The Role Of Learning In The Development, Maintenance, And Treatment Of Paediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$189,604.00
Summary
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in children is a severely debilitating mental health problem affecting between 0.5 and 1% of the population at any point in time. Children with OCD frequently experience high functional impairment as a result of their symptoms, including deteriorating school performance and poor peer relationships. Family life is often disrupted, causing significant distress and hardship to parents and siblings. However, little research attention has been paid to how families ....Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in children is a severely debilitating mental health problem affecting between 0.5 and 1% of the population at any point in time. Children with OCD frequently experience high functional impairment as a result of their symptoms, including deteriorating school performance and poor peer relationships. Family life is often disrupted, causing significant distress and hardship to parents and siblings. However, little research attention has been paid to how families affect and are affected by this disabling condition. This research examines the role of learning in the development, maintenance and treatment of OCD. Specifically, the study aims to: 1. explore the way in which children with OCD process threatening information 2. investigate the influence of parents on children's processing of OCD-relevant information 3. develop and implement the world's first randomised control trial of cognitive-behavioural plus parent training (CBT + PT) for childhood OCD 4. evaluate parent-assisted treatment in comparison to a standard cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) and a placebo control 5. examine the long-term maintenance of each type of treatment The outcomes of this project will be: 1. an improved understanding of OCD in children, and their families 2. an increased knowledge of the relationship between parenting processes and OCD symptomatology 3. the development and dissemination of an evidence-based treatment for childhood OCDRead moreRead less
A Parent Education And Skills Training Intervention For Young Adolescents With Autism
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$436,500.00
Summary
Autism is a most severe and prevalent lifelong developmental disorder affecting approximately one in every thousand children and their families. Autism is associated with personal suffering and is a significant burden and stress for parents, families and carers and cost to the community. In earlier work we have demonstrated that providing a structured program of parent education and guidance to families with preschool children with autism leads to improved parental adjustment and mental health. ....Autism is a most severe and prevalent lifelong developmental disorder affecting approximately one in every thousand children and their families. Autism is associated with personal suffering and is a significant burden and stress for parents, families and carers and cost to the community. In earlier work we have demonstrated that providing a structured program of parent education and guidance to families with preschool children with autism leads to improved parental adjustment and mental health. The program also led to behavioural and developmental benefits for the child. The early secondary school years bring further stress and difficulty to adolescents with autism and their families. This project aims to assess the effectiveness of a parent education and training program for parents with autistic adolescents aged 12-14 years. If shown to be effective, this manual based intervention can be readily used by professionals to promote parent mental health, family adjustment and improve the wellbeing and outcome for adolescents with autism. As a result, family stress and the necessity of out of home care may be reduced and school participation improved.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102645
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
The cause of the poleward shift of Earth's storm tracks and jet streams. Why do global climate models shift the atmospheric storm tracks and jet streams poleward in simulations of future climate? This project will determine the underlying causes of the most important circulation change that is projected to occur with increasing greenhouse gases, and will allow much more accurate regional climate projections.
Transforming our research capacity in the analysis of climate extremes. Given their devastating impacts, there is now a critical urgency to understand what drives extreme climate events and make timely predictions of their future risk. The analysis of comprehensive extremes datasets, comprising global observations and output of multi-model simulations, will greatly improve our ability to answer fundamental questions about the nature and variability of extreme climatic events. This project also e ....Transforming our research capacity in the analysis of climate extremes. Given their devastating impacts, there is now a critical urgency to understand what drives extreme climate events and make timely predictions of their future risk. The analysis of comprehensive extremes datasets, comprising global observations and output of multi-model simulations, will greatly improve our ability to answer fundamental questions about the nature and variability of extreme climatic events. This project also ensures the government's continued commitment to managing the risks associated with extreme events as an urgent national priority. It represents a landmark opportunity for Australian leadership of an international collaboration between some of the world's leading climate scientists and climate data and modelling centres.Read moreRead less