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Access to adequate nutrition is a human right. In 2023, 23% of Australian households were severely food insecure, reducing food intake, skipping meals or days of eating. Food insecurity in early childhood is linked to poor health and development. Specifically, breakfast provides children with the necessary nutrients required for sustained attention, memory, and cognitive growth. Australian research has reported that one in three children aged 8–18 years regularly skip breakfast. However, there is little understanding of the prevalence of food insecurity among young children in Australia.
Aboriginal children and families contend with higher rates of preventable infectious diseases that can be attributed to their immediate living environment. The environments in which children spend most of their time are their homes and schools. We aimed to understand the opportunities in the school setting to support student skin health and wellbeing through environmental health activities, how these activities were completed, and the barriers to their implementation.
This project provides guidance to help school leaders review the evidence for different programs, as well as a review of universal, evidence-based pre-school and school-based social and emotional learning programs available in Australia.
The Life Course Centre is a national centre funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence Scheme and hosted through the University of Queensland with collaborating nodes at the University of Western Australia, Sydney University and University of Melbourne.
School bullying is a public health concern affecting the physical and mental health of children and young people. While school-based interventions to prevent bullying have been developed internationally, the effectiveness of many interventions has been mixed and modest.
Schools are increasingly recognized as important settings for mental health promotion, but it is unclear what actions schools should prioritize to promote student mental health and wellbeing. We undertook a policy review of global school-based mental health promotion policy documents from United Nations agencies to understand the frameworks they use and the actions they recommend for schools.
This study addresses a knowledge gap in the literature about early adolescent cyberbullying victimization and the related positive and negative emotional wellbeing and academic achievement outcomes experienced over time.
Although school-based delivery of online interventions can effectively prevent depression and other common mental disorders, little is known about the characteristics of students who engage with these programs. This study aimed to identify predictors of two indicators of adolescent engagement (program usage and skill enactment) with a school-based online depression prevention program. The study also explored the association between skill enactment and mental health outcomes.
Previous research has demonstrated wellbeing benefits for positive education programmes (PEPs) facilitated by clinicians or experts or outside the school context. The current study explored the effects of a Year 10 PEP led by teachers trained in positive education and embedded within the Australian secondary school context.
A diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition (autism) provides limited information regarding an individual’s level of functioning, information key in determining support and funding needs.