Improving Timely Diagnosis And Provision Of Best Care For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People Living With Dementia: A Cluster RCT
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,251,378.00
Summary
Dementia is 3-5 times more likely to occur amongst Aboriginal people. This study will examine the effectiveness of a multi-faceted intervention in helping Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services improve identification and care of people with dementia. The intervention includes clinical education, tools to prompt identification of cognitive impairment and clinical monitoring, routine feedback, and strategies to prompt adherence to clinical practice guidelines.
Prophylactic Antibiotics To Prevent Recurrent Lower Respiratory Tract Infections In Children With Neurological Impairment (PARROT) Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,210,224.00
Summary
We plan a randomised controlled trial to determine if 12 months of a type of antibiotics (compared to placebo) reduces hospitalisations in children with neurological impairment. Currently this group of children are recurrently hospitalised and some doctors use long term antibiotics but there is no high level evidence for this practice. The study will be undertaken in the UK and Australia and involve 474 children. The study will lead to better clinical care and inform guidelines.
BAN-Dep: A Trial To Decrease The Prevalence Of Depression In Australian Nursing Homes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$876,381.00
Summary
Depression is common among residents of aged care facilities, although symptoms are often not detected or treated. The Professional Education to Aged Care (PEAC) is a beyondblue e-learning platform designed to enhance knowledge about depression and anxiety in residential care. This trial aims to test whether the addition of a behavioural activation component is more efficacious than the PEAC alone in reducing the frequency of depressive symptoms among nursing home residents.
The my-AHA project will develop and trial ICT based interventions for aging related frailty. These in-home ICT interventions are designed to reduce the incidence of conditions of frailty and resulting disability on older adults through the use of physical, cognitive, psychological, and social interventions. The project is a international collaboration of 16 organisations from Australia, Asia, and Europe.
Increasing Rates Of Advance Care Planning For Individuals With Dementia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$574,421.00
Summary
Advanced care planning improves care provided to individuals with dementia at the end of life, and lessens the burden on surviving carers and relatives.However, more than half of all people with dementia do not have an advance care plan. This study will test the effectiveness of a strategy to increase use of a website that has been developed by Alzheimer's Australia to assist people with dementia to document an advance care plan.
QUARTZ: Quality Of Life After Radiotherapy And-or Steriods
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$63,000.00
Summary
Lung cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death worldwide. In this group, one in four people will be diagnosed with brain metastases during their illness. This makes brain metastases a major health resource issue. For this group, the diagnosis of brain metastases is often associated with survival of less than 3 months. It is therefore important that this short survival period, which is often compromised by the effects of the disease, is not compromised further with the use of potentia ....Lung cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death worldwide. In this group, one in four people will be diagnosed with brain metastases during their illness. This makes brain metastases a major health resource issue. For this group, the diagnosis of brain metastases is often associated with survival of less than 3 months. It is therefore important that this short survival period, which is often compromised by the effects of the disease, is not compromised further with the use of potentially toxic treatment. Whole Brain Radiotherapy (WBRT) is often used to treat these people. There is no current evidence to confirm that WBRT improves their quality of life. Most people with brain metastases routinely receive steroid medicine either as sole treatment or in addition to WBRT. Despite their potential side effects, steroids can control the symptoms of brain metastases and improve a person's quality of life. It is possible that the addition of WBRT adds nothing to steroids used alone or that only subgroups of these people benefit from WBRT. If these subgroups could be identified, treatment could be better tailored to the individual and minimise unnecessary hospital visits for these terminally ill patients. This could also potentially benefit the oncology community by translating into reduced radiotherapy waiting times. This is a unique, international collaborative study which aims to enroll 1000 people over a 3 year period from the UK, Australia and Canada .The main research question in this study is: Do the overall disadvantages of WBRT for lung cancer sufferers outweigh the advantages? It will be comparing the overall combination of quality and duration of survival in a) people receiving steroids and optimal palliative care alone to b) people receiving steroids, optimal palliative care and WBRT. The secondary research aims are to compare the two treatment groups in terms of symptoms experienced by the person and treatment side effects.Read moreRead less
A Multi-component Web-based Intervention To Improve The Wellbeing Of People With Dementia And Their Carers: A Randomised Controlled Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,312,455.00
Summary
People with dementia in rural and regional communities and their informal caregivers experience a multitude of unmet needs, which can lead to lower quality of life and higher health care utilisation costs. An international Community of Practice will adapt a web-based program developed by European researchers to the Australian context. The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the program in improving quality of life of people with dementia and their caregivers in rural areas will be examined.
Stand Up To Dementia: Reducing Prolonged Sitting To Improve Cognitive Function In Older Adults
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$603,901.00
Summary
Australia has an ageing population, resulting in more people being diagnosed with dementia. Prolonged sitting - (a behaviour that is very common amongst older adults) may increase the risk of cognitive decline and thus developing dementia. This study aims to further explore the relationship of sitting with dementia and cognitive function by using objective measures of sitting and also to develop programs and resources to reduce prolonged sitting which are informed by consumers.
A Randomised Controlled Trial Of An Online Peer Support Intervention For Reducing Symptoms Of Depression Among Community-dwelling Older Adults Living In Rural Australia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$503,180.00
Summary
Maintaining social connections as an individual ages is important to mental health. Older Australians living in rural areas are particularly at risk of social isolation, which may increase their likelihood of experiencing depression. The aim of this study is to develop and test the effectiveness of an online community in reducing depression among older Australians living in regional and rural adults. If effective, this study will provide a useful platform to combat social isolation.
Application Of Omics-based Strategies For Improved Diagnosis And Treatment Of Endocrine Hypertension
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$461,322.00
Summary
Arterial hypertension affects up to 45% of the general population and is responsible for 7.1 million deaths per year worldwide. We will define specific omics profiles for patients with a range of hypertension-related disorders by integrating high throughput genetics, genomics and metabolomics data. This should allow identification of patients with preclinical phenotypes along with those hypertensives that cluster into specific endocrine groups who may benefit from personalised treatment.