Painted Dogs in academia
March 3, 2020
A lot of our dogs cut their teeth on research in the academic sphere. For many of us, it’s where we learned the intricacies of research design and methodology, how to write reports and clearly communicate complex research findings, and developed our skills in advanced analysis.
But it’s not only a place to start in research – we still work closely with universities and other research institutes to widen the positive impact we make.
Recently, Nicole Biagioni, a Senior Account Manager at Painted Dog, had another peer-reviewed article published (bringing her grand total to 15) from her time working in academia. Nicole spent 3 years as a Research Associate at the WA Cancer Prevention Research Unit at Curtin University, where she worked on informing and optimising social marketing to improve public health (in areas such as tobacco, alcohol & other drugs, sun protection, physical activity, nutrition and ageing).
Her latest study aimed to explore the factors influencing community service organisation staff members’ willingness to provide quit-smoking support to clients experiencing disadvantage – such as those accessing homeless shelters, alcohol and drug rehabilitation and mental health support facilities. Nicole and the research team at Curtin and Cancer Council WA identified a number of barriers to delivering smoking cessation support to these vulnerable populations, and notably a lack of any formal smoking support programs currently within these organisations.
The study had clear and important implications for improving quit-smoking programs and highlighted the critical role that top-down organisational processes play, particularly for those most vulnerable in the community. Through this work, the team hope to inform future efforts to increase the delivery of cessation care to groups of people experiencing disadvantage to reduce the high incidence of smoking in these populations.
We’re proud of the impactful work Nicole is doing and are super lucky to have her on our team!
If you’re interested in learning more, take a read of Nicole’s article here.
