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Australian Public Health and Leisure Survey (APHLS): participant information

If your household received a letter inviting you to take part in the Survey,  you can login and complete the online survey here. 
If you no longer have your invitation letter, please contact us to be reminded of your login details. 

Participant information

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) are inviting you to participate in an important national study called the Australian Public Health and Leisure Survey (APHLS). People who have been invited have been randomly selected from a list of postal addresses or mobile phone numbers.

 

AIFS is the Australian Government’s key research body in the area of family wellbeing. You can find more information about us from aifs.gov.au.

 

The aim of this study is to collect and better understand your experiences and opinions in relation to your physical and mental health, lifestyle, substance use, gambling, and finances.

 

We are also testing out different survey designs. We are interested in understanding who completes surveys of this nature, the quality of their responses, and how this may impact the findings.

 

The findings of this study will help inform evidence-based policy and practice responses to better the health of Australians.

What does the survey involve?

The survey is being conducted between August and October 2024. We are interested in capturing information about your:

 

  • general physical and mental health
  • lifestyle choices
  • alcohol and smoking
  • gambling
  • financial wellbeing

 

The survey will take around 15-20 minutes to complete.

 

Your time is valuable. To thank you for participating, you may choose to receive a $20 gift voucher upon completion of the survey or donate it to charity.

 

We are also testing out different survey designs. We are interested in understanding who completes surveys of this nature, the quality of their responses, and how this may impact the findings.

 

The findings of this study will help inform evidence-based policy and practice responses to better the health of Australians.

Who can participate?

You are eligible to take part if you are aged 18 years or over and reside in Australia.

What if I change my mind?

Participating in the survey is completely voluntary and you are free to stop participating at any time. The data you provided will then be deleted after your withdrawal from the survey. If you complete the survey and wish your responses to be deleted this can only be done prior to the de-identification of your data (which occurs shortly after receipt of the $20 gift voucher).

Who will have access to my survey responses?

All responses are confidential. Only individuals named on the research team will have access your responses. No information that could identify you will be contained in our reports or shared with any person or organisation.

Your privacy is important

We take your privacy seriously. Survey responses are confidential and anonymous. If you choose to provide contact details to receive a gift voucher (e.g., first name, mobile number, email address), your contact information will be kept in a separate password-protected database (from your survey responses) to maintain your confidentiality. This contact information will not be shared with anyone else and will be securely deleted after the gift voucher has been sent. If you express a wish to withdraw from participation in the survey before identifying information is removed, all data relating to you will be securely destroyed. AIFS will store all files on a highly secure Commonwealth Government server. The Social Research Centre will store data according to the Commonwealth Government security and privacy requirements. The de-identified survey data will be stored securely for a minimum of seven years in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) research guidelines. After this period, records will be destroyed in a manner appropriate to the security classification of the record content. The results of this project may appear in reports, presentations at conferences, and in journal articles, but as grouped data only (no individual responses will be identifiable). If you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, please contact us at aifs-privacy@aifs.gov.au.

What support is available during or after the survey?

Sometimes people feel upset when they are involved in research. If you would like to talk to someone for support with your gambling or other personal issues, please contact the following support services.

Who is running the study and what if I have a complaint about it?

AIFS is funding the study and the Social Research Centre is conducting the study. The study has received ethics approval from the AIFS Human Research Ethics Committee (Project 2024/01). If you would like to make a complaint about this research, please contact the AIFS ethics secretariat via telephone (03) 9214 7888 or email ethics-secretariat@aifs.gov.au. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your problem or complaint, you can make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

More information about the Australian Institute of Family Studies can be obtained from our website

Homepage | Australian Institute of Family Studies (aifs.gov.au)