Research background

What is the research behind Life on Rotation?

Life on Rotation has been developed by a team of child health researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia and University of Western Australia. It combines research evidence with the lived experiences of FIFO families.

Our FIFO Family Research

Historically, research involving Australia’s FIFO families has been quite limited¹. Where possible, Life on Rotation draws on these previous studies, and other areas of related research and theory to inform our work. Given these previous evidence gaps, our work is mostly based on five studies that our team has conducted. These studies are approved by the University of Western Australia’s Human Research Ethics Committee. Two^2-3 are already published in academic journals and three are currently in the process of being peer-reviewed. This ensures that our work has been conducted and interpreted with rigour, adding to the much-needed evidence base about Australia’s FIFO families. 

We completed in-depth interviews with over 60 current FIFO workers, partners and adolescent children of FIFO workers. This represents the most extensive study of its kind to date. These studies explored the main challenges and benefits of FIFO work, coping strategies used by families, things that make FIFO life harder or easier and ideas for support. Many of the coping strategies, practical tips, and reflection questions in this resource were drawn from the experiences of families who took part in our studies.

You can find summaries of each of our studies and links to relevant references below.

Other research informing this resource

This resource is also informed by research and ideas from health promotion and family studies. One important idea is that family members influence each other’s wellbeing and can support healthy behaviours⁴. This recognises that all members of a FIFO family, including the FIFO parent, non-travelling parent and children, play important roles in promoting wellbeing². Research suggests that support can be particularly beneficial when multiple family members are involved because they can learn from and support each other^5-6. Therefore, this resource focuses on both FIFO workers and the parent who remains at home.

How were the resources developed?

To turn our research findings into practical support that works for families, we co-designed the resource with a group of eight FIFO workers, their partners, and young adults who grew up in FIFO families. Co-design is about creating support with the community, not for them⁷. This is important to ensure that resources developed by researchers are relevant and impactful for communities they are intended to support. Through four workshops, we were guided by the co-design members’ preferences, experiences and perspectives.

We are extremely grateful to the FIFO workers, partners and young adults who generously shared their time, experiences and expertise to help create this resource.

Explore our research findings 

We've created two-page summaries of each of our studies, highlighting what we did and what we found. Download the summaries below to learn more about our research.

Research and further reading 

1. Asare et al,. 2023. Rotation work in the resources sector: This review looks at the available research examining the impact of rotation work on the mental health and well-being of partners and children of rotation workers.
2. Mancini et al,. 2025. Promoting the Health of Fly-In-Fly-Out (FIFO) Families: This article highlights that FIFO work affects the wellbeing of the whole family, not just the worker, and argues that more support is needed to help FIFO families thrive.
3. Nevill et al,. 2026. Life on Rotation: This article examines FIFO workers’ perspectives on how FIFO working arrangements affect them and their families. 
4. Christensen, P. 2004. The health-promoting family: This paper explains how families can support children's health and wellbeing, and how children can also play an active role in promoting health within their families.
5. Barnes et al,. 2020. Family-Centered Health Promotion: This paper emphasises how families can support each other's health and wellbeing and why family-focused support is important.
6. Ho et al,. 2022. The role of the family in health promotion: This review examines research on family health promotion and explores the different ways families can encourage healthy behaviours.
7. Bird et al,. 2021. A generative co-design framework for healthcare innovation: This article describes a model that researchers can use to co-design support and reform with communities. 

Throughout the website, we have also included related links to trusted resources from leading organisations such as the Raising Children Network, Lifeline and Headspace, which provide additional information and support related to the topics covered.