Driving Under The Influence Of Psychoactive Prescription Benzodiazepines And Alcohol
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,048.00
Summary
Driving enables people to travel to work and social events, and is thus an important determinant of quality of life. Driving is also a potentially dangerous activity, as there is a risk of becoming involved in accidents. In fact, car accidents are one of the leading causes of injury and death. Whilst alcohol remains the most prevalent drug causing impairment of driving performance, other drugs, especially in combination with alcohol, are thought to increase collision risk.
Preventive messages and guidelines to reduce sitting — especially prolonged periods of sitting — have emerged. However, what prolonged sitting should be replaced with, and the feasibility of making real world changes to this behaviour, is unknown. This program of research will provide high quality evidence on the benefits of reducing prolonged sitting time, and the effectiveness and acceptability of achieving sitting reductions in real-world contexts.
Using Online Social Technologies To Improve Health Behaviour
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,048.00
Summary
Physical inactivity and poor eating habits are leading causes of death and disease in Australia. Our health behaviours are influenced by our social networks. What’s more, Australians love social technologies, such as Facebook and smartphones. My research aims to harness these two factors to create socially-influential health programs. I will work with video game developers to develop fun and engaging interventions, and a viral marketer and leading organisations to spread the interventions.
Toward An Evidence-based Approach For Treating End-stage Knee Arthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,048.00
Summary
World-wide more than one million total knee replacements (TKR) will be performed for end-stage knee osteoarthritis in 2016 alone. With an ageing population, demand for this procedure will increase dramatically, placing burden on a constrained health system. Up to 25% of TKR recipients experience on going pain after surgery and are dissatisfied with TKR. My research seeks to improve efficiencies and equitability of this important surgical procedure and in doing so optimise patient outcomes
Trauma And Recovery: Understanding And Treating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Refugees
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$431,000.00
Summary
Refugees report high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, a lack of understanding of the processes underlying refugee mental health has limited the effective treatment of this disabling disorder. My research program will overcome these barriers by uncovering core mechanisms and developing a targeted intervention to reduce PTSD symptoms in refugees. My research will advance knowledge about refugee mental health, and inform best-practice clinical care of refugees.
Fighting Mental Disorders: Using Mental Imagery To Disarm Symptoms And Enhance Treatment.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$415,218.00
Summary
This proposal will conduct the first pre-clinical and clinical research utilising mental imagery to disarm symptoms and enhance treatment of multiple mental disorders by controlling the strength of mental imagery. This fellowship represents the first attempt to alleviate symptoms by developing a cognitive-neuroscience method to control the strength of traumatic imagery and to show a causative means of enhancing imagery strength to boost the success rate of cognitive therapy involving imagery.