ANZCTR search results

The study will involve providing a psychological intervention to parents whose children suffer from arthritis. The intervention will focus on changing the parent’s thinking and behaviours around their child’s experience of pain in arthritis, and helping parents develop skills to better assist their child in learning to cope with pain. This intervention will consist of four, two-hour sessions at Murdoch University and will be delivered in groups of 6-8 parents. Only parents will be required to attend these sessions as this intervention will be parent-focused, helping to educate parents about chronic pain and providing them with skills to better equip them to helping their child manage their pain.We aim to investigate whether this intervention can to lead to: a. reduction in unhelpful thoughts that parents may have about the impact of pain on their child. b. increase helpful parenting strategies; c. reduce parent’s fear of pain and, d. improve parent self-care. This will be assessed by administering questionnaires to the parents before and after the completion of the intervention. We also want to investigate whether any improvements amongst parents will lead to improvements in children’s functioning and mental health. Improvements amongst children will be assessed by the parents, who will be administered questionnaires before and after the completion of the intervention. Children will not be required to complete any questionnaires.

Smartphones are increasingly commonplace in the general population. Patient-facing mobile applications (“apps”) are software programs installed on smartphones that offer an opportunity to help modify behaviour of the smartphone user at low cost and with little or no clinician input. Multiple smoking cessation apps exist but very few have been independently evaluated, particularly in a hard-to-treat, hospital setting. The most downloaded smoking cessation app in Australia is My Quit Buddy, developed and marketed for the Department of Health. Preliminary data shows encouraging effects on smoking cessation in a self-selected and self-reported younger user group. Smokers seen in hospital settings are older, perhaps less sophisticated users of information technology with probably more ‘hard core’ nicotine addiction coupled with end-organ disease. The acceptability and potential effects of smoking cessation apps in this population are important to assess. Aims We propose a pilot randomized controlled study to help answer these questions and determine the sample size required for a definitive study. The smoking cessation app and standard care (online, generic smoking cessation information provided by Queensland Health) will be delivered as an adjunct to normal standards of care (i.e. as per RACGP guidelines). Both groups will have full access to all standard therapies for smoking cessation including pharmacotherapy, counselling. This study will estimate the incremental effect of My Quit Buddy app on smoking cessation rates at 3 months.

The purpose of this study is to trial a combination treatment of speech pathology and amitriptyline for vocal cord dysfunction and compare this to speech pathology alone. The aim is to reduce the symptoms of vocal cord dysfunction.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether Botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA)injections into upper limb muscles can improve impairment, function and quality of life in patients with disabling upper limb postural / kinetic tremor.

The aim of the study is to determine the clinical effectiveness of a system for turning and positioning Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients, when compared to usual care turning and positioning devices, for preventing pressure injuries.

Infants born preterm are at risk of adverse long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes, including cognitive, behavioural and motor deficits (including cerebra palsy). These adverse outcomes can significantly impair social and educational functioning and quality of life. We have established a cohort of infants born very preterm (<31 weeks gestation) with early neonatal brain imaging and concurrent clinical assessment of motor, neurological and neurobehavioural function (PREMO - Prediction of Preterm Motor Outcomes, ACTRN12613000280707; PREBO - Prediction of Preterm Brain Outcomes, ACTRN12615000591550). This study now aims to examine whether early MRI scans or clinical assessments can predict a child’s motor, cognitive, language, educational achievement and mental health outcomes at 6 years corrected age. If this is found to be the case, then in future, families will be provided with information on their child’s likely development much earlier. This will enable families to receive support and their children to be offered earlier treatments to help them with their movement, learning or behavioural development.

Motor imagery is an imagining of an action without its physical execution; it is a dynamic state during which the representation of a given motor act is internally rehearsed or imagined within working memory without any overt muscle activation. Motor imagery activates brain regions that are activated during actual task performance and motor imagery training has been found to improve task performance. Motor imagery has been found to improve static balance in the elderly but its effect on strength and mobility in older adults is unknown. The aim of this study is to determine whether imagining certain movements over a four week period promotes improvements in strength and mobility. It is hypothesised that motor imagery will lead to small improvements in strength and mobility.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of two methods of food introduction following a pancreaticoduodenectomy (otherwise known as Whipple procedure). Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 or over, and are undergoing a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or Whipple procedure) at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. Study details Participants will be randomised by chance into two groups. After their planned Whipple procedure, each group will follow a similar nutritional plan, reintroducing foods in a defined manner. One group (the ‘intervention’) will also have nutritional supplementation through a needle in the shoulder placed before surgery. For the 7 days after surgery and one month later, both groups will complete a number of questionnaires and strength tests. It is hoped this research will demonstrate the feasibility of performing the study and, to see if there is an improvement in a participants overall function if they get the food via a needle compared to the usual diet progression after the surgery.

Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) mainly affecting the lining of the large intestine (colon) and rectum. It is a chronic, progressive condition characterised by periods of acute inflammation and remission. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue, frequency, urgency, and bloody stools. Although treatment options have improved in recent years, there exist a need for non-pharmacological options to support medical therapy and improve outcomes. Recent studies demonstrate the positive effects of extra virgin olive oil supplementation in animal models, and it is associated with prevention of the disease in Mediterrannean populations.. Separate lines of research has further demonstrated potential anti inflammatory properties of olive oil in the diet for other chronic inflammatory processes. .

The focus of this study is to determine the safety and benefits of exercising patients who are mechanically ventilated via a tracheostomy whilst using a Passy-Muir speaking valve. The benefits of early exercise for patients in ICU have been well documented including: decreased ICU length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS and more ventilator-free days. Furthermore for tracheostomised patients, the benefits of utilising speaking valves (SVs) include: less accumulated secretions, decreased carbon dioxide retention, decreased respiratory rate, improved lung recruitment and greater verbal communication. Unfortunately the use of SVs has been limited due to concerns of lung derecruitment during a period of cuff deflation or conversely in some patients, hyperinflation. Fortunately recent studies have addressed these safety concerns by demonstrating that SVs did not cause derecruitment or hyperinflation of the lung, rather resulted in improved lung recruitment. It is important to note that these studies were completed with patients at rest, therefore the effect on the lungs during physiotherapy or exercise still needs to be investigated.