Healthy people families and communities
Healthy people, families and communities
Promoting physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing for all individuals and across all stages of life is key to the creation of inclusive, equitable and prosperous societies.
La Trobe researchers build clinical capability and policy expertise to enhance individual and community wellbeing, reduce disease, and create equitable health solutions for all. Our researchers partner with health research networks, non-profit organisations, industry and government.
La Trobe's research into Healthy People, Families and Communities contributes to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Selected impact stories
The Suicide Response Project (SRP) was funded by a Suicide Prevention Australia Suicide Prevention Research Fellowship awarded to A/Prof Darren Hedley.
Leading Team: Darren Hedley, Carina Chan, Karien Hill, Josephine Barbaro, Mick Leahy
Suicide is an issue which affects the Autistic and LGBTIQA+ communities in particular, as they can face unique challenges when it comes to mental health, often due to a lack of understanding. A multi-disciplinary team of experts at La Trobe University, along with people with lived experience of the challenges faced by Autistic and LGBTIQA+ communities, co-designed the Suicide Response Project website, which was launched in 2021 at the “Health, Wellbeing and Suicide Prevention in Autism” conference hosted by La Trobe University’s Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre.
The resources on the website - including 12 free modules, animated videos and downloadable fact sheets – are underpinned by Dr Karien Hill’s PhD research (supervised by A/Prof Carina Chan) on adapting the Bystander Intervention Model, which is highly effective at motivating people to act when a friend or family member is at risk of suicide. The website provides support to those at-risk from the Autistic and LGBTIQA+ communities focussed on knowledge-building and effective intervention techniques, and tips on how to detect and respond to suicide risk in others in a safe and supportive way.
In 2023, these resources were adapted and published on the R U OK website as ‘Tips to Help Support Neurodivergent People’, with videos covering myths, risk factors, warning signs, and who and how to help.
La Trobe student and Olympian Laura Paeglis
Leading Team: Kane Middleton and Danielle Vickery-Howe
In competition, elite archers are typically required to shoot at 70 metres, but when firing in a controlled setting such as a laboratory for the purposes of testing and biomechanical and performance analysis, the facilities often only allow for a far shorter range, which can limit the validity of the analysis. The facilities at La Trobe sports stadium, however, allow archers to fire from the lab up to 70 metres across a soccer pitch, collecting data which far more closely mimics competition. Seven elite Australian archers – including La Trobe student and Olympian Laura Paeglis – attended La Trobe in May 2024 for a series of fatigue testing, technical progression and injury prevention sessions led by La Trobe researcher Kane Middleton and Alice Ingley, the Head Archery Coach at the Victorian Institute of Sport. As Ingley stated ‘[La Trobe] definitely have the best set up with force plates and shooting outdoors for the 70 metre range’. The analysis protocol included the use of force plates to measure posture and balance, as well as a motion capture camera system to record biomechanics, with the data then available to coaches to design a training intervention. This was a collaborative project supported by performance staff Aaron Balloch and Milli Bilson from the Victorian Institute of Sport and extends the work completed by Damien OMeara from the New South Wales Institute of Sport.
Matt Driller talking to the Essendon group
Leading Team: Matt Driller and Shauna Stevenson
Sleep is essential to the wellbeing and performance of professional athletes. However, many struggle to maintain a healthy sleep routine due to the demands of training and competition. A study conducted in 2023 by La Trobe PhD student, Shauna Stevenson, under the supervision of Associate Professor Matt Driller, with players from Essendon Football Club, found that athletes should maximise their morning and daytime light exposure in order to improve the duration and quality of their sleep, hence optimising their performance and recovery. Essendon Football Club welcomed the results, with players now continuing to apply the principles of light exposure which the study showed to be effective. Essendon’s Head of Performance, Sean Murphy, stated, "The study's findings were highly relevant to our discussions with players about the critical role of sleep in performance and wellbeing. Through this research, we were able to demonstrate and educate in a practical setting. We continue to utilise these findings to consistently educate our players."
Leading Team: Alexandra James
For over 10 years, the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University has worked in partnership with LifeStyles® to develop their sex education portal, providing teaching resources to help educators develop lesson plans and classroom activities, as well as providing free Lifestyles sex-ed kits and products for schools across Australia and New Zealand. The Lifestyles quarterly newsletter developed by La Trobe researcher Alexandra James reaches over 1,000 educator subscribers, and provides timely information and resources on sexual health, STIs and contraception, but also issues related to emotional and social wellbeing, such as consent. ARCSHS also work in partnership with ElephantEd to review and develop their workshop content to ensure if reflects the latest research and contemporary thinking on sexual health issues. ElephantEd deliver sexual health school workshops to over 500 schools across Australia, reaching hundreds of thousands of students.
Leading Team: Sarah Callinan
La Trobe researcher Sarah Callinan – a member of the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research - is study director of the Australian arm of the International Alcohol Control study, the first international cohort study which measures the status and impacts of national or state level alcohol control policies and provides a monitoring tool for measurement of change over time. A focus of Callinan’s research has been on understanding how price policies will affect alcohol consumption among different types of drinkers (levels of drinking and income), and across different types of alcohol and settings (on-and off-premises).
Her research on alcohol pricing informed the introduction of new minimum price legislation in Wales and the Northern Territory, and has been cited in policy and guideline recommendations for unit pricing produced by the IMF, Public Health Scotland, the European Commission, and the WHO.
Callinan’s research into alcohol home delivery informed policy changes in NSW, and she is also developing a research base to address the conceptual and empirical issues in current psychometric approaches to measuring risky behaviours which can be used to develop an improved measure in the future.
Leading Team: Christian Barton, Danilo De Oliveira Silva, Amy Dennett and Allison Ezzat
In 2016, La Trobe Associate Professor of Physiotherapy and practising physiotherapist Christian Barton was studying for a Masters in Communications. His focus was on how to make it easier for practitioners and the public to access and utilise the latest academic research, and how to provide a pathway for researchers to translate their findings into practice. He established the not for profit TREK Education (Translating Research Evidence and Knowledge) with the vision of making ‘research evidence accessible and implementable to everyone’. The multi-site web platform provides content for those treating and experiencing chronic disease and musculoskeletal pain, which is co-designed, created and developed with the public and practitioners. Its major focus on presenting information through varied and engaging multimedia. The TREK platform includes:
- The My Knee Cap information portal, developed by La Trobe researcher Danilo De Oliveira Silva with support from Sao Paulo State University (UNESP). The site is listed as a trusted resource for treating patellofemoral pain by the Royal Australian College of Geneal Practitioners (RACGP) in their Handbook of Non-Drug Interventions (HANDI). It has been accessed by more than 37,000 patients, with the initial feasibility study showing that 20% of people reported complete recovery following use of the site.
- The Cancer Exercise Toolkit, created by La Trobe researcher and Eastern Health physiotherapist Amy Dennett with funding from the Pat Cosh trust. The site has received more than 31,000 views from clinicians in 26 countries.
- The Musculoskeletal Telehealth Toolkit, created by La Trobe researcher and physiotherapist Allison Ezzat with funding from the Pat Cosh Trust. The initial evaluation showed that 72% of users accessing the site changed their practice
Leading team: Dr Christian Barton, Professor Kay Crossley, Associate Professor Joanne Kemp, Dr Danilo De Oliveira Silva, Dr Marcella Pazzinatto, Dr Allison Ezzat and Dr Joshua Heerey, Professor Kay Crossley, Associate Professor Joanne Kemp & Dr Danilo De Oliveira Silva
In 2017, researchers at La Trobe University began the not-for-profit initiative GLA:D® Australia (Good Life with Osteoarthritis) with the aim of accelerating the implementation of national clinical guidelines into clinical practice for the benefit of the 1 in 5 Australians over the age of 45 who have osteoarthritis. The overall objectives of GLA:D® are to ensure that all people with osteoarthritis have equal access to evidence-based treatment irrespective of place of residence or financial situation, and that surgery is considered only when non-surgical treatment measures have not led to satisfactory outcomes. The program has trained more than 3,000 physiotherapists and exercise physiologists to deliver appropriate non-surgical care including education and exercise-therapy. The GLA:D Australia outcomes registry includes 18,000 participants. The perceived need for knee surgery is lower following GLA:D, with 5 in 6 knee participants, and 3 in 4 hip participants, not undergoing surgery and no longer desiring surgery one year after starting the program. Participants also experienced reduced pain, used fewer painkillers, reported a higher quality of life, and increased physical participation. The current evidence (see the 2023 report) illustrates a clear opportunity to keep Australians out of hospital, with potential to reduce hospital consultations and minimise surgical costs, risks and re-admissions, providing significant health system savings. The program is now being offered with no out-of-pocket costs by some private health insurers including HBF and Bupa and has been implemented at 788 public and private health services, covering all states and territories in Australia.
Leading Team: George Moschonis
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) are leading causes of death worldwide, with over 60 million people in Europe living with diabetes. Evidence has shown that lifestyle modification such as healthy eating and physical activity can prevent or delay the onset of T2D and HTN. Funded by Horizon 2020 and NHMRC, DigiCare4You aims to build capacity in healthcare services as well as lowering individual risk of T2D and/or HTN. In 2023, consortium partners led by Prof George Moschonis published two articles in The Lancet demonstrating that digital tools can have a positive impact on glycaemic control and blood pressure for adults with T2D or HTN.
The DigiCare4You implementation study, targeting more than 15,000 families in four European countries (Greece, Spain, Bulgaria and Albania), involves a two-stage screening procedure to identify parents at high risk, followed by participation in an intervention program involving digital self-monitoring alongside support from health professionals. Over 18,000 parents/caregivers in total have been screened during the first stage and more than 800 parents/caregivers living with prediabetes and >350 living with T2D are now using the DigiCare app. Multiple local and international stakeholders, including citizens’ and patients’ representation, have been involved in developing and implementing the program. The learnings that will be gained from the implementation of the DigiCare4You study in Europe are intended to be transferred and adjusted to the Australian sociocultural context in the years to come.
Leading Team: Evelien Spelten, Gina Agarwal, Laura Hemming and Ruth Hardman
The Australian healthcare system faces multiple challenges, including those presented by the combination of an ageing population, high levels of chronic illness, and major healthcare workforce shortages which are particularly acute in rural and remote areas. One emerging and innovative model of care which seeks to address these challenges is Community Paramedicine (CP), a model which has been successfully adopted in countries including Canada.
The evidence-based Canadian CP@clinic Program developed by Dr. Agarwal is now being implemented in Australia in a collaboration between La Trobe University Violet Vines Marshman Centre for Rural Health Research, Sunraysia Community Health Services and Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Canada. A ten-month trial of the CP@clinic program ran across 5 clinics in Mildura, Merbein and Red Cliffs, servicing 111 people. The trial provided evidence of the benefit for patients, in particular the vulnerable and elderly with existing chronic health conditions and limited access to the health system, with over a third of participants in the trial having no GP. Operating in a community rather than medical setting, on a free, drop-in basis removed the requirement for appointments and concerns over bulk billing and promoted what patients felt was a more communal environment. Community Paramedics assessed blood pressure, screened for diabetes, measured heights and weights, and monitored existing chronic conditions, demonstrating the benefits of CP in managing chronic disease and the potential to reduce pressures on ED attendance and GP appointments.
The model has also shown major benefits in relation to the more holistic aspects of health which the mainstream health service struggles to influence, such as social connectedness and a reduction in isolation. CP@clinic drop-ins extended beyond medical advice to build social connections in the community through community connectors (lived experience workers) who worked alongside paramedics to set up walking groups, food relief and community meals. The trial also evidenced benefits for paramedics, who reported high job satisfaction, a welcome break from high-pressure and acute environments (the average paramedic only stays in the ambulance service for five years). They appreciated the professional development associated with longer term supporting returning patients and with helping them address and manage the patient’s often, chronic health issues to try and prevent acute issues needing visits to ED. Many of the patients returned for multiple visits. As a result of the success of the trial, in 2024 the federal government awarded the project a four year $1.4 million Innovative Model of Care (IMOC) grant to extend its application.