Effects on young children's development of multiple and changeable childcare arrangements. Consistency of care is considered important for children's development in the first thee years. The study will investigate a concerning recent trend in childcare in Australian rural/regional and urban areas: the use of multiple and changeable care arrangements (MCC). Information from the study of the effects of MCC on children's development up to school age will inform policy on flexible childcare provisio ....Effects on young children's development of multiple and changeable childcare arrangements. Consistency of care is considered important for children's development in the first thee years. The study will investigate a concerning recent trend in childcare in Australian rural/regional and urban areas: the use of multiple and changeable care arrangements (MCC). Information from the study of the effects of MCC on children's development up to school age will inform policy on flexible childcare provision to assist families, to ensure optimal development in children, and to reduce later educational and social costs.
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Non-medical use of prescription stimulants by Australian university students: attitudes, prevalence of, and motivations for use. This study will provide a comprehensive understanding of student non-medical use of prescription stimulants. The findings will inform initiatives to prevent the abuse and misuse of pharmaceuticals, protect health and reduce the cost associated with inappropriate use of medicines.
Experimental Studies of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour. A key national challenge for social science is to develop and evaluate cost effective health behaviour interventions that may have relatively small effects at the individual level, but which, when aggregated across a large population, produce a measurable benefit. The trials required to evaluate such interventions are typically subject to biases arising from study design and measurement of behaviour, and theref ....Experimental Studies of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour. A key national challenge for social science is to develop and evaluate cost effective health behaviour interventions that may have relatively small effects at the individual level, but which, when aggregated across a large population, produce a measurable benefit. The trials required to evaluate such interventions are typically subject to biases arising from study design and measurement of behaviour, and therefore result in poor estimates of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. By quantifying the extent to which aspects of the research process affect estimates of intervention efficacy, efforts to address national health priorities such as physical inactivity, smoking, hazardous drinking, and poor nutrition will be enhanced.Read moreRead less
Pathways to social cohesion and social change: opinion-based groups and the dynamic formation of identities. This project will update the understanding of political conflict by exploring groups based around shared opinions. It will show that groups are likely to be more successful in their political campaigns when they tie their causes to national and other positive identifies.
Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the c ....Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the critical importance of family involvement with schools to effect enduring change and the difficulties of achieving this within current structures. We address this challenge by nurturing whole-school culture change, providing teacher professional development, and locating family support resources within schools to promote home-school partnerships, family functioning, and child well-being. Read moreRead less
Reducing fire deaths - a new approach to smoke alarms. Disturbingly, those most at risk of dying in residential fires are also least likely to awaken to the current smoke alarm signal, now mandatory in Australian residences. This project will develop a new alarm (using Gibsonian, naturalistic sounds and/or a voice signal) and compare its waking efficacy with the current smoke alarm. Testing will involve three vulnerable groups; sleep deprived young adults, children and alcohol intoxicated. The r ....Reducing fire deaths - a new approach to smoke alarms. Disturbingly, those most at risk of dying in residential fires are also least likely to awaken to the current smoke alarm signal, now mandatory in Australian residences. This project will develop a new alarm (using Gibsonian, naturalistic sounds and/or a voice signal) and compare its waking efficacy with the current smoke alarm. Testing will involve three vulnerable groups; sleep deprived young adults, children and alcohol intoxicated. The research is innovative with important implications for community public safety, the national and international smoke alarm industry, performance based models of building safety and our theoretical understanding of cognitive processing during sleep.Read moreRead less
Building successful diverse communities: what works and why? This project is focused on strengthening locally-based interventions to maximise community harmony in the context of demographic diversity (ethnic, cultural, religious). It also will strengthen the relationship between world-leading researchers and senior policy experts and provides valuable research training for three junior scholars.
Preventing injuries in crashes involving young drivers: development and evaluation of impulse control training. Road crashes are a leading cause of death and injury for young Australians, at tremendous economic, social and personal cost. This project has the potential to reduce this problem by developing the first driver training to fast-track development of mental processes that contribute to the most serious young driver crashes. Further, the industry partners are committed to translating the ....Preventing injuries in crashes involving young drivers: development and evaluation of impulse control training. Road crashes are a leading cause of death and injury for young Australians, at tremendous economic, social and personal cost. This project has the potential to reduce this problem by developing the first driver training to fast-track development of mental processes that contribute to the most serious young driver crashes. Further, the industry partners are committed to translating the research outcomes into policy and practice. This cutting-edge research will place Australia at the forefront of driver training research, and enhance road safety research capacity.Read moreRead less
Lexical expertise and reading skill: An experimental analysis of individual differences in written language proficiency. The Federal Government's current National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy highlights the importance of an evidence-based approach to teaching and assessing literacy. Considerable research and policy effort has been directed towards early reading programs. Much less attention has been paid to evaluating children's later development of reading comprehension and spelling pr ....Lexical expertise and reading skill: An experimental analysis of individual differences in written language proficiency. The Federal Government's current National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy highlights the importance of an evidence-based approach to teaching and assessing literacy. Considerable research and policy effort has been directed towards early reading programs. Much less attention has been paid to evaluating children's later development of reading comprehension and spelling proficiency, but there is wide diversity in these skills within the adult population that influence educational and vocational opportunity. This investigation of the factors underlying expertise in reading and spelling will provide evidence that can contribute to developing educational policy and curricula for the later stages of schooling.Read moreRead less
Testing a disease avoidance account of disgust. Inadequate hand-washing is responsible for some of the yearly 2 million deaths from diarrhoea (WHO), for an estimated 40% of the 80 million cases of foodborne illness in the US (CDC) and for approximately 20% of the 20,000 US deaths from hospital acquired infections (CDC). Although the value of hand-washing as a disease avoidance strategy is well understood by many, even healthcare professionals do not follow hand-washing guidelines. This project ....Testing a disease avoidance account of disgust. Inadequate hand-washing is responsible for some of the yearly 2 million deaths from diarrhoea (WHO), for an estimated 40% of the 80 million cases of foodborne illness in the US (CDC) and for approximately 20% of the 20,000 US deaths from hospital acquired infections (CDC). Although the value of hand-washing as a disease avoidance strategy is well understood by many, even healthcare professionals do not follow hand-washing guidelines. This project examines why the emotion of disgust engenders such potent avoidance of certain disease vectors (e.g. faeces). The project should lead to an understanding of how we can get inadequate hand-washing to also evoke disgust and thus to new and powerful strategies to improve hand-washing compliance.Read moreRead less