Women at the Top: Dr Donna Cross, Professor of Child & Adolescent Health

DR DONNA CROSS
Professor of Child & Adolescent Health,
Child Health Promotion Research Centre,
Edith Cowan University

"Sticks and stones and phones: What can research tell us about what affects children's wellbeing?"

Dr Cross with discuss the empirical research identifying effective ways to intervene to support the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents at key developmental windows through their lifespan is a relatively new area of investigation. With greater recognition of the importance of early and effective intervention for children it is necessary to identify what predicts health-related problems and more importantly what is protective of these problems. This presentation will discuss the most significant findings from nearly 20 years of research conducted by Donna Cross and her colleagues investigating ways to optimize children’s wellbeing. It will focus on children’s social and emotional development and present evidence that suggests interventions that reduce risk factors while enhancing protective factors, especially connectedness in children, have positive wellbeing outcomes. 

Professor Donna Cross is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Health at the Child Health Promotion Research Centre. Donna oversees the conduct and completion of numerous research grants, including involvement in phases of instrument development, intervention development, data collection and analysis and dissemination of research findings. She supervises 12 higher degree students and coordinates and determines the strategic direction of the Centre’s research activities. She also directs the CHPRCs commercialization process.

The Child Health Promotion Research Centre (CHPRC) was established at Edith Cowan University in 2004. The CHPRC comprises a multi-disciplinary research team that conducts high quality, applied research to improve the overall physical, emotional, and mental health and well-being of children and other young people and their families. The CHPRC is regionally, nationally and internationally recognised for its school and community based research in the areas of: 

-Bullying prevention and mental health promotion; 
-Drug use control; 
-Road safety and injury control; and 
-Promotion of healthy weight for the prevention of overweight and obesity in children.