Suicide prevention and management of deliberate self-harm: randomised control trial of an assertive engagement, brief psychotherapy and community linkage model. Suicide is the second commonest cause of death by injury in Australia. Suicide prevention is an important public health priority but rates remain high. People who have previously attempted suicide are most likely to kill themselves. Most suicidal people attend emergency departments where they get inadequate treatment for their psychologi ....Suicide prevention and management of deliberate self-harm: randomised control trial of an assertive engagement, brief psychotherapy and community linkage model. Suicide is the second commonest cause of death by injury in Australia. Suicide prevention is an important public health priority but rates remain high. People who have previously attempted suicide are most likely to kill themselves. Most suicidal people attend emergency departments where they get inadequate treatment for their psychological and social problems and remain depressed and suicidal. This project will test the effectiveness of a new psychological and social treatment to reduce the depression and link suicidal people with community supports. If successful, this treatment could be provided in any emergency department and help decrease suicide rates in Australia.Read moreRead less
Improving safety and quality: psychosocial influences of managing medicines by consumers with chronic health problems. Many Australians have multiple chronic conditions that require complex prescribed medicine regimens to control symptoms and prevent further illness. Long-term health outcomes depend on how well consumers manage their medicines. This project will contribute to the development and evaluation of a medicine self-management training package to help consumers understand and manage the ....Improving safety and quality: psychosocial influences of managing medicines by consumers with chronic health problems. Many Australians have multiple chronic conditions that require complex prescribed medicine regimens to control symptoms and prevent further illness. Long-term health outcomes depend on how well consumers manage their medicines. This project will contribute to the development and evaluation of a medicine self-management training package to help consumers understand and manage their complex medication regimens. Optimal medicine self-management improves the consumer's general wellbeing and benefits the Australian community through promoting good health and reducing health care costs.Read moreRead less
Predicting the evolution of psychosocial and cognitive difficulties in epilepsy: A preventive approach. Chronic epilepsy is associated with significant psychosocial and cognitive difficulties. Research has neglected to examine how these problems evolve from the time of a first seizure, limiting our ability to predict ?at risk? patients and apply evidence-based preventive strategies. We will follow a cohort of 90 first seizure patients over two years in a prospective longitudinal investigation, m ....Predicting the evolution of psychosocial and cognitive difficulties in epilepsy: A preventive approach. Chronic epilepsy is associated with significant psychosocial and cognitive difficulties. Research has neglected to examine how these problems evolve from the time of a first seizure, limiting our ability to predict ?at risk? patients and apply evidence-based preventive strategies. We will follow a cohort of 90 first seizure patients over two years in a prospective longitudinal investigation, mapping psychosocial and cognitive change. This study entails a multidisciplinary collaboration with industry, applying innovative psychosocial and cognitive measures that will ultimately improve the detection of adverse pharmaceutical side-effects. The project is an international first, and will provide an important foundation for implementing preventive healthcare.Read moreRead less
Tonal language development in Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking children with cochlear implants. Cochlear implantation in children is expanding in countries where tonal languages are spoken, despite limited evidence of the effectiveness of implant use in these settings. This project will examine the impact of implant use on children's perception of tone, their production of speech and assesses how this affects functional communication.
A new quality of life instrument with older people for economic evaluation. This project aims to develop and validate a new preference-based quality-of-life instrument with applications in aged-care. The new instrument will be developed with older people receiving aged care services, and will focus upon incorporating their values into the measurement and valuation of quality of life for economic evaluation. The new instrument will have immediate applications in quality assessment and economic ev ....A new quality of life instrument with older people for economic evaluation. This project aims to develop and validate a new preference-based quality-of-life instrument with applications in aged-care. The new instrument will be developed with older people receiving aged care services, and will focus upon incorporating their values into the measurement and valuation of quality of life for economic evaluation. The new instrument will have immediate applications in quality assessment and economic evaluation, improving the quality of life and wellbeing of older Australians, and will assist in determining the relative cost effectiveness of new and existing services.
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COst-effectiveness analyses of improved adherence to Management PLans among AustralIANS (COMPLIANS). Chronic diseases are the leading cause of disability in the community and over $34billion is spent each year on health services in Australia treating these diseases. It is hoped that the project will lead to identification of opportunities for cost-effective prevention and treatment of lung and other chronic diseases and that this will lead to more cost-effective deployment of healthcare resourc ....COst-effectiveness analyses of improved adherence to Management PLans among AustralIANS (COMPLIANS). Chronic diseases are the leading cause of disability in the community and over $34billion is spent each year on health services in Australia treating these diseases. It is hoped that the project will lead to identification of opportunities for cost-effective prevention and treatment of lung and other chronic diseases and that this will lead to more cost-effective deployment of healthcare resources. Improvements in the management and treatment of these diseases will result in an improvement in the quality of life of Australian patients, and their active and productive participation in society for as long as possible.Read moreRead less
Investigating consumer partnerships in the context of complex health service delivery. Whilst increased consumer participation has been demonstrated to improve health outcomes, there has been no translation to people with chronic illness using acute care services. People with chronic conditions represent an increasing proportion of health care consumers and due to the existence of co-morbidities their needs are usually complex. Despite this, they have been marginalised in the current development ....Investigating consumer partnerships in the context of complex health service delivery. Whilst increased consumer participation has been demonstrated to improve health outcomes, there has been no translation to people with chronic illness using acute care services. People with chronic conditions represent an increasing proportion of health care consumers and due to the existence of co-morbidities their needs are usually complex. Despite this, they have been marginalised in the current development of participatory models of service delivery. This project will investigate the determinants of participation for consumers during episodes of acute health care, identify barriers to their participation, and develop testable strategies for increasing effective consumer participation in acute health care services.Read moreRead less
Making nursing work: Developing a national framework for advanced practice in nursing. Advanced practice nursing (APN) is closing service gaps in delivery of health care across a range of settings for an aging population that is increasingly chronically ill. Development of APN has been rapid, resulting in confusion about the role and service potential. The lack of a common meaning of APN is prohibiting effective utilisation of the nursing workforce and causing confusion within nursing, the healt ....Making nursing work: Developing a national framework for advanced practice in nursing. Advanced practice nursing (APN) is closing service gaps in delivery of health care across a range of settings for an aging population that is increasingly chronically ill. Development of APN has been rapid, resulting in confusion about the role and service potential. The lack of a common meaning of APN is prohibiting effective utilisation of the nursing workforce and causing confusion within nursing, the health care industry and the community. The project aims to conduct the first nationwide study of advanced practice nurses, their clinical activities and service patterns. The research aims to develop new knowledge and professional tools and provide an evidence base for nursing workforce reform to meet the imperatives of contemporary health services.Read moreRead less
Does Self Management Increase The Effectiveness Of Vocational Rehabilitation For Chronic Compensated Disorders? Workplace injuries result in human suffering and are costly for those injured, employers and the community. For some, the injury results in a chronic disability, a sense of powerlessness, and unemployment. This study will test whether participation in a 'self-management' program improves health and well-being, decreases pain, results in earlier return-to-work and is a more efficient us ....Does Self Management Increase The Effectiveness Of Vocational Rehabilitation For Chronic Compensated Disorders? Workplace injuries result in human suffering and are costly for those injured, employers and the community. For some, the injury results in a chronic disability, a sense of powerlessness, and unemployment. This study will test whether participation in a 'self-management' program improves health and well-being, decreases pain, results in earlier return-to-work and is a more efficient use of resources than usual care in vocational rehabilitation. Self-management programs have been shown to be effective in helping people manage chronic disabling conditions. By adapting the self-management program for this population it is anticipated that the human and financial burden on individuals and society from chronic injuries will be reduced.Read moreRead less
Economic Modelling of the Nurses' Labour Market in Australia. Nurses play an important role in the health system and help to ensure individuals lead healthier, happier and more productive lives. Devising cost-effective policies to ensure an adequate supply of motivated and productive nurses is crucial in achieving efficiency and equity in the health care system. The results will be used by government to help set optimal pay and conditions for nurses, and to ensure that these are competitive with ....Economic Modelling of the Nurses' Labour Market in Australia. Nurses play an important role in the health system and help to ensure individuals lead healthier, happier and more productive lives. Devising cost-effective policies to ensure an adequate supply of motivated and productive nurses is crucial in achieving efficiency and equity in the health care system. The results will be used by government to help set optimal pay and conditions for nurses, and to ensure that these are competitive with other nurse employers. This will provide a firm evidence-base to reduce nurse shortages and therefore increase the quality of patient care in Australia.Read moreRead less