The 2024 Preventive Health Conference, hosted by the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA), focused on the theme of “Building prevention success stories”, drawing over 380 in-person and 80 online delegates. The conference offered a diverse array of presentations and workshops covering a wide range of topics such as climate change, Indigenous health, equity, food insecurity, public health law, nutrition and physical activity, and more. See the full program here.

CRE EPOCH-Translate researchers presented their latest work around knowledge translation and implementation to improve health in early childhood:

 Enhancing prevention research impact through science communication and collaboration (Dr Konsita Kuswara). Konsita’s presentation described the experience and learning from a unique multidisciplinary collaboration to enhance science communication and knowledge translation. Read more.

 Child health behaviour screening in primary health care: exploring opportunities with practitioners (PhD candidate Ms Dimity Dutch) Dim shared the findings from Nominal Group Technique Workshops with South Australian primary health care practitioners to identify the key features of a child health behaviour screening tool and strategies to implement it in practice.

 Caring for Caregivers: Implementing an evidence-informed program to support caregiver wellbeing (Dr Sarah Hunter) Sarah presented findings from a pilot randomized controlled trial evaluating the feasibility of a co-designed Caregiver Wellbeing Program. This program, delivered within routine child and family health services, aimed to improve the wellbeing of first-time caregivers.

One feature of the conference was a workshop hosted by the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre (TAPPC) exploring the challenges and opportunities to address equity when implementing prevention policy and practice. Attended by over 100 delegates, including prevention researchers, policymakers and practitioners, the workshop emphasised the crucial role of building relationships, trust, and collection of relevant data when addressing equity. Delegates discussed the need for programs and funding to be sufficiently flexible to genuinely address the needs of the community.

The new connections, learnings and insights gleaned from this conference will serve as catalysts for fostering greater collaboration and innovation in prevention research in early childhood. For more information on the above presentations, please email the researchers directly.