Population analysis of human diet and nutrition

Our vision is to develop a coordinated research strategy to provide evidence-based solutions to improve chronic disease outcomes for lower literacy adults. These solutions are designed to support health in developed and low and middle-income countries as well as Indigenous and migrant populations.

Our research in health literacy includes:

• A trial of the impact of health literacy education programs delivered to socially disadvantaged Australians in adult education centres (TAFE)
• Development and evaluation of maternal health literacy to improve outcomes among pregnant women
• Development and evaluation of a shared decision-making program for people with low health literacy who live with chronic kidney disease.

Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease require people to make long-term changes to their lifestyle and become actively involved in their own healthcare. While there’s a large body of research showing there’s a relationship between lower health literacy and poor health outcomes, there’s been a lack of high-quality research to guide strategies to reduce its impact on health.

We develop and test sustainable interventions for use in complex health, education and social systems to reduce the impact of poor health literacy on health outcomes. Our researchers come from diverse disciplines, including public health, psychology, education, pharmacy, Indigenous health, medicine, media, and communications.

Our research will target national and international health priorities in chronic disease including Indigenous, Torres Strait Islander and migrant communities. Our work will take potential solutions for improving health literacy and test them rigorously so we can inform policy decisions.

Internal collaborators

• Professor Margaret Allman-Farinelli
• Professor Adrian Bauman
• Dr Sinead Boylan
• Associate Professor Bamini Gopinath
• Dr Alison Gosby
• Dr Anna Rangan
• Professor David Raubenheimer (Project Node Leader)
• Professor Stephen Simpson

External collaborators

• Professor Clare Collins, University of Newcastle
• Dr James Dale, Queensland University of Technology