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Research

There is a need for effective and youth-friendly approaches to suicide prevention, and social media presents a unique opportunity to reach young people. Although there is some evidence to support the delivery of population-wide suicide prevention campaigns, little is known about their capacity to change behaviour, particularly among young people and in the context of social media. Even less is known about the safety and feasibility of using social media for the purpose of suicide prevention.

Research

Substance use is a public health issue with a greater burden in rural areas. Barriers to accessing services are exacerbated for rural substance users, with confidentiality concerns, longer travel distances, workforce issues and limited availability of services. This paper presents results from a study exploring substance users' experiences of accessing services in Western Australia's South West.

Research

Unmet language and literacy needs are common among young people who are involved with youth justice systems. However, there is limited research regarding the functional text-level language skills of this population with regard to narrative macrostructure (story grammar) and microstructure (semantics and syntax) elements. In this study, we examined macrostructure and microstructure elements in the oral and written narrative texts of 24 adolescent students of a youth detention centre. The students, who were aged 14- to 17- years, were all speakers of Standard Australian English, and 11 (46%) students met criteria for language disorder (LD).

Research

Stillbirth is a critical public health issue worldwide. While the rates in high-income countries are relatively low, there are persistent between-country disparities. We compared stillbirth rates and trends in Wales and the State of Western Australia (WA), Australia, and provide insights into any differences.

Research

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, social distancing restrictions limited access to face-to-face mental health services in Western Australia (WA), necessitating a rapid transition to non-face-to-face alternatives, including telehealth. The current study investigated barriers and facilitators to telehealth access and engagement, and preferences for child and youth mental health service delivery during and beyond COVID-19.

Research

The Multidimensional Adolescent Functioning Scale (MAFS) is a 23-item, self-report questionnaire assessing psychosocial functioning in adolescents aged 12-17 years. It captures three domains of functioning: 'general functioning', 'family-related functioning', and 'peer-related functioning'. The original English version has good psychometric properties. The aim of the current paper was to translate the MAFS to Dutch and to investigate the psychometric properties of this translation.

News & Events

Dr Penelope Strauss will use a prestigious Post-Doctoral Fellowship from Suicide Prevention Australia to develop and trial a world-first intervention.

News & Events

Youth mental health researcher Penelope Strauss has been named an AMP Tomorrow Maker – the first researcher from The Kids Research Institute Australia to win one of the annual AMP Foundation grants.

Research

Despite the medical and surgical improvements of paediatric burn injuries, burn injuries can be a painful and traumatic experience for the child and their family. It is therefore important to explore the experiences of caregivers who support their child throughout the burn journey. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the traumatic nature of paediatric burns on the family from a caregiver's perspective.

Research

Investigating the impact of early childhood ventilation tube insertion (VTI) on long-term language outcomes.