ANZCTR search results

To determine whether participation in a weekly exercise group can maintain or improve physical function and falls rate for people with chronic physical impairment.

This cross sectional study will be conducted on stroke survivors with a diagnosis of stroke in the last 12 months or longer. This study will aim to determine the stress levels in patients with stroke. This information will be compared with age matched control participants to determine the differences in stress levels between stroke survivors and the control population. This study aims to measure subjective and biological stress loads in patients recovering from stroke, 12 months or longer post event, and to explore the relationship between chronic stress, in stroke patients compared to age matched controls.

Overweight and obesity is highly prevalent among Australian adults and being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing stroke, coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. For optimum health and to prevent the development of chronic diseases individuals should aim to maintain Body Mass Index in the range 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2. For individuals who are overweight or obese, weight loss of >5% is a key prevention and treatment recommendation to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Traditional weight loss interventions combining physical activity and dietary behaviour change are only modestly effective, as interventions often fail to achieve the weight loss target of 5%, on average achieving only 3.3% weight loss. Consequently, the efficacy of behavioural weight loss interventions need to be improved. One potential way to enhance the efficacy of traditional weight loss interventions is to concurrently target improvements in sleep health. The Move, Eat & Sleep Study is a 3-arm randomised controlled trial to assess the relative efficacy of a physical activity, dietary behaviour, and sleep health intervention (enhanced), compared with a physical activity and dietary behaviour only intervention (traditional), and wait-list control for weight loss, in overweight/obese adults. The primary outcome of weight change will be assessed after 6 months and followed up at the 12 month time point. It is hypothesised that both the enhanced and the traditional interventions will achieve a statistically significant reduction in weight relative to the wait list control at 6 months primary time point, and that the enhanced intervention will achieve a statistically significant greater reduction in weight relative to the traditional intervention at 6 months. The Move, Eat & Sleep study is a technology-based, multi-behavioural intervention to promote weight loss. This will be achieved by increasing physical activity levels, improving dietary quality and reducing energy intake to promote weight loss, and in the Enhanced group also improving sleep health. Participants will receive access to a modified version of the Balanced app, body weight scales to self-monitor weight, a Fitbit to self-monitor activity and sleep behaviours, a participant handbook and additional email and text message based support, and personalised dietary counselling.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the levels of distress and anxiety of patients (and their next-of-kin) who are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital following trauma, under the auspices of the Acute Surgical Unit and/or Neurosurgery Department over the duration of their hospital stay. The aim is to ascertain the levels of distress and anxiety of patients’ and next-of-kins’, whether these levels change over time and, if so, what they attribute this to. It is anticipated that the results will impact on the clinical practice of social workers at the Royal Adelaide Hospital by helping us to provide better and more focused services to this client group.

Research indicates a low employment rate among adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) or multiple sclerosis (MS) despite many feeling capable of engaging in paid employment. Resuming employment provides an opportunity to interact with others and has been shown to contribute to general wellbeing and life satisfaction. Though specialist vocational rehabilitation services exist, barriers to accessing these services have been identified. These barriers include (but are not limited to): delays in the timeliness of vocational interventions, transportation and/or financial difficulties, and social stigma. In this context, time-efficient, cost-effective and accessible methods of vocational service delivery present clinical appeal. This includes the use of information and communication technologies (i.e. Internet) to supplement face-to-face rehabilitation. Specific aims of this study will be to: 1. Develop and evaluate an online vocational resource for working-age adults with SCI or MS 2. Identify facilitators of, and barriers to, online learning We expect to demonstrate that access to online services will facilitate and promote vocational behaviours and, potentially, contribute to positive mental health outcomes.

The study will examine the feasibility, usefulness and acceptability of using the anal plug Coloplast PERISTEEN amongst stroke survivors with persistent Intractable Faecal Incontinence (IFI) during the rehabilitation phase. Patients from Bentley rehabilitation hospital will be recruited to the study and their primary carer over a period twelve months. The use of the anal plug will be compared to the usual care during this phase using a number of validated tools. In addition, both patients and carers will be asked to participate by completing a pre and post satisfaction survey which will also include a quality of life measure.

World-wide cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer in women. Infection of the uterine cervix with human papillomavirus (HPV) is very common, with a small proportion of those infected progressing to cervical cancer. To date, no treatment of viral infection has been available and only the cell changes brought about by the virus relatively late in the infection are treated by one of the standard surgical methods which remove parts of the cervix affected by the virus. This proof of concept research is to trial application of iodine via a novel delivery device to the upper vaginal vault, ectocervix (outside of the cervix) and endocervical canal (passage that leads from the cervix to the uterus). Women who have persisting HPV despite standard surgical treatment to the cervix are to be recruited and treated as an outpatient procedure, the trial assessing the duration of treatment required for successful eradication of the virus. Should the treatment be found to be effective, women at long term risk of acquiring cervical cancer or adenocarcinoma as a consequence of persistent HPV infection will be offered treatment to eradicate the infection, the HPV vaccine if unvaccinated, then returned to normal follow up as mandated by the accepted guidelines. Health savings will be significant to the WA government by offering a treatment that eradicates an infection linked to potential cancer development (not currently possible) and the necessary follow up the infection entails.

This RCT will test whether a lifestyle intervention in early pregnancy optimizes gestational weight gain and reduces offspring adiposity. The intervention will use smart phone web based applications to deliver diet, physical activity and well being advice to overweight or obese pregnant women in early pregnancy (commenced prior t0 10 weeks gestation) to optimise their gestational weight gain (weight gain during the course of the pregnancy) within the recommended medical guidelines. The project will then follow up to assess neonatal and infant outcomes in relation to fat percentage and anthropometry.

The purpose of the research is to explore the perceptions of health care professionals posing as patients to the provision of a simple patient care activity by a specially programmed humanoid Robot. The sentinel questions to be addressed are: Will study participants accept a humanoid Robot in a care provider role? Is it possible for study participant to place trust on such a humanoid? Can a machine effect care with empathy by displaying appropriate emotions? What concerns arise among the study participants? Study participants are Doctors, Nurses, allied health professionals who provide direct clinical care. They will 'pose' as a patient before the humanoid robot and assess some components of the core clinical skills of the robot namely sense of safety, efficacy of care, empathy, communication skills, supportiveness, trust level and acceptance. Their responses on a standardised scale will be analysed and published. This study could pave the way to explore the utility of robots as real health care providers by systematically understanding the perceptions of health professionals as a first step.

This parent-assisted social skills program (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills: PEERS) aims to help teenagers develop the social skills needed to make and maintain friends. The program reduces the complexity of social behaviour and teaches simple rules, using modelling and practice. Parents participate in separate concurrent sessions to help them support their teenager with real world practice. The program has not been tested with teenagers with acquired brain injuries (ABI) and cerebral palsy (CP) . This study aims to pilot test PEERS for 40 youth with ABI and CP in a randomised waitlist controlled trial across two sites in Australia to improve social competence and friendships. Secondly, we will explore caregiver's and youth's experiences of participating in the PEERS program.