Want to know what CATS is all about? In the video above, our special reporter Katy Rummage visits the Murdoch Children's Research Institute at The Royal Children's Hospital to find out the truth about CATS.
In the video above, we will show you how to do the DIY (do-it-yourself) measurements at home. We also have a written version of the instructions. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us on (03) 9345 6732 or email us at cats@mcri.edu.au.
We know that families and students can sometimes experience difficulty in their lives. We have included some helpful support services if you would like some additional support or information.
Dunn, A. (2017) The New Puberty. Melbourne University Press. Melbourne, Australia.
'The New Puberty' explores the big challenges and complex questions for school-aged children growing up in today's world. Amanda Dunn uses evidence-based research and input from the experts to lend a helping hand to young people and their parents, during this complicated stage of life.
Fact Sheet: Transitioning from childhood to adolescence
The CATS study, in conjunction with the Response Ability initiative, have produced a fact sheet about supporting students in the transition between childhood and adolescence.
The Student Wellbeing Hub
The Student Wellbeing Hub is a comprehensive online resource compiled by the Department of Education with the help of academics and experts, for the use of parents, teachers and students across Australia.
In Grades 3, 5 and 6 we collected a small sample of saliva from CATS participants. This allows us to see if the hormonal changes of puberty have begun. These hormones are present in all children of late primary-school age. If you would like to know more about this process please contact the CATS team.
The password for all questionnaires is CATS. Typing it without the capitals will work too.
iCATS is an extension of CATS. The iCATS team are investigating the relationships between health and puberty by looking at brain development. iCATS collects information and takes images of the brain from 120 students who take part.
If you’d like any further information you can get in touch with the iCATS team:
SMS - 0405 581 085 | Phone - (03) 8344 1845 or 0405 581 085 | Email - i-cats@unimelb.edu.au
Please see our useful Question Help Sheet for answers to many questions we commonly get about the questionnaire. If this doesn't answer your question, feel free to call us on (03) 9345 6732 or email us at cats@mcri.edu.au.
Yes! CATS takes on students from several different courses, although places are limited. If you're interested in a studentship, please get in touch with Dr Lisa Mundy lisa.mundy@mcri.edu.au.
If you are a researcher and interested to collaborate with the CATS team please get in touch with Dr Lisa Mundy.
If you have recently moved or have changed your contact details, please let us know by either calling (03) 9345 6732, sending an email to cats@mcri.edu.au, or you can click here to update your details online.
Yes, CATS has ethics approval from the Royal Children’s Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee. If you have any concerns and/or complaints about the project, the way it is being conducted or your rights as a research participant, and would like to speak to someone independent of the project, please contact: Director, Research Ethics & Governance, The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne on (03) 9345 5044.
Yes. All of the data we collect from you are saved with an ID number, not your name. Only our research team have access to it, and when we use it we only see your ID number so can't tell who it came from. We present all of our findings in a way that no individual person or school can be identified.
