Beyond 50: Health and social outcomes in Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula
Australia's 'baby boomer' generation exhibits riskier drinking patterns than younger cohorts. Australian alcohol-related hospitalisations for those over 65 have more than tripled in the past decade. This study of over 1,000 people aged 50-70 years in Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula area is examining how factors such as health challenges, social connection, and retirement concerns may be driving these risky behaviours.
This study aims to:
Develop positive ageing strategies and practices, such as lifestyle interventions and social prescribing, to facilitate healthier mid-life transitions.
Inform how the experience of ageing interacts with mental and physical health and substance use for older Australians.
Provide critical new knowledge of protective and risk factors during critical life transition risk periods.
Study Progress
A cohort of 1,059 participants has been recruited and these participants have completed two waves of survey and interview based data collection. The third wave of data collection commenced in September 2025. The first of two planned data linkage waves has also been completed, providing 10 years of historical health service utilisation data from the time of baseline survey completion. A second wave is planned to capture three years of healthcare data covering the period between baseline and the second follow‑up survey.
Early results have been presented at several local and national events, and the first peer-reviewed journal article has been published describing the study protocol.
Visit our other Beyond 50 Project websites for more project updates:
National Centre for Healthy Ageing Beyond 50 page
Project newsletters
Project Funders
National Centre for Healthy Ageing and the Ian Potter Foundation
Project Partners
A collaboration between Monash Addiction Research Centre (MARC), the Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre, the National Centre for Healthy Ageing, the Burnet Institute, Turning Point, Edith Cowan University and Peninsula Health.
Project staff
Professor Suzanne Nielsen, Dr Tina Lam, Rose Laing, Dr Aislinn Lalor, Associate Professor Nadine Andrew, Dr Louisa Picco, Professor Paul Dietze, Dr Brett Coulson, Associate Professor Shalini Arunogiri, Dr Stephen Bright, Professor Keith Hill, Dr Laura Alfrey and Ms Kirsty Morgan
Publications
Laing R, Karimi N, Lam T, Rowland B, Dietze P, Lalor A, Hill K, Alfrey L, Andrew N, Arunogiri S, Picco L, Nielsen S (2025). Protocol for the 'Beyond 50' prospective observational cohort study: Investigating the impact of physical and psychosocial factors on healthy ageing. BMC Public Health, 25, 4157.
Contact
If you would like more information on the project, please contact Prof Suzanne Nielsen (Suzanne.Nielsen@monash.edu) or the Beyond50 team (beyond50@monash.edu)