MRC Epidemiology UnitResearch Associate
Behavioural Epidemiology
Has now left the Unit
Work and interests
Stephanie Jong was a post-doctoral Research Associate within the Behavioural Epidemiology programme, who is interested in school-based interventions aiming to increase youth physical activity. She worked on the ‘GoActive’ (Get Others Active) project – a school-based physical activity promotion project, which focuses on ways to increase activity levels and reduce sedentary behavior in adolescents. This work was undertaken with the principal investigators, Dr Kirsten Corder and Dr Esther van Sluijs. Stephanie led the process evaluation of the GoActive intervention.
Background and experience
Stephanie undertook her PhD (Flinders University), under the supervision of Professor Murray Drummond, Associate Professor Claire Drummond and Dr David Birbeck. Stephanie’s doctorate study investigated online fitness culture and the impact on young females’ health practices such as diet and exercise. This project also focused on online participant recruitment and the use of an online methodology, netnography. This work was subsequently published in Leisure Studies, as well as a forthcoming book chapter in the Springer scholarly reference work series on Research Methods in Health and Social Sciences, edited by Professor Pranee Liamputtong. Stephanie’s research interests include social media and social networking use, and implications on health, exercise and sport participation and wellbeing of females. Her work adopts a socio-cultural perspective, using qualitative research methods to understand how social and cultural interactions and activities influence development and health.
Whilst completing her thesis, Stephanie was employed as a casual academic staff member at Flinders University, delivering Health and Physical Activity courses in large undergraduate programs, providing students with the skills necessary to work within a multidisciplinary environment. During this time, she was also involved in several research projects investigating elements of physical activity with youth elite Australian Footballers, as well as studies for improving tertiary education.