• Featured Research
  • Project implementation in the Alcohol and Other Drug Field: Enablers, Barriers and Sustainability
  • Alcohol Action in Rural Communities
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
  • The Benefits and Costs of Taxing Alcohol Rationally
  • Alcohol’s Harm to Others
• Community Polling
  • Annual Alcohol Poll 2013
    • Perceptions on alcohol by voting intentions
    • Drinking before going to a pub, club or bar (preloading)
    • Alcohol and social media
  • Annual Alcohol Poll 2012
    • Awareness of standard drinks and the Guidelines
    • Alcohol consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding
    • Licensing and alcohol-related violence
    • Alcohol Advertising
    • Community attitudes on alcohol by voting intentions
  • Annual Alcohol Poll 2011
• The Centre for Alcohol Policy Research
• Research Library

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

In 2011 the Foundation announced a new multi-pronged program aimed at reducing the impact of alcohol-related birth defects.  This work complements the Government’s study into assessing the prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and its impact on the health service needs of children and their families in Fitzroy Valley, WA.

FASD conditions are the most common, preventable cause of disabilities and brain damage in children, triggered by exposure to alcohol during pregnancy.  The Foundation’s investment of over $500,000 will see seven projects across Australia shed light on this under reported area. Projects funded include:

• The development of screening and diagnostic services in Australia
• The assessment of the level of knowledge of FASD within relevant government departments, agencies and services which provide support to parents and carers of disabled people
• The Interdisciplinary research on professional knowledge, attitudes and practice relating to FASD within the criminal justice and child protection sectors
• Ethnographic and social research on attitudes to FASD, problems in identification and diagnosis and other barriers in accessing services

Further information on FASD research and projects that have been commissioned in the past can be found in the research library.

The Foundation is working with governments, community organisations, and researchers to develop policy and advocacy strategies to address some of the gaps in FASD research and practice. More information on the policy work that we are currently undertaking to improve the prevention of FASD and service delivery options for people with FASD is available here.