Projects

Projects - Taking Risks and Taking Care: Young People, Preventative Health Discourses and Self Care

Timeframe: 2004-2010

Source: Australian Research Council

This project, an Australian Research Council Discovery Project investigates the ways in which young adults aged 18 to 26 years engage in self-care practices in relation to their own health. Three cohorts of young adults will be followed:

• young injectors at risk of hepatitis C infection:
• young women who smoke while pregnant or parenting; and
• young men who are not physically active or are at risk of obestity.

The project will provide a critical analysis of the deployment of health promotion strategies and their effects in shaping the subjectivity of young adults by drawing on these three case studies. As each of these three arenas are structured differently in terms of illegality, social acceptance, gender and class location, the study will provide important insights into the contribution of these factors to health and subjectivity. The lay title of the project is "Taking risks and taking care" and it concludes in 2010

Contact: Mary O'Brien

Contact: mlobrien@unimelb.edu.au