Publications


Published research

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Published research

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Prevention Centre reports

Changing the system: A partnership approach to chronic disease preventionOutcomes Report: Changing the system cover

Our Outcomes Report 2013 – 2018 captures outcomes and impact from the work we completed during our first five years of funding.

Download the Outcomes Report (PDF 6MB)

Strengthening the system: A partnership approach to chronic disease prevention

The 2016 Progress Report describes our achievements during the first three years, including establishing a large national collaboration, launching our projects and learning about working in co-production.

Download the Progress Report (PDF 4MB)

Research project reports

Getting Australia Active III: A systems approach to physical activity for policy makers

Getting Australia Active III (GAA III) is a guide to support decision makers with the implementation of physical activity policies and programs in Australia. It provides design specifications on effective policies and programs across eight policy domains, guidance on priority investments, case studies, and online resources. Download the report 

Inside our supermarkets: Assessment of the healthiness of Australian supermarkets 

Delivered as part of our Supporting priority actions in the food and nutrition system project and led by Associate Professor Gary Sacks, this report finds that the promotion of junk food by supermarkets is encouraging poor dietary choices. Download the report 

AUSPOPS 2016–2019. Second national survey

The AUStralian Perceptions Of Prevention Survey (AUSPOPS) was undertaken in 2016 and again in 2018 to understand how Australian communities perceive government interventions aimed at reducing lifestyle-related chronic disease. This report measures and tracks views about prevention. Download the report

Building the compelling case for prevention 

The Compelling Case for Prevention final report outlines the delivery of a proof-of-concept demonstration of the potential of dynamic simulation methods to provide an engaging and useful tool that illustrates the health benefits and economic value of prevention interventions for the population, the health system and Australian productivity. Download the report for phase 1 (PDF, 2.3MB)

Preventive health: How much does Australia spend and is it enough?

This report by Hannah Jackson and Alan Shiell summarises the available evidence for national levels of expenditure on preventive
health over the past 15 years, and compares spending in Australia with that of selected OECD countries. Download the report

Health Promotion Journal of Australia, special issue. How would you spend $100 million a year on preventive health?

To gain a sense of where prevention resources could be targeted most effectively, we funded and commissioned this special issue of the Health Promotion Journal of Australia, asking Australian and international leaders in preventive health what would happen if prevention spending were to be increased by 5% of the current annual budget, or about $100 million per year. Download the special issue

Australian health cohorts

Population cohort studies have the potential to be a valuable resource for population health researchers. However, cohort studies have not traditionally been used to test the effects of policy and practice in population health outcomes in Australia. This report is intended as a resource for researchers and policy makers that summarises Australian longitudinal datasets. Download the report 

Chronic disease prevention landscape: Results of a national key informant survey

This report highlights key findings of interviews with senior public health managers from State and Territory health departments as well as senior academics, thought leaders and public health advocates from key agencies across the country. The interviews explore views about the 2005 National Chronic Disease Strategy, and responses to the cancellation of the National Partnership Agreement for Preventive Health, focusing on adjustments made to prevention programs in each State or Territory and the factors that influenced decision-making. Download the report

Commissioning Economic Evaluations: A Guide

Published by the NSW Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health, this guide was produced to assist NSW Health staff in the commissioning of economic evaluations, particularly in relation to population health programs. It was produced as part of the Improving the economic analysis of prevention project. Download the report

Mapping the preventive health workforce – An overview

On behalf of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency, the Prevention Centre commissioned the University of Sydney’s Workplace Research Centre to map the preventive health workforce. The report describes a framework for collecting data about preventive health activities and the workforce that is delivering those activities. Download the report

Submissions

2018

Discussion papers

Knowledge synthesis and policy dialogue products

The Prevention Centre has a mandate to co-create and mobilise evidence and other forms of knowledge to support preventive health policy and practice. This includes making available to decision makers any evidence that we compile, review and generate across our research projects – drawing on investigators’ expertise to interpret and communicate these findings. Much of this evidence will be published in journal articles, but the Centre will also produce other synthesis and communication products, such as evidence summaries, policy briefs on the real-world implications of our findings, prevention action statements and facts sheets.

A discussion paper and a table of knowledge synthesis and communication products outlines these options.

The discussion paper covers simulation models that are developed collaboratively with a diverse group of experts to build consensus on the merits, risks and costs of alternative policy options. Two Prevention Centre projects are gathering evidence using this participatory simulation modelling process: Simulation modelling of alcohol consumption and the effectiveness of harm-reduction policies and Simulation modelling to support decision making in gestational diabetes care.

What is systems thinking and how does it apply to prevention in The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre?

This discussion paper, written by the Prevention Centre’s Systems Science and Implementation Capacity, aims to develop common language around the ways Prevention Centre investigators and collaborators engage with systems terminology and systems thinking in prevention, and identifies examples of how the Centre’s work program takes a systems approach to prevention.

Guides

Getting Australia Active III: A systems approach to physical activity for policy makers

Getting Australia Active III (GAA III) is a guide to support decision makers with the implementation of physical activity policies and programs in Australia. It provides design specifications on effective policies and programs across eight policy domains, guidance on priority investments, case studies, and online resources. Download the report

The Intervention Scalability Assessment Tool: A guide for assessing the scalability of health interventions

The Intervention Scalability Assessment Tool (ISAT) was developed to help practitioners, policymakers, program managers and researchers determine the scalability of a discrete health program or intervention. Information on how to complete an assessment can be found in the guide below. A scoring sheet in Excel is also available to help score readiness questions within the guide.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization based in Nice, France has translated the ISAT into French for use in assessing the scalability of a number of their interventions in Morocco, with the Moroccan Ministry of Health.

Prevention resources

Co-production for health research: A self-assessment framework tool 

The self-assessment framework tool is intended to stimulate discussion and communication across research groups. The tool provides a guide for participants in a research project to question and assess their work and ways the broader network and organisation operates.

Members of the research group can use the completion of their assessment to inform the initial design of the project, and as a check-point to make sense of what is working well, what needs to improve and where changes can be made.

The authors, Siobhan Harpur and Kate Garvey, Public Health Services Tasmania, invite feedback on your use of this guide, email: phs.projects@health.tas.gov.au

Physical activity guidelines 2020, November 2020

Comprehensive and inclusive recommendations to activate publications

The new WHO 2020 Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour provide recommendations on the amount and types of physical activity for various age groups, pregnant and post-partum women, and people living with chronic conditions or disabilities. The guidelines include some major developments, including:

  • Evidence for additional health benefits, such as improved cognitive health, health-related quality of life, mental health, and sleep, is reported, over and above what was included in the 2010 WHO guidelines
  • Provide specific recommendations for pregnant and post-partum women and for people living with chronic conditions or disabilities for the first time on a global level
  • Provide general recommendations to reduce sitting time, which accords with growing interest in the health effects of sedentary behaviour.

OECD Report, October 2019

The heavy burden of obesity: The economics of prevention 

It has been nearly a decade since the OECD published its flagship publication on obesity, Fit not Fat. During the intervening years, countries have put in place innovative and, in some cases, ambitious policies to turn the tide on the obesity epidemic.

Unfortunately, though, the end is not in sight yet. Overweight and obesity rates have continued to climb to 58% of the adult population across OECD countries. This report demonstrates that there is a strong economic case for investing in prevention to tackle obesity. Link to external resource(s):

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