Capacity Building in Health & Wellbeing

Part of VU's Clinical and Community Health and Wellbeing program, the Capacity Building in Health and Wellbeing team conducts research into these areas:

  • acute and chronic conditions
  • brain behaviour and cognition
  • identity
  • men’s health
  • wellbeing
  • women’s health
  • workforce development.

Research areas

This research group investigates capacity building at the individual, community, organisation and system levels.

Our current research topics include the following.

  • An evaluation for Hope Street Youth and Family Services' 'Hope to Home' program.
  • Correlates of quality of life and victimisation of women on the autism spectrum: Comparing the experiences of diagnosed, self-identifying and neurotypical women.
  • Evaluation of the VIVSEG Refugee Student Engagement and Support program.
  • Examining interactions between enteric microbiota and symptom expression.
  • Influences on affiliate stigma of siblings: Self-esteem and perceived personal control over sibling’s mental health issues.
  • Investigation into the relationship between compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and self-care practices in Australian youth workers.
  • Meeting the needs of young people with alcohol and other drug problems in regional Victoria: Towards the development of a service model.
  • Mental health of musicians, actors and dancers: Culture and individual factors.
  • Microbiot-Gut-Brian interactions in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Neuropsychological symptoms, sex comparisons and treatment potential.
  • Paramedic mental health project.
  • Reconceptualising the Nature of Executive Functioning: introducing a hierarchical model of skill complexity.
  • Resilience and recovery after aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage.
  • Resilience and wellbeing in men: The role of social support.
  • Seeking help from police for intimate partner violence: Applying a relationship phase framework to the exploration of victims’ evolving needs.
  • Self-control, emotional eating and eating behaviour.
  • Self-efficacy as a mediator of health behaviour change in a gender-sensitised health intervention for men delivered through a professional sports club.
  • "That Whole Macho Male Persona Thing": The role of insults in young Australian male friendships.
  • Venting anger in cyberspace: Self-entitlement versus self-preservation in #roadrage tweets.