Improving Outcomes For Children With Emotional And Behavioural Difficulties Through A School-based Intervention: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$88,662.00
Summary
Over 50% of adult mental illness begins during childhood. Our health system is under increasing strain to support such children, especially public services. Teachers are in an ideal position to detect emerging issues and organise intervention, but they need help. This project aims to explore the potential for a collaboration between health and education to identify children with emotional and behavioural difficulties sooner and more accurately, and put in place effective strategies of support.
A Healthy Promoting School Approach To Encourage Children To Wear Helmets
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$165,708.00
Summary
Each year around sixty Australians die as a result of bicycle crashes and thousands more are injured, some so severely they are permanently disabled. The largest proportion of the population affected by bicycle-related injuries are children and adolescents. These injuries are largely preventable if riders wore helmets. Some studies suggest wearing a helmet reduces the likelihood of head injury by more than 75%. Approximately 80% of Western Australian primary school students who ride to school we ....Each year around sixty Australians die as a result of bicycle crashes and thousands more are injured, some so severely they are permanently disabled. The largest proportion of the population affected by bicycle-related injuries are children and adolescents. These injuries are largely preventable if riders wore helmets. Some studies suggest wearing a helmet reduces the likelihood of head injury by more than 75%. Approximately 80% of Western Australian primary school students who ride to school wear a helmet. Students aged 10-12 years are on the cusp of a dramatic decline in helmet usage - secondary school students helmet usage rates are observed at 43%. This project aims to provide a supportive school environment for road users, and with the assistance of their peers, skill children with strategies and dialogue to resist peer pressure not to wear a helmet in order to arrest this rate of decline when they reach secondary school. This three-year study will compare the impact of a whole-school road safety intervention based on the health promoting school model to the standard road safety curriculum. For the study cohort ie: Year 5 - 6 students, the focus will be on bicycle safety, in particular, correct helmet usage. The intervention includes innovative participatory strategies to develop a supportive school environment for road users plus peer-teacher classroom activities that encourage the correct use of bicycle helmets for Year 5 - 6 students (and their parents). The intervention trial will be conducted with 30 Western Australian primary schools in 2000 and 2001. Other target groups of the intervention are teachers, Year 7 peer teachers, school administrators and the school community. Potential benefits of this project include the provision of a model health promoting school intervention to increase the frequency of correct helmet wearing by children which in time may lead to a reduction in bicycle-related morbidity and mortality in Western Australia.Read moreRead less
Understanding Parent Behaviours That Promote Language In Slow-to-talk Toddlers
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$95,144.00
Summary
Research suggests that parent-child interactions can have a positive effect on the language development of preschool age children. This community-based study aims to identify which specific parent behaviours promote language in a group of 200 slow-to-talk toddlers. If specific parent behaviours are found to result in better language outcomes in slow-to-talk toddlers, the results will have the potential to promote far more pro-active management of early language delay.
Evaluation Of A Healthy Lifestyle Intervention Targeting Young People Living In Out-of-home Care
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$69,099.00
Summary
Recent National findings reveal that on average, 45% of Australian children aged 5-14 years watch TV for at least 2 hours/day. Given the risk for adverse cognitive, behavioral and physical health outcomes related to excessive TV viewing, including childhood obesity, there is an urgent need to design effective interventions to reduce unhealthy TV habits in the early years. My project responds to this need.
Obesity, Self Image, Eating Behaviour, Nutriton And Activity In Australian Preadolescent School Children.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$167,328.00
Summary
Obesity in children is increasing, but there is a great deal of concern about whether education about diet and obesity will produce eating disorders. While there is a lot of information about the eating practices, body image worries and self esteem in teenagers, there is no information really available about what primary school children in this country know about eating, about whether they diet or not, where they get their information about dieting and about their self esteem and body image part ....Obesity in children is increasing, but there is a great deal of concern about whether education about diet and obesity will produce eating disorders. While there is a lot of information about the eating practices, body image worries and self esteem in teenagers, there is no information really available about what primary school children in this country know about eating, about whether they diet or not, where they get their information about dieting and about their self esteem and body image particularly if they are overweight or very thin. It is important to gather this information as it is in the teen years that problems about eating and body image really emerge. These concerns must be starting in primary school children, This study aims to gather this information and more from 2442 primary school children across NSW. This information will enable proper education programs about eating, body image and obesity to be developed so no harm is caused by trying to reduce obesity. This study will also gather important information about how many children are obese or have eating disorders and will see what part their physical activity plays in their weight and the way they go about controlling it. To have healthy adults in the next generation, with less obesity and eating problems, it is important to gather information about nutrition and eating beliefs, dieting, body image and self esteem in children now.Read moreRead less
Understanding The Development Of Dental Fear Among Australian Children And Adults By Applying A Comprehensive Conceptual Model
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,482.00
Summary
Dental fear acts as a significant barrier to obtaining dental care, and leads to poorer dental health, greater dental treatment needs and reduced school and work performance. Approximately 1 in 7 children and adults have high dental fear. Understanding how dentists are being trained, what they are doing in their dental practise, and how and why dental fear develops and is maintained, are fundamental steps in trying to reduce this important dental, mental, and public health issue.
The European Commission study - Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) will examine the most effective model of primary health care (medical and non-medical) for children. We will complement this work through specific Australian studies on (1) experiences at the primary/secondary care interface, (2) development and testing of paediatric quality measures and (3) determining if and how primary care addresses inequity; ensuring all the results are translatable outside the European context.