ANZCTR search results

This research project is investigating online support for young people looking for work. Young people who experience mental ill health often also experience disruption to school and work. This project will look at whether or not online platforms can help young people find and stay in work. Young people who agree to take part in the project will be randomly assigned to use one of two online platforms. These platforms are both designed to help young people find work and stay in work. They include ways to learn about looking for work, work skills, and information about workforce participation. Depending on which platform participants are allocated to, you may also receive online help from vocational support people and/or talk to other young people online about looking for work. Each component of the platforms are optional and there is no minimum time that you have to spend on the platform. You will also be asked to complete questionnaires about yourself (e.g. demographic information, questions about your mental health, questions about hopefulness and how confident you feel about work) and about looking for work and your work history. You will be asked to complete these questionnaires at three times: 1) when you start as a participant in the study (baseline), 2) 26-weeks after baseline, and 3) 25-weeks after baseline. You will also be asked to let us know how many hours you have worked each week for 26 weeks. Each time you complete the questionnaires it will take approximately 45 minutes. You can complete these questions online and will be reimbursed $20 for the questionnaires that are done at the start (baseline), middle (26-weeks), and end of the study (52-weeks). You may also be asked to participate in an interview about your experiences of using the online platform. We will ask you what you thought of different sections of the platform and what it was like in terms of helping you look for and obtain work. This interview would be at the middle of the study (26-weeks) and again close to the end of the study (52-weeks). If you agree to do this, the interview will be audio recorded and transcribed. This is because it is the best way to remember exactly what you said in the interview. When the recording is transcribed any details that identify you (e.g. name) will be removed. The interviews will last approximately 45-60 minutes depending on how much you have to say and you will be reimbursed $30 for your time and travel expenses.

Breathing problems in sleep (known as sleep disordered breathing - SDB) is a common problem in childhood (seen in up to 10%). SDB can affect children along a spectrum from snoring without sleep disruption, to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) with severely disrupted sleep and pauses in breathing. SDB symptoms are now the most common reason for tonsillectomy surgery in children. However, some of these children may benefit from less invasive medical treatment. This study is trying to find out if a nasal steroid spray (INS) (mometasone furoate) can help reduce SDB symptoms. We will ask children 3-12years old to be part of the study. We will do an examination and ask parents to complete questionnaires on their child’s SDB symptoms, and other things related to good sleep such as their child’s emotions and behaviour, and quality of life. We will give them either INS or saline spray (salty water) for 6 weeks, and then repeat the assessments to see the effect of the INS versus saline. We will also monitor who has surgery over the next two years. We expect that INS will reduce the symptoms of SDB, and ultimately reduce the need for surgery, thereby improving the health and quality of life of children with SDB, and also reducing health care costs.

A significant proportion of women struggle with anxiety and stress during pregnancy, and this can affect the health of both the mother and her baby. Relaxation interventions might be helpful, however the evidence is not conclusive. The purpose of this feasibility study is to explore the potential of two programs aimed at helping to decrease anxiety during pregnancy: 1. a partner delivered relaxation massage program; and 2. a self-directed stress management program. Pregnant women will be invited to participate in the study and randomly assigned to one of the two programs.

During general anaesthesia, obese patients are at risk of oxygen levels in the blood rapidly falling when not breathing. This rapid reduction is due to the combination of reduced chest wall and diaphragmatic tone, the increased incidence of lung collapse, and secretion retention. Administering oxygen before general anaesthesia is less effective than in patients with a normal weight and obese patients pose more difficulties with airway management. Transnasal humidified Rapid-insufflation ventilator exchange (THRIVE) has recently gained popularity within anaesthetic practice due to the respiratory safety benefits it provides in patients who are not breathing. THRIVE increases the time in which patients can be not breathing before oxygen levels in the blood begin to fall. The aim of this study is to identify the safety benefits of high-flow nasal oxygen deliver (Transnasal humidified Rapid-insufflation ventilator exchange (THRIVE)) in obese patients undergoing elective bariatric surgery. It may potentially increase the time to hypoxia and increase carbon dioxide elimination in obese patients who are not breathing, who are at higher risk of lung complications.

This study builds on pilot work testing 2- and 3-session perfectionism programmes with early adolescents which found improvements in emotional problems, self-imposed perfectionistic standards (sustained at 4-week follow-up), and well-being, sustained at 3-month follow-up (Fairweather-Schmidt and Wade, 2015; Vekas & Wade, 2017). The modified programme for the current research expands the pilot programme to include an emphasis on the difference in pursuing excellence and pursuing perfection, as gifted students will be offered the intervention. To date no research has examined whether perfectionism interventions can increase intrinsic motivation and academic goal progress. Research objectives 1. To examine the impact of the LIFE curriculum on primary (perfectionism) and secondary (anxiety, depression, wellbeing, self-compassion, academic motivation and satisfaction). 2. To test whether improvements in certain outcome factors (anxiety, depression, well-being, academic motivation and satisfaction) are mediated by the following outcome factors: self-compassion and perfectionism. We hypothesize that the intervention group will experience significantly greater decreases in perfectionism, anxiety, and depression, and significantly greater increases in wellbeing, self-compassion, academic motivation and satisfaction, at follow-up. We also hypothesize that decreases in perfectionism and increases in self-compassion between baseline and end of treatment will mediate the association between group and follow-up changes in anxiety, depression, well-being, academic motivation and satisfaction.

Stroke is a leading cause of long term disability with around 60,000 people experiencing a stroke each year in Australia. In the acute post-stroke period over two thirds of patients experience some level of reduced upper limb function, while 15-30% of stroke survivors suffer permanent motor impairments despite extensive rehabilitation. Although extensive research has been devoted to establishing novel treatment modalities, few have made significant and reliable improvements to stroke rehabilitation and recovery. Brain based interventions which target affected brain networks are likely to be highly effective. Transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS), a form of non-invasive brain stimulation, has demonstrated some promise for improving upper limb function post stroke. TDCS can facilitate motor learning by increasing network excitability. This raises the possibility that combining TDCS with therapy may lead to functional recovery beyond that normally achieved by therapy alone. However inconsistencies of both physiological and behavioural responses to TDCS suggests a ‘one-size-fits-all’ treatment might not be optimal. The neural sequelae arising from stroke are highly heterogeneous with the extent of subsequent impairment dependent upon lesion location and disruption of brain networks. Therefore individual differences in residual integrity of the lesioned motor network may contribute, at least in part, to variable TDCS responses. Motor network connectivity may be a valuable predictor of those who will benefit from TDCS application in general, or alternatively, benefit for different stimulation approaches (e.g. facilitatory vs inhibitory TDCS or ipsilesional vs contralesional stimulation). Biomarkers predictive of TDCS response would be beneficial to improve clinical translation of this ‘state-of-the-art’ intervention capable of substantially transforming stroke therapy and improving recovery. We hypothesise connectivity of the lesioned motor network will be greater in stroke patients who demonstrate a strong response to TDCS combined with upper limb exercise therapy.

The safety and performance of the Apex Total Knee Replacement system manufactured by Omni Life Science and Global Orthopaedic Technology will be evaluated following primary total knee arthroplasty.

Social isolation is a major cause of depression onset and relapse in young people. Yet this is not directly targeted in current treatments for depression. To address this disconnect, our project will conduct a randomised controlled trial to assess the efficacy of a novel intervention that targets social isolation in young people with depression (called Groups 4 Health). Our trial will compare the effectiveness of Groups 4 Health to another effective treatment, group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), at program completion and one-year follow up. Participants will be 200 young people aged 15-25, recruited from public and private mental health services in the Southeast Queensland region. We expect that both interventions will be effective in reducing depression symptoms, but that Groups 4 Health will be superior in reducing the social isolation that causes depression. This trial will test the capacity for Groups 4 Health to function not only as a treatment, but also as relapse prevention for young people at risk of depression recurrence. Therefore, the benefits of Groups 4 Health are expected to be particularly apparent by the one-year follow-up. This program offers a new approach to treatment and relapse prevention of the leading cause of disability among young people in Australia.

Thinking Maths has been developed by the South Australian Department of Education and Child Development (SA DECD), based on its Teaching for Effective Learning Framework. The program aims to address a significant drop in mathematics performance in NAPLAN from Year 7 to Year 9. The program supports Year 7 and Year 8 teachers in the deep learning of mathematical content as outlined in the Australian Curriculum Mathematics. The project focuses on the following three areas for better teaching and learning of mathematics: • Quality task design; • Sequencing of conceptual development and; • Research-informed effective pedagogies Five professional learning days are run over two terms by facilitators who model rigorous teaching and learning processes, undertaking tasks with multiple entry and exit points to differentiate the curriculum to cater for students with a wide range of mathematical experience and dispositions. After each session teachers make a commitment to implement high gain strategies to improve student achievement and engagement. Between sessions, telephone, email and online platforms support teachers’ improvement efforts in a professional learning community. At each session after the first, there are three to four presentations from participants to share their experiences, successes and challenges. The SA DECD has identified the drop in mathematics performance between Year 7 and Year 9 as a critical state-wide issue and has designed this program in response to it. In order to inform the Department’s understanding of the effect and cost-effectiveness of the program, a rigorous and independently-funded trial is useful. As a decline in mathematics performance is also evident in Australian students’ results more widely, the findings from this trial may be of interest to other Australian practitioners and policy makers, as well. To date, there has been no rigorous evaluation of the impact this program has on student achievement in mathematics. The program however uses approaches which have a basis in research evidence, Teachers in the program receive explicit feedback from peers on their instruction and feedback, on average, yields 8 months’ learning progress for students. Further, the professional learning has been designed with key findings from Timperly et al’s Teacher Professional Learning Best Evidence Synthesis (2007) in mind. The program evaluator, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is the leading independent Australian organisation in educational research. The trial is structured as a clustered randomised control trial (RCT), with pairs of Year 7 and Year 8 Maths teachers recruited from 167 South Australian government schools. 120 recruited teachers (57 pairs and 6 individuals in 63 schools) will receive the intervention and the other 198 teachers (94 pairs and 10 individuals in the remaining 104 schools) will as act as a business-as-usual control.

Smiling Mind is a not for profit organisation that develops app-based mindfulness programs to support the wellbeing of children, young people and adults. Smiling Mind has previously developed mindfulness-based programs for primary and secondary school age children. In partnership with Early Childhood Australia (ECA) they have developed a mindfulness program for pre-school age children, called the Early Minds program. The program has been designed to be implemented by trained early childhood educators within Early Learning Centres (ELCs). Educators will be trained by two online learning modules prior to implementing the program, which consists of 8-weeks of mindfulness–based meditations and activities. The aim of this pilot study, led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of conducting the Early Minds program within selected Victorian ELCs. Educator’s experience of the program, use of the program, and barriers to use will be examined. Secondary aims will explore preliminary impacts of the program on educator and caregiver reported child wellbeing and behaviour. Educators will be randomised into the program group or the usual care group. Children will be placed in the group their educator is in. Participants will complete surveys at three months post-randomisation to assess primary outcomes.