women's health australia
Women's Health Australia is a national research resource providing information on women's health issues. It provides an evidence base to the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing for the development and evaluation of policy and practice in many areas of service delivery that affect women. The project is the largest of its kind ever conducted in Australia and it is gaining an international reputation for its multidisciplinary methodology.
The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health - widely known as Women's Health Australia - is a longitudinal population-based survey, which examines the health of over 40,000 Australian women over a 20 year period. It was first funded in 1995. The project was designed to explore factors that influence health among women who are broadly representative of the entire Australian population. The study goes beyond a narrow perspective that equates women's health with reproductive and sexual health, and takes a comprehensive view of all aspects of health throughout women's lifespan.
The project assesses:
- physical and emotional health (including well-being, major diagnoses, symptoms)
- use of health services (GP, specialist and other visits, access, satisfaction)
- health behaviours and risk factors (diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol, other drugs)
- time use (including paid and unpaid work, family roles and leisure)
- sociodemographic factors (location, education, employment, family composition)
In addition to supplying valuable information about women’s health and their use of health services to governments and other decision-making bodies within Australia, we are developing valuable relationships with international research teams, and increasing the growing bank of national and international knowledge about women’s health. For example, we are comparing menopause experiences for Australian women with women in England, we are comparing Australian women’s patterns of work and leisure with Canadian women, and we are comparing Australian women’s use of complementary and alternative medical services with women in Norway.
Women’s Health Australia is managed by staff and investigators at the Research Centre for Gender and Health, the University of Newcastle, and staff and investigators at the University of Queensland.
This project is funded by an ARC/NHMRC Ageing Well, Ageing Productively Strategic Award.
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