Featured
2023 has made headlines as the hottest year in recorded history, and Australia is gearing up for a serious bushfire season. In today’s post, VicHealth Postdoctoral Research Fellow Rongbin Xu (@RongbinXu) of Monash University (@MonashUni) shares his research into how bushfire smoke is an increasingly hazardous public health threat and needs a more focused policy response.
This year marked the 75th year of Australia’s Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). It also saw the release of the largest study in the AMEP’s history to better understand participation in the program, and the AMEP’s broader impact on employment and welfare outcomes. Associate Professor Francis Mitrou and Dr Ha Nguyen from Telethon Kids Institute (@telethonkids) and Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) outline some of the key findings.
Policy lessons don’t travel on their own - a lot goes into helping them from their place of origin to new homes (or stopping them from getting there). Drawing on research with disaster management personnel in Queensland, Dr Jenny van der Arend (@JennyvdA) and A/Prof Alastair Stark distil a ‘traveller’s guide’ of practical insights for policymakers who want to help lessons from place to place. The post is based on their new article in the Journal of European Public Policy and is free to read until October 2023.
LGBTIQA+ people are more likely to experience marginalisation, stigma, social exclusion, abuse, and violence than the wider community. Philippa Moss, CEO of ACT-based LGBTIQA+ peer-led health service Meridian, and Alison Barclay, researcher and social impact consultant, explain how peer-led services are helping to address this gap, and what more needs to be done.
Victoria recognised forced marriage as a form of family violence 4 years ago, however there’s been no examination or reporting regarding its impact. Dr Siru Tan, Lecturer, Criminology, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, explores what can be done to increase opportunities for support. This article was originally published in Monash Lens.
Globally there is an increasing focus on the mental health and well-being of children and young people as youth mental health problems have replaced childhood mortality as the most significant challenge for society (WEF, 2020). Dr Sarah-Jane Fenton (@S_JFenton) presents findings from the early evaluation of a UK programme, which offers valuable insights (with Jo Ellins (@DrJoEllins) and the Health Services Management Centre (@_HSMCentre)).
We know that alcohol, gambling, tobacco and ultra-processed food products can harm health. But how much do we know about the industry associations representing their interests? In today’s piece, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Research Fellow Jennifer Lacy-Nichols (@JLacyNichols), MPH student Naomi Carr and MPH student Cara Platts (all of the University of Melbourne) discuss some of their research on harmful industry associations.
The social determinants of health is a concept that is widely understood in public health circles – access to education, housing, healthcare and income can have a profound impact on the health of individual and societies. But what are commercial determinants of health? In today’s piece, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Research Fellows Alexandra Chung (@Chung_Alexandra) of Monash University, Florentine Martino (@fp_martino) of Deakin University, and Jennifer Lacy-Nichols (@JLacyNichols) of the University of Melbourne explain how commercial actors influence health and argue for prioritisation of health over profits.
Good nutrition is a requisite for good health; examining the systems that enable some populations to eat well while others struggle has traditionally been examined using a social determinants of health lens. In today’s post, VicHealth postdoctoral researcher Christina Zorbas (@CZ_Christina) of Deakin University (@IHT_Deakin) teams up with Chat GPT to propose how power theories may illuminate inequities in food access and nutrition.
Measurement culture is becoming increasingly necessary for organisations striving to maximise their social impact. Dr Rhiannon Parker examines why this is important for helping the for-purpose sector stay relevant and effective in a rapidly changing landscape
The consensus from the UN, UNICEF and the WHO is that there is a fundamental relationship between human rights and mental health. Importantly, the UN has recognised that young people are often forgotten in the human rights framework and specific approaches should be used to ensure their rights are upheld because they differ significantly from those of younger children. They advocate that the most effective human-rights approach to young people’s mental health care should be based on public health and psychosocial support rather than overmedicalization and institutionalization.
My first experiences of co-production were in the national youth charity Woodcraft Folk (WCF). An organisation founded on principles of co-operation and youth empowerment whose trustee board has included a majority of young people for more than 20 years [1] [2] [3]. From joining, age 8, I was given responsibilities which contributed to collective aims. Co-producing events and campaigns with my peers in the self-organising 16-20 year old section were formative experiences [4]. Age 22, I began working at the head office as a youth empowerment development officer. My role was to support a steering group of young(er) people to run leadership training, improve representation in the organisation, and to have fun (allegedly then the only big lottery funded youth programme using ‘fun’ as an outcome measure!). Of course, it wasn’t perfect co-production - the holy grail – but, in these roles I witnessed the ‘magic’ and ‘electricity’ often spoken about in relation to co-production.
The sheer scale of placement breakdown and change for children in care in the UK has gathered increasing attention in recent years. We know that children and young people in residential care are more likely to experience placement breakdown and movement, often due to entering care later in adolescence, or being placed children’s homes which are inappropriate to meet their needs as a short term or emergency measure. It has also been noted that private residential placements can pose significant financial costs to local authority children’s services. In this blog, Helen Woods argues that it is vital then to consider what contributes to the success or failure of a residential placement.
In Anti-Poverty Week @AntiPovertyWeek it is worth reflecting on what lessons can be learnt from the experiences of, and government responses to, the COVID-19 pandemic – particularly in relation to mental health, financial stress and income support. One key question is whether the Australian Government's Coronavirus Supplement, a temporary income support payment for unemployed jobseekers during the height of COVID-19, protected mental health. This question is investigated by Life Course Centre @lifecourseAust Research Fellow Dr Ferdi Botha @FerdiBotha_MI of the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research @MelbInstUOM. This article was originally published in Austaxpolicy: Tax and Transfer Policy Blog.
The Australian Government recognises the current Census questions on cultural, ethnic and racial identity are inadequate. So what might better Census questions look like? And how would more comprehensive data on Australia’s ethnoracial diversity help to better address underlying social and economic inequalities? In Anti-Poverty Week (@AntiPovertyWeek), Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) researcher and sociologist Dr Rennie Lee (@Rennie_Lee) at The University of Queensland, and colleague Professor Farida Fozdar, sociologist at Curtin University, examine this important data collection issue that is vital for government policymaking.
Marcella Brassett from Democracy in Colour argues the national anti-racism strategy cannot be just another tick-a-box, saying “Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) have done our bit for diversity and inclusion ‘way out’ for white people with power. We need to act on every level to make Australia a safe place to live, work, build families and futures for everyone, not just Anglos.”
This article by Jennifer Browne (@DrJennBrowne), Jill Gallagher (@jillgal11942623) and colleagues demonstrates how to adopt a strengths-based approach in research about First Nations children’s health, and also shows us how to write about research in a strengths-based and respectful way. Their research highlights the links between physical health and social/emotional wellbeing, and individual health and community wellbeing. Originally published in The Conversation.
Globally 5% of people live with severe mental illness which includes schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders and bipolar disorder. Antipsychotic medication is the main treatment option and whilst helpful in controlling psychotic symptoms, they can cause debilitating side-effects. This may lead individuals to abruptly stop medication, without the knowledge of clinicians, which for many increases the likelihood of relapsing.
Innovation is at the heart of plans to reform adult social care across the four UK nations. In this blog, Nuffield Foundation POST Fellow, Katherine Davis explains that conversations with people who have experience of adult social care are vital to effective innovation.
The lack of public acknowledgement of sexual violence against women and children during the first month of UK lockdown could have long-term implications not only for individuals but for the services put in place to support them, a group of UK experts have argued in an article published by the Journal of Gender-Based Violence.
The Royal Commission into Family Violence found that appropriate supports for children and young people experiencing family violence were lacking. In a new report just released by Melbourne City Mission, the shortfalls and gaps are explored in depth, along with recommendations for strengthening the service response in ways appropriate for young people. Today’s analysis is a summary of key findings provided by co-authors Shorna Moore of Melbourne City Mission (@MelbCityMission) and Tanya Corrie (@TanyaCorrie) of Corrie Consulting. You can access the full report here: Amplify: Turning up the Volume on Young People and Family Violence.
Over half of the people in Australian prisons have been incarcerated before, which means that interventions to help people stay out of prisons are crucial. If people find employment after they are released, they are less likely to return to prison. Here Dr Caroline Doyle, Dr Sophie Yates, Professor Lorana Bartels, Dr Helen Taylor and Associate Professor Anthony Hopkins discuss their research into the employment experiences of people released from prison in the ACT.
Young people with lived experience of self-harm or suicidal behaviour should be at the forefront of designing, evaluating and implementing suicide prevention research.
You name it. As a suicide prevention researcher I have heard it all…by funders, ethics committees, Higher Education Health and Safety committees to name a few.
In this blog, I (Dr Maria Michail) share my experience of working in partnership with young people with lived experience of self-harm and suicidal behaviour to co-design of a guide titled “Visiting your General Practitioner: A guide for young people with lived experience of self-harm and suicidality”.
On the beautifully manicured courts of Wimbledon each summer, the shining image of tennis is on display. Superstars like Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic grace the crowd with their athletic prowess and earn significant financial rewards from the tournament, as well as through sponsorship deals from some of the world’s most recognized brands. However, this illusion contrasts starkly from the lived experience reality of most professional players.
Public health research generates a wealth of evidence but there are challenges when it comes to making that evidence available to audiences beyond the research sector. In today’s post, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Research Fellow Alexandra Chung (@Chung_Alexandra) of Monash University (@MonashNutrition) discusses a unique project that demonstrates the value of collaborative approaches to create and share knowledge with policymakers.