The perinatal health behaviours subcommittee is comprised of multidisciplinary researchers and clinicians across allied health (psychology, physiotherapy, social work, occupational therapy, dietetics, exercise physiology) nutrition, exercise, mental health, medicine, nursing, and midwifery. We are passionate about perinatal physical and mental health and advocate for lifestyle prevention and management strategies (e.g. diet, exercise and sleep – related) and provide expert advice on the most up to date evidenced based guidelines for use in clinical practice.
Our research areas include (and are not limited to):
- Nutrition, dietary intake, dietary patterns
- Breastfeeding
- Physical activity, physiotherapy and exercise physiology
- Parental and infant sleep and sedentary time
- Perinatal and early life health conditions with a focus on socioeconomically disadvantaged and marginalised groups
- Parental and infant mental health and wellbeing, risk factors for perinatal-related chronic disease (smoking, alcohol intake, physical inactivity, overweight/obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes)
The overarching aim of the Perinatal Health Behaviours subcommittee is to advance research, collaboration and evidenced based practice related to health behaviours (e.g. diet, exercise, sleep) during the perinatal period.
We welcome membership by those at all career stages, working in the fields of perinatal, fetal and infant health.
As a member, you will be able to be involved in our priority events and activities. These include:
- Professional development webinars,
- Collaborations for PSANZ conference symposium and events
- Working groups, collaborative projects
- Mentoring activities
- Networking initiatives
- Volunteer student opportunities
Our objectives are to:
- Advance knowledge pertaining to preventive approaches and management of perinatal and early life physical health and mental health and wellbeing
- Provide a platform for multidisciplinary research and clinical collaboration in the area of perinatal health behaviours (e.g. diet, exercise, sleep) and their role in prevention and management of multiple perinatal and early life health conditions
- Support multidisciplinary project collaborations with capacity to attract research funding support from government and other suitable agencies across Australia and New Zealand
- Contribute to generating evidenced based resources and lifestyle-related guidelines for use in clinical practice
- Collaborate with other PSANZ subcommittees as suitable and provide expert advice on lifestyle- and wellbeing-related topics across a number of perinatal health conditions
- Build capacity for mentoring and support of students and ECRs within the group through collaboration and professional development opportunities
- Be identified both nationally and internationally by external organisations as a leading expert group in perinatal health behaviour research for advice and collaboration where appropriate
- Seek collaborations with consumer groups and develop a consumer network relevant to the field of perinatal health behaviour research
We would love to hear from you and hope you will join us.
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