Understanding Health Behaviours
Understanding what drives health behaviours is at the heart of what we do. We work with government, public health, and university clients to uncover the beliefs, knowledge, and values that shape the way people think and act around their health.
Our research informs policies, regulations, and programs designed to improve community health outcomes, and is often a component of larger mixed method studies testing the factors that influence behaviour.
Generation Vape - Cancer Council NSW & Sydney University
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We were commissioned to undertake a program of qualitative data collection, conducted in different stages, as a component of a larger study into electronic cigarette use among young people in Australia.
The overall aim of the project is to examine awareness, perceptions, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviours of e-cigarettes among teachers, parents and young people.
This research is led by Cancer Council NSW in partnership with the Daffodil Centre and the University of Sydney, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Minderoo Foundation, the NSW Ministry of Health and Cancer Institute NSW.
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The project is being conducted across three years, with separate data collection periods in each of 2022, 2023 and a final wave to be conducted in 2024.
In each stage of this project, we have conducted interviews with secondary school students and group discussions with young adults. We also conducted group discussions with parents of teenagers, and with teachers and school administrators.
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Findings from this research have been used to inform government, health, and education sector stakeholders and have contributed to the broader evidence base around youth vaping in Australia. Insights from the study have been the subject of several publications and presentations by the University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW, and are informing policy development and prevention strategies aimed at reducing youth e-cigarette use.
The Generation Vape study plays an important role in shaping Australia’s public health response to vaping.
Parental Influence on Teenage Alcohol Consumption - Flinders University
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This research was part of a larger study undertaken by Flinders University that is investigating parents' decision-making regarding the provision of alcohol to adolescents.
This project was intended to gain qualitative insights into parental alcohol supply attitudes and behaviours.
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For this project, we conducted qualitative data collection, providing the client with recordings and transcripts for their analysis.
The project involved a series of group discussions parents of children aged 12-17, who either have supplied alcohol to their children, or have not supplied alcohol, but intend to.
During the sessions, we explored parents’ reactions to a range of messages and existing advertising campaigns, with the aim being to determine which approaches were most likely to discourage parents from supplying their teenagers with alcohol.
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This research has been the subject of several publications and conference presentations.
The findings will inform future public health interventions to reduce parental provision of alcohol by challenging parents’ beliefs that providing alcohol to adolescents helps establish responsible drinking, while also highlighting that provision is not normative.