Health Care Priorities: The Community's Preferences For Using Community Preferences
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$52,355.00
Summary
Determining how health care resources should be allocated - often termed rationing or priority setting - has traditionally been carried out by health care personnel, usually doctors but increasingly managers. More recently there has been a move to involve the general public in this process. Much of the research in this area has focussed on the methods used to elicit community preferences. While this is an important area of investigation, a prior issue of how community members feel about the use ....Determining how health care resources should be allocated - often termed rationing or priority setting - has traditionally been carried out by health care personnel, usually doctors but increasingly managers. More recently there has been a move to involve the general public in this process. Much of the research in this area has focussed on the methods used to elicit community preferences. While this is an important area of investigation, a prior issue of how community members feel about the use of their preferences in informing health care priorities needs to be investigated. Four specific questions will be addressed in this study: (i) do members of the general public feel that, as individuals, they have a legitimate role to play in informing priority decisions in health care? if so why? if not, why not? (ii) does the nature-level-setting of the decisions for which priorities are to be set affect whether individual members of the public would wish to participate in the priority setting process? (e.g. different health services, medical procedures-treatments, diseases) (iii) whose preferences should be used if not the community's? (iv) faced ex post with the preferences of the community and the preferences (possibly different) of health service decision makers (i.e. Oexperts'), does this knowledge affect preferences for having community preferences count? A number of health authorities are currently looking for ways of engaging local communities in health care decision making. This study will indicate the appropriate levels at which community preferences are to be elicited and the type of decisions and settings in which they are most relevant.Read moreRead less
Long Term Impact, Capacity Gains And Cost-effectiveness Of A Successful Community-wide Child Obesity Prevention Program
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$703,191.00
Summary
Be Active, Eat Well is the first community-wide obesity prevention project to successfully reduce the weight and waist gain of children. The 'intervention' was to 'boost' community capacity to enable the local organisations to create their own solutions to childhood obesity. This research will continue to assess the project 3 years after that 'boost' to determine the long-term sustainability, impact and cost-effectiveness of this approach to prevent childhood obesity.
Improving Metabolic Fitness In Aboriginal And Torres Straight Islander Women: A Pragmatic Controlled Trial Of Waist Loss
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$556,193.00
Summary
Torres Strait Islanders have the highest prevalence of diabetes in Australia and weight gain in young women can increase further the risk of diabetes for themselves and their babies. Waist loss can reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease. A pilot study in the Torres Strait in 2007, has demonstrated that this is achievable and acceptable in young Indigenous women. This proposal aims to conduct a larger trial, to look at effectiveness and sustainability of waist loss in young women.
The Efficacy Of A Peer-to-peer Online Support Group And An Automated Self-help Internet Intervention For Depression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$476,855.00
Summary
Depression is the leading cause of disability in Australia. Many people do not receive professional help and prefer self help methods to antidepressants or face to face therapy. A significant number turn to Internet support groups. The Internet also has great potential for offering self-guided automated web-based therapy. This research investigates whether Internet support groups and self-help web therapy are helpful treatments for depression.