Mental health commission report July 2010 - June 2011 [.pdf]

Roberts, C. M., Kane, R., Bishop, B., Cross, D., Fenton, J., & Hart, B. (2010). The Prevention of anxietyand depression in disadvantaged schools. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 68 ‐ 73.Roberts, C. M., Kane, R., Pintabona, Y., Cross, D., Zubrick, S., & Silburn, S. (In preparation). PromotingMental Health in Schools: A 3‐Year Study of the Aussie Optimism Program.Roberts, C. M., Williams, R., Kane, R., Pintabona, Y., Cross, C. S., Zubrick, S. R., & Silburn, S. (Insubmission). Impact of a mental health promotion program on substance use in youngadolescents.3.3 PROJECT UPDATESAustralian Research Council – Linkage GrantThe Aussie Optimism research team are in the process of preparing an application for an AustralianResearch Council (ARC) Linkage Grant. This grant will be used to develop an online training programfor teachers interested in Aussie Optimism, but who have difficulty accessing face‐to‐face trainingworkshops. Teachers in rural and remote schools would benefit greatly from this innovation.There are three collaborating partners associated with this project: (1) Curtin Business School ‐Digital Ecosystems and Business Intelligence Institute (DEBII), (2) the Mental Health Commission and(3) the Western Australian Department of Education. The Curtin Business School ‐ DEBII will providethe expertise on web‐based applications relating to teacher training for the Aussie OptimismProgram and coordinate the development of the web‐based applications. The Mental HealthCommission will provide financial support for the development of the internet teacher trainingprogram and the student and teacher assessments. The Department of Education will provideteachers who will be the Participants for this randomized controlled trial. They will also provide inkindsupport via teacher relief for training, and teacher time to access the training programs andimplement the program, time to promote and disseminate the program, plus curriculum and policyadvice where relevant.The Aussie Optimism Team in the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology will coordinate theoverall project, including the research design, the sampling strategies, collection and analysis ofdata. All partners in this research will contribute to the writing of reports and journal articles thatcome out of this research. The research team and collaborating partners (School of Psychology &Speech Pathology, Mental Health Commission, and Department of Education) have worked togetheron two previous grants investigating the efficacy to the Aussie Optimism Program from 2000 – 2002,and follow‐up studies in 2005 ‐ 2008. This collaboration has resulted in extensive links between theorganisations and mutually beneficial working relationships, scholarly publications and a number ofnew program developments. The addition of a new partner (DEBII), from Curtin’s Business School isvery important to the success of this project as this unit has significant expertise in internet basedprojects.Aussie Optimism – Going OverseasAussie Optimism has had an exciting year corresponding with organisations overseas who areinterested in mental health promotion in children. In particular, Cheryl Chia from Brain Revolution,Singapore, is interested in the possibility of licensing AOP to use in several of her student clinics, as19 | P age