Improving individual, community, and population health through evidence-informed policies, programs, and practice.

What we do

At ISSR, we are committed to advancing the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities with a strong focus on addressing health inequities. Our mixed-methods research provides an improved understanding of the social, economic, environmental, and cultural determinants of health and health equity, through the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs and policies to enact systems change for individual, community, and population health improvement.

We work closely with partners and key stakeholders to identify participatory and solution-focused research methods to leverage the strengths, protective factors, and resources of individuals, communities, and the broader health and social systems – with a strong focus on the design and evaluation of large-scale, complex public health policies and programs that include (but are not limited to) health promotion, mental health, substance use, and maternal, perinatal, and child health.

Objectives

• Generate and synthesise evidence to inform the design of policies and programs that aim to improve health.
• Understand the implementation and outcomes of complex interventions designed to improve health and reduce health inequities.
• Enhance understanding of the social, economic, environmental, and cultural drivers of health and health equity.
• Provide partners, stakeholders, and communities with actionable, evidence-based learnings and recommendations to support their efforts to improve population health.
• Connect the health and social sciences to ensure our research and evaluation is systems informed.

Project examples

• Monitoring and Evaluation of Drug Checking Services
  Queensland Health
   
• Strategic Evaluation of Health and Wellbeing Queensland’s Prevention Programs
  Health and Wellbeing Queensland
   
• Evaluation of the Perinatal Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiatives, and the National Perinatal Mental Health Check
  Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
   
• Evaluation Services of the SANE Guided Service for People with Complex Mental Health Needs
  Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
   
• Evaluation of the PBS-Subsidised Take Home Naloxone Pilot
  Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care