Completed projects
Closing the mental health care gap: Co-designing resources for Emergency Department staff
With RMIT, MIND and lived experience colleagues, Prof Renata Kokanovic, Rebecca Egan, Indigo Daya, Prof Stuart Thomas, Dr Cameron Duff, Dr Chris Maylea, Dr Nicholas Hill and Dr Ruth DeSouza,
The available evidence suggests a major gap in equitable healthcare provision for those who present to Emergency Departments (EDs), with poor care pathways, low prioritisation and poor patient experiences reported by those with mental health issues (Australasian College of Emergency Medicine; ACEM, 2018). This project engages with data on peoples’ experiences of mental illness to co-design a prototype training resource for health care practitioners. Ultimately, this will better equip ED staff to respond to mental health presentations, and improve the experiences of patients attending ED’s with acute mental health issues.
The YES Project for the Office of the eSafety Commissioner
School of Education, Deakin University
With the Office of the eSafety Commissioner (OeSC), Jenny Walsh and Sharyn Leahy Hatton, funded by the OeSC
The team collaborated to produce a workshop-based digital and social health program encouraging young people to act as positive leaders and supportive friends in social spaces, especially online. The resource and guide are mapped to the Australian Curriculum (Health and Physical Education, Technologies, Personal and Social Capability, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability, Ethical Understanding, Intercultural Understanding).
The complete Workshop Handbook and Educator Guide are available via the Office of the eSafety Commissioner at no cost.
Australian Research Centre in Sex (ARCSHS), Health & Society, La Trobe University, with Dr Graham Brown, Prof Gary W. Dowsett and Kylie Johnston
The Friends, Sex & Benefits Project (FS&B) provided a snapshot of the attitudes towards STI testing among socially active, 21 to 30 year old, young adults attending busy, nightlife precincts in Melbourne. The project found that young adult friendship networks can be a source of informal sexual health education and support. STI testing in the last 12 months was related to talking to friends and partners about testing.
Study broadsheet and research summary
Hendry, N. A., Brown, G., Dowsett, G. W., & Carman, M. (2017). The association between sexually transmissible infections testing, numbers of partners, and talking to partners and friends about sexual health: Survey of young adults. Sexual Health, 14(4), 378–382.
Hendry, N. A., Brown, G., Carman, M., Ellard, J., Wallace, J., & Dowsett, G. W. (2018). Untangling the conflation of ‘young adults’ and ‘young people’ in STI and sexual health policy and sex education. Sex Education, 18(5), 527–540.
Hendry, N. A., Brown, G., Johnston, K., & Dowsett, G. (2013). Beyond high school: What do we know about young adults’ social and sexual contexts? Literature review and study opportunities. Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.
