Friendly Schools
Team
Human Development and Community Wellbeing projects
ARC Life Course Centre projects
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Life Course Centre or LCC) is investigating the critical factors underlying disadvantage to provide life-changing solutions for policy and service delivery. We aim to identify the drivers of disadvantage, characterised by the spread of social and economic poverty within families and across generations, and to develop innovative solutions to reduce disadvantage
The Life Course Centre is a national centre funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence Scheme. Hosted through the University of Queensland, the University of Western Australia is one of the collaborating Universities that comprise the centre. Staff at the Telethon Kids Institute and UWA participate in a range of funded projects with the Life Course Centre.
Reports and Findings
The effects of sleep duration on child health and development
Children and adolescents spend more than one-third of their time sleeping. Yet, we know little about the causal impact of sleeping on their development. This paper is the first to exploit variation in local daily daylight duration measured on pre-determined diary dates across the same individuals through time as an instrument in an individual fixed effects regression model to draw causal estimates of sleep duration on a comprehensive set of child development indicators.
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingGetting creative: Using art-based techniques to identify how arts organizations enhance young people’s well-being
Mental health concerns present significant challenges for Australian youth. Arts organizations play a key role in promoting preventative mental health strate-gies through enhancing the social and emotional well-being (SEWB) of youth. However, little is known about how the arts promote SEWB and the processes and contexts through which this occurs.
Published research Human Development and Community Wellbeing School Attendance Youth Mental Health Child Physical Activity, Health and Development Mental health Physical activityPromoting mental well-being in Western Australia: Act Belong Commit® mental health promotion campaign partners’ perspectives
The Act Belong Commit® mental health promotion campaign aims to improve population mental well-being. Based on a social-franchising model, partnerships are sought with organizations offering 'mentally healthy activities' that foster social connectedness and mental well-being. There are four categories of partner organizations sought: Site (government agencies and health services), Associate (organizations with state-wide or national services), Community (local, grass-roots community groups) and Schools.
Published research Human Development and Community Wellbeing Mental healthInterpregnancy interval and adverse birth outcomes: a population-based cohort study of twins
To investigate associations between interpregnancy intervals (IPIs) and adverse birth outcomes in twin pregnancies.
Published research Human Development and Community Wellbeing Child Physical Activity, Health and Development Maternal health