Senior Research Fellow
BA, PostGradDip; PhD
Sarah has been at Telethon Kids Institute since 2005 when she commenced her PhD studies. Her research interests and expertise include parent, child and adolescent mental health, social determinants, survey methodology, analysis of linked government administrative data, and program evaluation. Her experience includes being part of the team that planned, implemented and reported results from Young Minds Matter (YMM), the second national survey of child and adolescent mental health, 2013-14.
Sarah is Senior Research Fellow on a major NHMRC funded Synergy grant linking the WA Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS) conducted in 2000-02 to multiple cross-sectoral government administrative data sets (the ‘WAACHS Data Linkage Study’, 2023-2028). Sarah is working with the multidisciplinary team of Investigators guided by Aboriginal leadership to examine how factors from the early life environment of Aboriginal children have shaped subsequent life trajectories through health, education, child protection and justice systems into young adulthood.
Sarah is also a Research Fellow in the Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (www.lifecoursecentre.org.au). The Life Course Centre brings together Australian and international researchers who aim to address questions surrounding the transmission of disadvantage within families and across generations.
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Projects
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Publications
October 2020
Feasibility of a Consumer Centred Tobacco Management intervention in Community Mental Health Services in Australia
This study tested a new program for helping smokers with severe mental illness to reduce their tobacco use, together with determining the feasibility of such research in community mental health settings in Australia.
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingNovember 2021The relationship between physical activity, self-regulation and cognitive school readiness in preschool children
Limited research exists on the pathways through which physical activity influences cognitive development in the early years. This study examined the direct and indirect relationships between physical activity, self-regulation, and cognitive school readiness in preschool children.
Published research Early Childhood Development Human Development and Community Wellbeing School Attendance Child Physical Activity, Health and DevelopmentApril 2020Tobacco smoking and mental disorders in Australian adolescents
This study aimed to (1) examine the strength of the association between mental disorders/mental health problems, risk behaviours and tobacco smoking among Australian adolescents, (2) compare rates of tobacco smoking among Australian adolescents with major depressive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or conduct disorder in 2013/14 vs 1998, and (3) identify the extent to which an association between tobacco smoking and mental health problems among adolescents can be attributed to non-mental health risk factors.
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingJanuary 2020Mental-health disparities between heterosexual and sexual-minority adolescents: Examining the role of informant discrepancies
Understanding informant discrepancies and their meaning is pivotal to designing surveys that generate robust insights into the health of sexual-minority adolescents
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingJune 2019Poverty, Parental Mental Health and Child/Adolescent Mental Disorders: Findings from a National Australian Survey
The purpose of this study is to examine the association between poverty and child mental disorders
Published research Human Development and Community Wellbeing Youth HealthFebruary 2019The Great Recession and Children’s Mental Health in Australia
This paper analyzes the effects of “shocks” to community-level unemployment expectations, induced by the Great Recession, on children’s mental well-being
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingOctober 2018Access to health professionals by children and adolescents with mental disorders: Are we meeting their needs?
The typical number of visits to health professionals by children with mental disorders during a 12-month period is relatively small
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingAugust 2018Prevalence of Mental Disorders Among Children and Adolescents of Parents with Self-Reported Mental Health Problems
This paper provides Australian population-level estimates of the prevalence of parental self-reported lifetime mental disorders and past 12 month mental disorders in their children
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingFebruary 2018Mental disorders in Australian 4- to 17- year olds: Parent-reported need for help
To describe the extent to which parents report that 4- to 17-year-olds with symptoms meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingOctober 2017The continuity and duration of depression and its relationship to non-suicidal self-harm and suicidal ideation and behavior in adolescents 12–17
Overlap between non-suicidal self-harm and suicidal ideation and behavior in young people with both symptom continuity and symptom duration implicated in this association
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human Development and Community WellbeingMay 2017Maternal alcohol disorders and school achievement: a population cohort record linkage study in Western Australia
Children of mothers with alcohol use disorders are at risk of not meeting minimum educational benchmarks in numeracy and literacy, with the risk highest among Indigenous children.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Published research Human Development and Community Wellbeing Alcohol and Pregnancy and FASD ResearchApril 2017Family structure and childhood mental disorders: new findings from Australia
This report provides new evidence of the relationships between family structure and childhood mental disorders in an under-researched context, Australia
Published research Human Development and Community Wellbeing Youth Mental HealthMarch 2017The Prevalence of Stimulant and Antidepressant Use by Australian Children and Adolescents
A minority of 4- to 17-year-olds with ADHD and major depressive disorder were being treated with stimulant or antidepressant medication
Published research ADHD Depression and Anxiety Human Development and Community WellbeingDecember 2016Introducing ‘Young Minds Matter’
This article describes the survey, the response rates achieved and the representativeness of the sample for the Young Minds Matter survey
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingNovember 2016Efficacy of infant simulator programmes to prevent teenage pregnancy: a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial in Western Australia
The infant simulator-based Virtual Infant Parenting programme did not achieve its aim of reducing teenage pregnancy
Published research Child Health, Development & EducationSeptember 2016Methodology of Young Minds Matter: The second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
Aims, sample design, development of survey content, field procedures and final questionnaires of the Young Minds Matter study
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingSeptember 2016Service use by Australian children for emotional and behavioural problems: Findings from the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
The proportion of children and adolescents in Australia with mental disorders who used services for emotional and behavioural problems
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingSeptember 2016Key findings from the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
The prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents in Australia, and the severity and impact of those mental disorders
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingSeptember 2016Self-harm: Prevalence estimates from the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
The demonstrated higher risks in young people for continued harm or possible death support the need for ongoing initiatives to reduce self-harm
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingSeptember 2016Suicidal behaviours: Prevalence estimates from the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
Mental disorders should be a leading intervention point for suicide prevention both in the primary health sector and in the mental health sector specifically
Published research Human Development and Community WellbeingSeptember 2014Parents' nonstandard work schedules and child well-being: A critical review of the literature
This paper provides a comprehensive review of empirical evidence linking parental nonstandard work schedules to four main child developmental outcomes:...
Published research Early Childhood Development Human Development and Community WellbeingFebruary 2013Mothers' and Fathers' Work Hours, Child Gender, and Behavior in Middle Childhood
This study examined the association between typical parental work hours (including nonemployed parents) and children's behavior in two-parent heterosexual...
Published research Academic Biostatistics Depression and Anxiety Human Development and Community WellbeingNovember 2011Maternal work hours in early to middle childhood link to later adolescent diet quality
Previous studies on maternal work hours and child diet quality have reported conflicting findings possibly due to differences in study design, lack of a...
Published research NutritionOctober 2010Study protocol for the evaluation of an Infant Simulator based program delivered in schools:
This paper presents the study protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a school based program developed to prevent teenage
Published research Child Health, Development & Education -
Education and Qualifications