An Interdisciplinary Model Of Care For Early Detection Of Lung Damage, Smoking Cessation Support, And A Home-based Exercise/self-management Program
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$448,381.00
Summary
An interdisciplinary model of care comprising screening of long-term smokers for early detection of lung damage, smoking cessation support, and a home-based exercise/self-management program will be implemented and evaluated. This model could potentially reduce the burden of smoking, improve lung health and maintain health-related quality of life.
Assessment Of Non-communicable Diseases And Associated Risks Among Indonesian Adolescents
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$128,224.00
Summary
Adolescents experience a significant burden of disease from preventable non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and several risk factors for later development of NCDs are potentially modifiable during adolescence. In Indonesia, limited data measuring NCD risk factors, prevalence and outcomes in adolescents contributes to a policy and practice gap. This study aims to explore the burden of NCDs experienced by Indonesian adolescents and examine opportunities for health system change.
A Multiple Health Behaviour Approach To Prevent Common And Emerging Risk Factors For Chronic Disease: Development And Evaluation Of A Novel Online Intervention For Australian Adolescents
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,768.00
Summary
Chronic disease is the major cause of death in Australia. This fellowship will develop and evaluate the first online program to simultaneously target the “Big 6” risk factors for chronic disease: smoking, physical inactivity, alcohol use, poor diet, sedentary behaviour and unhealthy sleep among adolescents. This program not only has the potential to improve the health of young Australians, but also to make a substantial public health impact by reducing the incidence of chronic disease.
Using Conversational Computer Technology To Improve Diabetes Management: A Randomised Controlled Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$708,606.00
Summary
The diabetes epidemic is a growing challenge for the Australian health care system with over 1 million Australians living with diabetes. The impact on individuals' lives and the whole of Australian society is very substantial indeed. There is very good evidence that this impact would be reduced by developing new approaches to manage the disease and facilitate improved self-management. Recent developments in information and communications technologies offer some promising new ways and tools for a ....The diabetes epidemic is a growing challenge for the Australian health care system with over 1 million Australians living with diabetes. The impact on individuals' lives and the whole of Australian society is very substantial indeed. There is very good evidence that this impact would be reduced by developing new approaches to manage the disease and facilitate improved self-management. Recent developments in information and communications technologies offer some promising new ways and tools for achieving this. This research will evaluate a computer-controlled, interactive telephone system for improving the management and self-management of Type 2 diabetes in addition to routine care. Patients with Type 2 diabetes will be recruited from Brisbane and each patient will be randomly assigned to receive either this new program or just their usual care from their doctor or Diabetes Clinic. The first group will call the system weekly for six months using a regular phone or a mobile phone if they wish. During the call, they will answer questions by speaking into the phone, listen to feedback and strategies for improving management of their diabetes and then discuss their next targets and behavioural actions. They will receive systematic and tailored advice on blood glucose testing, nutrition and physical activity, as well as medication taking and foot care. The system individualises conversations according to the user s answers and responses over all the interactive sessions. The trial will formally evaluate the clinical impact on blood glucose control and the adoption and maintenance of the targeted health habits, as well as the intervention s cost-effectiveness and users satisfaction with the system. This project s significance lies in the excellent potential of using this new technology to provide a 'low cost' but effective program to help people better manage Type 2 diabetes.Read moreRead less
Population Level Approaches To Addressing Chronic Disease Risk Behaviours Among People With Mental Illness
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$318,768.00
Summary
This Fellowship will explore large scale population approaches to addressing chronic disease health behaviour risks among people with a mental illness. The program will identify: the effectiveness of approaches to increase the provision of chronic disease prevention care in mental health services, and strategies to improve the effectiveness of existing population based telephone behaviour change services for people with a mental illness.
Chronic pain is a common and debilitating condition. One in five people in the Australian community have been found to experience chronic pain at any one time. Although there is no evidence of a consistent increase in rates of chronic pain, the rate of permanent disability has increased dramatically in recent decades. This has contributed to the growing cost of chronic pain. For example, back pain is the most common reason for filing workers' compensation claims and leads to loss of 101.8 millio ....Chronic pain is a common and debilitating condition. One in five people in the Australian community have been found to experience chronic pain at any one time. Although there is no evidence of a consistent increase in rates of chronic pain, the rate of permanent disability has increased dramatically in recent decades. This has contributed to the growing cost of chronic pain. For example, back pain is the most common reason for filing workers' compensation claims and leads to loss of 101.8 million workdays annually. The annual costs of medical care for back pain alone have been estimated at $AUD50 billion in the US and $10 billion in Australia. Not only is chronic pain a considerable economic burden, it is also a considerable personal burden to patients. Pain is one of the strongest predictors of poor quality of life and has consistently been found to be associated with high rates of depression. Although there is a large body of research that investigates what factors are associated with chronic pain, there is surprisingly little research that investigates the mechanisms that cause chronicity. Theories of chronic pain suggest that psychological characteristics increase the propensity for people to develop chronic pain. Specifically, theories argue that those people who tend to be fearful of pain will over-attend to painful sensations and avoid pain-provoking activities and as a result are at risk of developing chronic pain. This study will test those theories. If it is found that over-attending to pain does predispose patients to develop chronic pain, this will have important implications for preventing the development of chronic pain. These findings could help to devise early interventions to prevent chronicity and thereby reduce the economic burden to health services and the emotional burden to patients in terms of reduced quality of life.Read moreRead less
Addressing Evidence-practice Gaps In Chronic Disease Prevention And Control
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$709,931.00
Summary
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of premature death and disability worldwide. Effective treatments for prevention and control of these conditions are available however their use remains far from optimal, in Australia and globally. My current and proposed research will develop and evaluate highly innovative solutions to reduce large evidence-practice gaps in healthcare delivery. These include task shifting to non-physician health workers and novel approaches to drug delivery.
Implementation And Evaluation Of A Systems Navigation Model Of Transition And Care For Non-Metropolitan Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: Youth OutReach For Diabetes (YOuR-Diabetes) Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial In Hunter New England
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$769,833.00
Summary
Young people with diabetes have to learn to self-manage in their teens, as they transfer from children’s to adult services. Few adult services specifically cater for young people and many fail to establish good support; management of their diabetes suffers. We will use evidence from services successful at engaging and supporting young people to redesign youth-friendly services in Hunter New England. We will examine the processes required to achieve this, and test whether diabetes control is bett ....Young people with diabetes have to learn to self-manage in their teens, as they transfer from children’s to adult services. Few adult services specifically cater for young people and many fail to establish good support; management of their diabetes suffers. We will use evidence from services successful at engaging and supporting young people to redesign youth-friendly services in Hunter New England. We will examine the processes required to achieve this, and test whether diabetes control is better with the new model than the current service.Read moreRead less
Evaluating A Group Diabetes Prevention Program For High Risk Individuals In Kerala, India
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,046,991.00
Summary
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in developing countries has increased dramatically. Action is now urgently required to develop targeted, low cost intervention programs to prevent T2DM. The Kerala Diabetes Prevention Program (K-DPP) is a cluster randomized trial in a rural area of Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala State, India, of a culturally appropriate locality-based group diabetes intervention targeting individuals (aged 30-60 years) at ‘high risk’ of developing T2DM.
Successful Prevention Of Chronic Disease Progression Among Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Adults In Rural North Queensland Primary Health Care Services
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$23,908.00
Summary
This study will examine what factors are associated with better diabetes outcomes in Indigenous Australians living in a remote community.