Dr Brittany Johnson’s research explores how we can work with the places where children live, learn and play, such as schools, to support children and their families to develop health-promoting behaviours.
One example of this is implementing school-provided meals in Australia, making sure this system is feasible and appropriate for families, schools and communities. Brittany Johnson’s research is finding out what children and families would want in a school-provided meals system, and working out the logistics of what the system would need to look like in Australia.
Programs for families of young children can help parents promote health-promoting behaviours, but often lead to only small improvements. Current programs are complex, costly, not scalable, offer a one-size-fits all approach, and struggle to reach families that need support the most. Brittany’s research is working to speed up the gathering and sharing of information about child health behaviours.
So far, she’s revealed the behaviours these programs target, the different ways these they are delivered, and the behaviour change strategies they use. She is now developing practical tools tailored to the needs of parents/caregivers, practitioners, and policy makers to us this information. The goal of this research is to make it easier for all parents and caregivers to promote healthy habits and behaviours for young children, through access to evidence-informed policies and practices.
2024