The Young People’s Health Group works to improve the health and wellbeing of adolescents and young adults. We prioritise emerging health and social issues that impact young people and aim to:
- engage diverse young people
- build an evidence base to understand emerging health and social issues
- determine the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve young people’s health.
As a result we have influenced government policy around issues such as online pornography and social media alcohol advertising and given young people a voice to power.
What we do
Our work includes:
- conducting quantitative, qualitative, and content analysis research methods to understand emerging health threats
- engaging with diverse young people using techniques from design and participatory research to understand opportunities to improve health and wellbeing
- developing and evaluating new interventions to educate, change behaviour, and improve health outcomes
- advocating for evidence-based policy and practice change.
Our focus is on young people experiencing disadvantage, particularly in the areas of sexual health, mental health, and alcohol and other drug use.
Our impact
Our group has used research to impact health and wellbeing through:
- delivering education to young people about sex, relationships and pornography
- Influencing policy around emerging issues such as sexting, online pornography, and social media alcohol advertising
- working with young people to better understand how they want to engage in research and health promotion
- giving young people a voice to power by sharing their concerns and priorities about health and society.
Work with us
To collaborate or work with us, please contact youngpeopleshealth@burnet.edu.au.
Get involved
Are you 15–29 years old? You can help inform policies that affect you.
Let us know what health topics we should research by emailing youngpeopleshealth@burnet.edu.au.
Participate in our research – sign up to hear about opportunities.
Published research
Key publications
Lim MSC, Agius PA, Carrotte ER, Vella AM, Hellard ME. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2017 Aug;41(4):438-443.
Viewing pornography is common and frequent among young people from a young age and this needs to be considered in sexuality education.
Eddy S, Douglass C, Raggatt M, Thomas A, Lim M. Sex Health. 2023 Apr;20(2):164-172.
Between 2015 and 2021, uptake of long-acting contraceptives increased, and there was a change in knowledge of sexual health and STIs. There is a need for ongoing public health interventions to improve STI knowledge, testing, and consistent condom use among young people.
Davis AC, Wright CJ, Murphy S, Dietze P, Temple-Smith MJ, Hellard ME, Lim MS. J Med Internet Res. 2020 Jun 1;22(6):e15964.
Young people can critique pornography, but they often lack information on healthy sexual attitudes and behaviours. This information could be embedded in co-designed digital pornography literacy programs.
Other publications
The team has published research on the following topics. Click on the listed item to view the relevant paper.
- Sexual health trends.
- Reusable menstrual products.
- Comparison of sexual behaviours between student groups.
- Censorship is cancer.
- Who likes alcohol.
- Health and fitness content.
- Pornography and sexual risk behaviours.
- Sexting.
- Sharing of sexually explicit imagery.
- Correlates of STI testing.
- Mental health and sexual health.
- Sexual health campaign.
- Online sexual harassment.
- Ice destroys lives campaign.
Student projects
We're looking for postgraduate students to join the following research projects in 2025. Click on a project for more information.
