Predictors Of Poor Professional Performance In Junior Medical Staff
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$205,902.00
Summary
Medical practitioner performance is one significant risk factor for adverse health outcomes. Medical practitioner stress has implications for practitioner performance. Among new medical graduates working in the public hospital system environmental stressors such as long working hours have traditionally been blamed as the source of stress leading to reduced performance and adverse health outcomes. However, correction of environmental stresses does not necessarily reduce junior doctors stress or i ....Medical practitioner performance is one significant risk factor for adverse health outcomes. Medical practitioner stress has implications for practitioner performance. Among new medical graduates working in the public hospital system environmental stressors such as long working hours have traditionally been blamed as the source of stress leading to reduced performance and adverse health outcomes. However, correction of environmental stresses does not necessarily reduce junior doctors stress or improve performance, implying that additional personal factors predict for poor assessed performance. Such factors may include burnout, depression, anxiety and fixed personality traits. This project will allow a detailed analysis of causal relationships between fixed personality traits, induced stress states, and external life stresses. The relationship of each of these to performance will also be determined.Read moreRead less
Burden Of Disease: Costing An Effective Package Of Care For Mental Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$272,735.00
Summary
The Global Burden of Disease project, a WHO-World Bank-Harvard collaboration, presented an unprecedented picture of global health across the developed and developing world, providing much-needed information for planning health services. Health was measured at the population level, and combined the number of life years lost due to death and disablement to give a total amount of life lost per disorder. One surprise of the project was the importance of mental disorders, accounting for 43% of life y ....The Global Burden of Disease project, a WHO-World Bank-Harvard collaboration, presented an unprecedented picture of global health across the developed and developing world, providing much-needed information for planning health services. Health was measured at the population level, and combined the number of life years lost due to death and disablement to give a total amount of life lost per disorder. One surprise of the project was the importance of mental disorders, accounting for 43% of life years lost due to disability in countries like Australia. Service planning to reduce this burden requires knowledge of cost-effective treatments.This project will trial a method used for combining burden and cost-effectiveness data to design an essential package of services to address the treatment shortfall in mental disorders. This research will assist in our understanding of why burden due to mental disorders persists, and the extent to which current treatment knowledge is able to address this burden within existing budgetary constraints. This will be achieved by: 1) detailing the costs and population outcome of current services in Australia for mental disorders, to determine which disorders are currently adequately treated and which disorders require further intervention, 2) calculating the costs and outcome of best practice interventions from clinical practice guidelines, to understand the extent to which current treatment knowledge can reduce burden due to mental disorders, 3) examining the equity consequences of such a package of ideal interventions, with the understanding that the treatment endpoint is not the same for all disorders. This is a secondary analysis, representing a method for translating existing cost and outcome data for individual treatments into their costs and consequences for health planning at the population level.Read moreRead less
What's In A Conversation? Discourse Correlates Of Concepts In The Conversational Model Of Psychotherapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$240,952.00
Summary
How and why does therapeutic talk assist people with mental health disorders to change and restore their sense of self? How do psychiatrists read the potential for such change in the discourse of their patients? This collaborative project, between psychiatry and linguistics, investigates the role of language in providing both strategies for change and evidence of change in the Conversational Model of psychotherapy. The project will examine the linguistic patterns that occur in the forms of talk ....How and why does therapeutic talk assist people with mental health disorders to change and restore their sense of self? How do psychiatrists read the potential for such change in the discourse of their patients? This collaborative project, between psychiatry and linguistics, investigates the role of language in providing both strategies for change and evidence of change in the Conversational Model of psychotherapy. The project will examine the linguistic patterns that occur in the forms of talk used by therapists employing the Conversational Model of Psychotherapy, in order to produce a better understanding of certain mental illnesses, and how they can be treated. Specifically, it will: 1. describe, linguistically, four key discourse categories of the Conversational Model that are taken as indicators of progress in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder 2. explain the therapeutic work of such discourse - what is it about these particular language resources that facilitates the observed changes in patients' discourse and mind? 3. assess the stability of key discourse categories of the Conversational Model, and test the ability of a linguistic profile to reliably distinguish between key therapeutic categories as used by different clinicians. The positive effects of Conversational Therapy on incidence of self harm, violence, hospital stays, drug use and self-reported symptoms in this group have been well documented and are especially impressive given that many of the patients in these studies had been turned away from other forms of treatment as unresponsive. By understanding better how this therapy works in a patient group that is typically resistant to treatment but responsive to this particular treatment, we hope to improve health outcomes for people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. In the longer term we expect this research to help improve techniques for enhancing the mental health of Australians more generally.Read moreRead less
Psychosocial Predictors Of Developing Breast Cancer In Women From High Risk Breast Cancer Families
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$593,875.00
Summary
Over the past 20 years, studies have highlighted the possible roles of stressful life events and distress, possibly mediated by social support and personality, in causing or speeding up the development of breast cancer. This possibility is of strong concern to consumers. To date, there have been few well designed, prospective studies of this issue. Furthermore, no previous studies have specifically targeted women at increased risk because of their family history. Over the past 7 years, it has be ....Over the past 20 years, studies have highlighted the possible roles of stressful life events and distress, possibly mediated by social support and personality, in causing or speeding up the development of breast cancer. This possibility is of strong concern to consumers. To date, there have been few well designed, prospective studies of this issue. Furthermore, no previous studies have specifically targeted women at increased risk because of their family history. Over the past 7 years, it has become possible to identify 2 breast cancer genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2). Female carriers of mutations in these genes with a strong family history have an estimated lifetime risk of between 35% and 85%. The Kathleen Cuningham Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer (KConFab) was established 7 years ago to coordinate the collection of genetic, epidemiological and clinical data in Australian families with a dominantly inherited predisposition to breast cancer. Due to the high rate of breast cancer diagnoses in this group, and the systematic recruitment of large numbers of high risk women by KConFab, there is a unique and temporary opportunity to conduct a rigorous study to resolve this question, with sufficient numbers involved. The study is a world first, and will provide the best data to date in this area. If the study demonstrates a relationship between psychosocial factors and the development of breast cancer in women from high risk breast cancer families, subsequent identification of vulnerable individuals and the implementation of appropriate interventions may have a real impact on reducing morbidity and mortality in this population. Furthermore, the results may have implications for all women in reducing breast cancer incidence.Read moreRead less
Psychosocial Predictors Of Developing Breast Cancer In Women From High Risk Breast Cancer Families
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$337,018.00
Summary
Systematic review of the literature on psychosocial predictors of developing breast cancer has highlighted the possible roles of life events and distress, possibly mediated by social support and personality. To date there has been little prospective assessment of psychosocial factors in the development of breast cancer. Furthermore, no research in this area has specifically targeted women at increased risk because of their family history, nor explored whether the impact of psychosocial factors s ....Systematic review of the literature on psychosocial predictors of developing breast cancer has highlighted the possible roles of life events and distress, possibly mediated by social support and personality. To date there has been little prospective assessment of psychosocial factors in the development of breast cancer. Furthermore, no research in this area has specifically targeted women at increased risk because of their family history, nor explored whether the impact of psychosocial factors systematically varies according to genetic mutation status. Over the past 5 years it has become possible to isolate two breast cancer genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2). Female carriers of mutations in these susceptibility genes have an estimated lifetime risk of breast cancer of between 37% and 85%. The Kathleen Cuningham Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer (KConFab) was established four years ago to co-ordinate the collection of genetic, epidemiological and clinical data in Australian families with a dominantly inherited predisposition to breast cancer. The systematic recruitment of large numbers of high risk women by KConFab provides a unique and temporary opportunity to address questions concerning psychosocial predictors of disease development in a prospective design with sufficient power, due to the higher rates of breast and ovarian cancer events in this population. We will also be able to explore interactions with genetic mutation status. The study will be a world first, and provide the most rigorous data to date in this area. If this study demonstrates a relationship between psychosocial factors and the development of breast cancer in women from high risk families, subsequent identification of vulnerable individuals and the implementation of appropriate interventions may have a real impact on reducing morbidity and mortality in this population. Furthermore, the results may have implications for all women in reducing breast cancer incidence.Read moreRead less