News and Events

Launch of Adolescent Health Papers attract media attention

Posted on

Hear Professor Susan Sawyer speak at the launch of The Lancet Series on Adolescent Health held in New York on April 24 2012. This link to The Lancet website also has The Series papers available for download. 

Professor Susan Sawyer and Professor George Patton talk to Radio National’s Norman Swan about a Series of major papers on adolescent health just published in The Lancet.

ABC Radio AM program talks to professors Susan Sawyer and George Patton about risk factors for adolescents.

Read an article from The Economist online – Comparing death rates for young people in the rich world - from data collected by Professor George Patton.

Read UNICEF report on adolescents:
Millions of adolescents falling behind, especially in Africa – UNICEF report

Access the presentations and programs of  the academic symposium, “Adolescents: From the Margins to the Mainstream of Global Health.” more than 100 participants representing more than 50 organizations globally attended the sessions hosted jointly by The Lancet, the Centre for Adolescent Health, Melbourne, Australia and the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.

Centre Directors presenting at UNICEF and United Nations Headquarters

Posted on

Professor Susan Sawyer, Director of the Centre for Adolescent Health and Professor George Patton, Director of Research at the Centre are presenting papers at the launch of the new Lancet Series on Adolescent Health at UNICEF headquarters on Tuesday 24th April 2012.  

Professor Sawyer and Professor Patton are two of the lead authors in the Series. This new Series will build on the momentum of the first Lancet series on adolescent health published in 2007, which is considered quite influential in the field.

The launch of the Lancet Series also coincides with the 45th session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development being held from 23-27th April 2012 at the United Nations headquarters.

Professor George Patton is one of only 4 external speakers to the Commission and will speak on the theme of Opportunities in Adolescent Health.

The Centre for Adolescent Health is immensely proud of their work and we wish Professor Sawyer and Professor Patton well on the international stage.

 

Youth Homelessness Matters Day April 18 2012

Posted on

On any given night in Australia 105,000 people are homeless and nearly half of these are under the age of 25.

Youth Homelessness Matters Day aims to raise public awareness about youth homelessness and celebrate the resilience of young people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness in Australia.

The majority of homeless young people generally experience secondary homelessness. This means that homeless young people are more likely to be:

a young person in school who is sleeping on friends’ couches and moving from friend to friend

a young person in a youth shelter who is on income support; or

a young person who is in an apprenticeship or traineeship who is living in a tent

a young person or child who is accompanying a parent who is escaping domestic violence

any young person who is living OUT OF HOME WITHOUT CARE.

… young people do not choose homelessness

 

 

Reality, many young people become homeless due to family breakdown, family violence and child abuse.

The Royal Children’s Hospital has since 1991 facilitated a clinic for young homeless and marginalised people called the Young People’s Health Service. For more information visit Centre for Adolescent Health : Young People’s Health Service

 

Homelessness Matters Day is part of National Youth Week

Invergowrie Foundation guest speaker

Posted on

Dr Rony Duncan was guest speaker at the recent 20th Anniversary of the Invergowrie Foundation.

Rony is the current recipient of a post-doctoral Fellowship from the Invergowie Foundation.

This is a significant contribution to the continuation of Rony’s research into young people and medical confidentiality with the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.

“Not only have they been providing fellowships to women at the Centre for 6 years now, but they also fund a spectacular Adolescent-Health Rural-Linkage Program, which has been running since 2006, and has trained 50 women from all over Victoria in adolescent health.”  

Read Rony Duncan’s speech.

Professor Susan Sawyer (Director, Centre for Adolescent Health, Dr Rony Duncan, Ms Alison Smith (Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Invergowie Foundation), Mrs Carolyn Anderson

Adolescent Health & Welfare Masters students get going for 2012

Posted on

Centre for Adolescent Health recently welcomed its new cohort of Adolescent Health and Welfare students for 2012, with a two day orientation. Taking advantage of the hospital’s new facilities, the orientation was held in the Vernon Collins Lecture Theatre a  state-of-the-art learning space and afterward were treated to a guided tour of the new RCH.

The 48 students from around Australia were introduced to the course, run through the University of Melbourne by the Director of the Centre for Adolescent Health, Susan Sawyer. This was followed by two days of subject lectures, writing and online learning training, getting to know you activities and informal drinks at Rydges Hotel. Having a high level of applicants to the course we have come away with a high calibre of students and we look forward to seeing their achievements throughout the year.

Another successful partnership with VIc Police

Posted on

At our first year orientation workshop on Thursday 16th February, the Practice and Learning team, Victoria Police and Central Melbourne Sunrise Rotary Club had the pleasure of presenting our Silk Miller Scholarship recipient for 2012 Kemal Brkic, with a framed certificate in recognition of this award. The scholarship is awarded in honour of the memory of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller who died whilst on duty in 1998.

The Centre for Adolescent Health has had a long association with Victoria Police Youth Affairs Office, with over 30 members (many Youth Resource Officers) graduating from the course.

Kemal is a Senior Constable of Police currently stationed at the Proactive Programs Unit in Dandenong as a Multicultural Liaison Officer. He has been a police officer for the past 11years in a variety of different roles and has shown a strong commitment to young people through his involvement in a number of youth and community engagement initiatives.
Kemal has an exciting project scheduled for mid- year 2012. In partnership with
Kamahl Film International and Russell Osborne, they are taking 10 young men to
the Australian Outback for a 8 week camel trek finishing at the Camel Cup in
Alice Springs. Kemal is looking forward to study components of this expedition
as part of the Masters in Adolescent Health and Welfare and we wish him all the
very best for his postgraduate study at the Centre for Adolescent Health,
University of Melbourne. Our warmest congratulations to Kemal on being awarded
the Silk Miller Scholarship for 2012.

Texting young people motivates healthy options

Posted on

An Australian-first trial will use mobile technology to help teenagers lose weight, boost their self esteem and lead healthier lives, reports the Herald Sun, February 29, 2012.
Associate Professor Joanne Williams a Researcher at the Centre for Adolescent Health and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute said of the research project; “They’ve all got phones, it’s how they communicate with their friends, it’s just a little message in the middle of the day to keep their mind on track” . During the project young people aged between 12 and 17 will be sent motivational messages during the 12-week online program.

Participants will have their height, waist circumference and blood pressure monitored when they join the study and after 3, 6 and 12 months. Associate Professor Williams said the program would use the traffic light labelling system to educate teenagers on healthy food choices.

 ”We try to get them to increase their serves of green foods and decrease their intake of red foods,” she said. A confidential chat room will be set up to allow participants to log their food diary and record activity levels.

Airbrushed images of celebrities will be shown to help banish body image battles. “We show them that even so-called famous people don’t look like that in real life, you shouldn’t be aspiring to an unrealistic image, everybody is different, focus on the positive pieces of their body.”

The programs’ approach, which is based on cognitive behaviour therapy, also has sections dealing with bullying and peer pressure. “It’s teaching them better coping skills and emotional support while they try to make healthier choices and increase their physical activity.”

A further article can be found in Australian Food News 

Researchers are recruiting 550 Victorian teenagers to take part in the trial. For more information call: 03 9345 6954 or email: stayingfit@mcri.edu.au

Eating Disorders in an obesogenic environment

Posted on

Melissa Whitelaw is the Clinical Specialist Dietitian for the RCH Specialist Eating Disorder Program that is managed by the Centre for Adolescent Health. She is currently undertaking a part-time PhD at the University of Melbourne (Department of Paediatrics) under the supervision of Prof Susan Sawyer, Dr Heather Gilbertson and Dr Katherine Lee and will be exploring a new eating disorder in adolescents.

Over the last 7 years, the clinicians in the RCH Eating Disorder Program have become increasingly aware of a new group of adolescents with eating disorders.  These patients have previously been above their expected body weight and in response to concerns about obesity have lost weight.

Such patients typically lose weight without medical review – and commonly lose a large amount of weight over a short time. Such weight loss frequently continues to spiral down and the adolescent loses perspective about what is an appropriate weight. Drive for ongoing weight loss can lead to an inappropriately restricted nutritional intake and in some cases excessive exercise regimes. In some adolescents, such weight loss has been observed to lead to the same physical sequelae as Anorexia Nervosa, such as a very low heart rate, a distorted body image and no periods in previously menstruating girls. In some cases hospital admission is required for medical stabilisation.

The confusion is that these patients are not underweight – despite presenting with serious medical complications and psychological distress usually observed in Anorexia
Nervosa. Without a low body weight, timely diagnosis and medical intervention is frequently delayed and may impact recovery.

Melissa will be assessing the change in the frequency of adolescents presenting with
premorbid overweight to the RCH. She will then determine the relative severity of their physical sequelae compared to underweight patients, and the prognosis of this form of eating disorder.

It is anticipated that this study will raise awareness about this new eating disorder
and the challenges for public health messaging in the context of appropriate concerns about overweight and obesity.

Hot off the press the 2010/2011 Chronic Illness Peer Support (ChIPS) Wrapper is here!

Posted on

Hot off the press the 2010/2011 Chronic Illness Peer Support (ChIPS) Wrapper is here!

The Wrapper magazine is produced each year by the Publications team, a sub committee of the ChIPS Reference Committee (a member group supported by mentors to organise aspects of the ChIPS Program).

The Publications team work throughout the year to produce newsletters and the Wrapper to keep the ChIPS membership up to date with what has been happening in the program.

This Wrapper is extra special as it includes two years worth of ChIPS news, events, photos, stories and more. If you would like a copy of the Wrapper please contact Jarnia Cameron, ChIPS Team Leader on jarnia.cameron@rch.org.au or 03 9345 6616.

Searching for better data on young people

Posted on

Having completed training in Paediatrics, Epidemiology and Adolescent Medicine, Dr Peter Azzopardi is embarking on a PhD to better understand the health status of young people. Peter will use the upcoming Global Burden of Disease study to estimate global patterns of morbidity and mortality for young people and estimate the potential health benefits through targeting specific risk factors.
The project will also apply the Burden of Disease methodology to Australian data to better understand the health status of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people. Funded by the NHMRC and Sidney Myer Foundation, Peter will be physically sited at the Centre for Adolescent Health. He will be supervised by Professor George Patton and Professor Susan Sawyer from the Centre for Adolescent Health, Professor Alex Brown (Baker IDI Central Australia), Professor John Carlin (Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, RCH) and Professor Louisa Degenhardt (National Drug and Alcohol Research
Centre).