Understanding Health Behaviours

An important focus of our work is about understanding health behaviours. We work with clients from government, public health, and the university sector to provide an in-depth insight into people’s health behaviours and the beliefs, knowledge and values that affect those behaviours.

Often, our research is a component of larger mixed method studies, including experimental studies designed to test the factors that influence health behaviours. At other times, our research is used to inform the development of policies, regulations and programs designed to improve the health of our community.

Generation Vape

Case Study 1 - Generation Vape

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • This research has been the subject of several publications, and is being used to inform changes to policy within Australia.

    Find out more about the project here.

Parental Influence on Teenage Alcohol Consumption

Case Study 2 - Parental Influence on Teenage Alcohol Consumption

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.