This international collaborative project will contribute evidence about two maternal health conditions: mental disorders and anaemia, and their effects on infant health and development, through research in Vietnam where both are prevalent. ....Maternal mental health and anaemia as determinants of infant health and development in resource constrained settings. A healthy start to life is an explicit Australian priority. Maternal health is a major determinant of the health and development of infants. This international collaborative project will contribute evidence about two maternal health conditions: mental disorders and anaemia, and their effects on infant health and development, through research in Vietnam where both are prevalent. The findings will inform interventions to improve the health of mothers and infants in all resource-constrained settings, including among indigenous and refugee groups in Australia. It will advance Australia's international relations by strengthening a partnership with Viet Nam and contributing to a World Health Organization priority area. Read moreRead less
The big gamble: an interdisciplinary study of the normalisation of gambling. This project aims to explore industry and socio-cultural factors that contribute to the normalisation of gambling. Gambling is recognised as an urgent public health issue in Australia, posing a health threat to individuals and communities. However, there is limited empirical evidence about the processes that may contribute to the normalisation of different forms of gambling. This project aims to explore the interplay be ....The big gamble: an interdisciplinary study of the normalisation of gambling. This project aims to explore industry and socio-cultural factors that contribute to the normalisation of gambling. Gambling is recognised as an urgent public health issue in Australia, posing a health threat to individuals and communities. However, there is limited empirical evidence about the processes that may contribute to the normalisation of different forms of gambling. This project aims to explore the interplay between the sophisticated promotional tactics used by the gambling industry, and the socio-cultural mechanisms which may interact with these promotional tactics to normalise gambling beliefs in youth, women, and older adults. This project expects to help local governments and related stakeholders develop a comprehensive range of public health strategies aimed at preventing the risks and harms posed by the normalisation of gambling.Read moreRead less
Weight stigma in the preconception, pregnancy and postpartum periods. The overall aim of this project is to develop guidance for the translation of weight stigma evidence into preconception, pregnancy and postpartum obesity-related policy. It focuses on the socio-ecological factors that perpetuate weight stigma in women across the reproductive life phase, that is, in women planning a pregnancy, in women who are pregnant and in mothers who have given birth within a 24-month period.
Investigating the health benefits of volunteering by seniors. For humanitarian and economic reasons, it is important to promote health-enhancing behaviours among older people to optimise their well-being. Volunteering constitutes one such behaviour. While there is some evidence that older people benefit from volunteering, there is inadequate data for policy development purposes. This project will quantify the physical and mental outcomes of seniors’ engagement in volunteering activities to asses ....Investigating the health benefits of volunteering by seniors. For humanitarian and economic reasons, it is important to promote health-enhancing behaviours among older people to optimise their well-being. Volunteering constitutes one such behaviour. While there is some evidence that older people benefit from volunteering, there is inadequate data for policy development purposes. This project will quantify the physical and mental outcomes of seniors’ engagement in volunteering activities to assess the potential to enhance their health while providing much-needed labour inputs to the Australian economy. The results will also suggest ways to encourage older people to engage in volunteering by identifying effective ways to communicate the benefits to this audience.Read moreRead less
Developing methods for benefit measurement in health-related economic analyses and their use in selecting public health promotional programs. The program involves the creation, validation and use of a suite of instruments for evaluating outcomes of health promotional programs, including adult and childhood obesity, depression and smoking - areas that are universally recognised as being of importance for the Australian community. The program will provide multiple scoring algorithms for each of th ....Developing methods for benefit measurement in health-related economic analyses and their use in selecting public health promotional programs. The program involves the creation, validation and use of a suite of instruments for evaluating outcomes of health promotional programs, including adult and childhood obesity, depression and smoking - areas that are universally recognised as being of importance for the Australian community. The program will provide multiple scoring algorithms for each of the instruments in order to test the sensitivity of results to assumptions made about social values, and will produce Australian estimates of the person trade-off weights used in the Australian and Victorian Burden of Disease studies (which presently use Dutch PTO weights). Read moreRead less