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Research

Supporting Maternal and Child Mental Health Through Dietary Changes Focused on the Gut Microbiota

Growing evidence from preclinical studies, epidemiology, and randomized controlled trials supports a causal role for diet quality in mental disorder risk, and clinical psychiatric guidelines now place diet, along with other life-style behaviors, as foundational treatment targets for mood disorders.

Research

Don't Get Lost in Translation: Integrating Developmental and Implementation Sciences to Accelerate Real-World Impact on Children's Development, Health, and Wellbeing

Translation of developmental science discoveries is impeded by numerous barriers at different stages of the research-to-practice pipeline. Actualization of the vast potential of the developmental sciences to improve children's health and development in the real world is imperative but has not yet been fully realized.

News & Events

Playful Parenting

Playful parenting is engaging & connecting with your child through different forms of play. Play is an enjoyable activity that is freely entered into, with a goal of shared joy.

News & Events

Building a secure attachment with your child

Secure attachments help children build resilience, self-worth, emotion regulation skills and healthy relationships.

Research

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders screening tools: A systematic review

Screening facilitates the early identification of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and prevalence estimation of FASD for timely prevention, diagnostic, and management planning.

Research

Oral and written communication skills of adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) compared with those with no/low PAE: A systematic review

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with growth deficits and neurodevelopmental impairment including foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Difficulties with oral and written communication skills are common among children with PAE; however, less is known about how communication skills of adolescents who have PAE compare with those who do not.

Research

Time-out for well-being: A mixed methods evaluation of attitudes and likelihood to engage in different types of online emotional well-being programmes in the perinatal period

Positive maternal mental health during the perinatal period contributes to general well-being and positive emotional bonds with the child, encouraging an optimal developmental trajectory. Online interventions to enhance maternal well-being and develop coping skills, such as meditation-based interventions, can be a low-cost way to improve mother and child outcomes.

Research

Charting developmental trajectories from 12 to 36 months and associated early risk and protective factors

To investigate developmental trajectories in early childhood and predictors of class assignment.

Research

Australian Psychologists Experiences with Digital Mental Health: a Qualitative Investigation

Digital mental health is changing the landscape of service delivery by addressing challenges associated with traditional therapy. However, practitioners’ use of these resources remains underexamined.

Research

Basic epidemiology of wellbeing among children and adolescents: A cross-sectional population level study

Wellbeing and mental health are fundamental rights of children and adolescents essential for sustainable development. Understanding the epidemiology of child and adolescent wellbeing is essential to informing population health approaches to improving wellbeing and preventing mental illness.