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Emma Adams

Research Assistant, PhD student

Emma Adams

Acting Research Officer - Playce & PhD student

BExSc, MPH

emma.adams@telethonkids.org.au

Emma has been at The Kids Research Institute Australia since 2017 and is currently a Research Assistant in the Child Physical Activity, Health and Development team. This team works to uncover the best environments, policies, and programs to facilitate physically active lifestyles for lifelong health and wellbeing.

Emma works on the PLAYCE Policy Project (Play Active), which is a pragmatic randomised controlled trial to implement and evaluate a Physical Activity policy specific for early childhood education and care settings.

Emma has also worked with the Life Course Centre and Alcohol and Pregnancy teams at The Kids Research Institute Australia. Prior to this, Emma worked as a Research and Evaluation Officer at Diabetes WA and a Research Assistant at Curtin University.

Education and Qualifications

  • Master of Public Health, Curtin University
  • Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science, University of Notre Dame
Projects

Play Active Program – physical activity policy and training for Early Childhood Education and Care

Student achievement against national minimum standards for reading and numeracy in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course

Alert Program®

Published research

Developmental trends in young children’s device-measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour

Knowledge of developmental trends in meeting age-specific 24-hour movement behaviour guidelines is lacking. This study describes developmental trends in device-measured physical activity and sedentary time over a three-year period among Western Australian children aged two to seven years, including differences between boys and girls.

Physical Activity-Related Practices and Psychosocial Factors of Childcare Educators: A Latent Profile Analysis

Limited research investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators' involvement in promoting physical activity. The aim was to identify distinct profiles based on physical activity-related practices and psychosocial factors in ECEC educators and examine how they relate to the amount of time allocated to children's physical activity. A secondary analysis of educator-reported survey data from the Play Active study was undertaken.

Longitudinal effects of dog ownership, dog acquisition, and dog loss on children’s movement behaviours: findings from the PLAYCE cohort study

Regular physical activity is important for children's physical and mental health, yet many children do not achieve recommended amounts of physical activity. Dog ownership has been associated with increased physical activity in children, however, there have been no longitudinal studies examining this relationship.

Play Active physical activity policy intervention and implementation support in early childhood education and care: results from a pragmatic cluster randomised trial

Policy interventions to increase physical activity in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are effective in increasing physical activity among young children. However, a large proportion of ECEC services do not have nor implement a physical activity policy.

Transfers of disadvantage across three generations using latent class associations within families

There is a large volume of research on the persistence of advantage and disadvantage across generations. Intergenerational studies typically address family resources as independent factors, which ignores how risks cluster together and accumulate over time.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the Play Active policy intervention and implementation support in early childhood education and care: a pragmatic cluster randomised trial protocol

Daily physical activity is critical during the early years of life for facilitating children's health and development. A large proportion of preschool children do not achieve the recommended 3 h of daily physical activity. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are a key setting to intervene to increase physical activity. There is a significant need for ECEC specific physical activity policy, including clearer guidelines on the amount of physical activity children should do during care, and strategies for implementation of these guidelines.

RE-AIM evaluation of a teacher-delivered programme to improve the self-regulation of children attending Australian Aboriginal community primary schools

Benefits in teaching the Alert Program® to students in a region with high reported rates of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and self-regulation impairment

Overcoming the challenges of caring for a child with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder: a Pilbara community perspective

The caregivers in this study have gained valuable knowledge and wisdom through caring for a child with FASD

Improving self-regulation and executive functioning skills in primary school children in a remote Australian Aboriginal community: A pilot study of the Alert Program®

This community partnered pilot research, evaluated a school-based program to reduce the behavioral impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder