Welcome to the McCaughey Centre

VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing

McCaughey Centre staff at a recent Planning Day at the Abbotsford Convent

The McCaughey Centre aims to be a catalyst for knowledge which strengthens the foundations of healthy, just and sustainable communities and builds social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

The McCaughey Centre is supported by and works closely with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth).  The Centre’s priorities are informed by the analysis, evidence and objectives of the VicHealth Plan for the Promotion of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

The McCaughey Centre undertakes research, policy development, teaching and knowledge translation with a focus on:

• Community wellbeing ideas, strategies and indicators
• Key determinants of mental health and community wellbeing:
  • Freedom from violence
  • Freedom from discrimination
  • Social inclusion and health equity
  • Economic participation and security
  • Healthy and sustainable environments
• Innovative research, evaluation, policy and knowledge translation methodologies.

The Centre's capabilities include:

The McCaughey Centre is named in honour of two outstanding Victorians, Davis and Jean McCaughey. Their commitment to ‘knowledge for common good’ is at the heart of all of the work of the McCaughey Centre. Jean McCaughey is the Centre’s Patron.

Download a copy of the Centre's brochure from here.

**Latest News***

Research

New evidence resources to address public health, equity and health inequalities - A new Cochrane Public Health Review Group

Elizabeth Waters, Professorial Fellow: Public Health and Health Equity, together with a strong and distinguished team of local and international collaborators are delighted to announce that, after two years of planning and preparation, the Public Health Review Group (PHRG) is now registered as an official entity of the Cochrane Collaboration. The PHRG will have responsibility for overseeing the production, editing and publication of public health reviews to improve health and other outcomes at the population level on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, held in The Cochrane Library. Interventions for review will generally be complex, multi-sectoral and include, for example, policies surrounding income distribution, education, public safety, social networks, food supply and access, transport and the natural and built environment. Details regarding the Cochrane Public Health Review Group, the editorial team, and the development of a specialised registry of studies can be found here . Further details are also located on our Current News page.

Publications

Armstrong R, Waters E, Moore L, Riggs E, Cuervo LG, Lumbiganon P and Hawe P. Improving the reporting of public health intervention research: advancing TREND and CONSORT. Journal of Public Health Advance Access 19th Jan 2008.

Gibbs L, O'Connor T, Waters E, Booth M, Walsh O, Green J, Bartlett J, Swinburn B. Addressing the potential adverse effects of school-based BMI assessments on children's wellbeing. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 3:1, 52-57, October 2007.

Find further McCaughey Centre publications on our Publications and e-Newsletter page.