Funding success for broad range of health research
Six research projects led by the Wellington Faculty of Health have received a 2023 Health Delivery Research Activation Grant.
The funded projects span areas such as digital tools for sleep support, long COVID, wellbeing at work, a WELLFed evaluation, inequities for those with rare disorders, and respiratory infection and the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.
Health Delivery Research Activation Grants are funded by the Health Research Council. Details of the funded Wellington Faculty of Health projects are below.
Mr Dan Archer, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Co-design and pilot of a mobile app to improve sleep and emotional wellbeing
18 months, $30,000
Up to 40% of university students struggle with chronic sleep disturbances; often attributed to depression and anxiety. Poor sleep appears to be a strong predictive factor for emotional distress. Understanding sleep quality is important to making mental health diagnoses. Despite this, young adults in Aotearoa don’t access mental health support for many reasons – financial, cultural/language barriers, or not knowing where to go being some. Current evidence suggests mobile phone apps for health can create positive behavioural changes and are a way to provide support that is likeable and accessible enough to be used regularly. Story-listening as a sleep aid is widely used yet no research exists regarding its effectiveness. We aim to design a new digital health app alongside emotionally at-risk university students to ensure the app meets their needs, then assess whether we can influence emotional wellbeing through better sleep. Evidence generated will determine viability of future studies.
Dr Marianna Churchward, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
The impact of long COVID on Pacific families living in Aotearoa New Zealand
6 months, $29,887
Little is known or understood about the impact of long COVID among Pacific families living in New Zealand. The WHO definition of long COVID is ongoing symptoms at 3 months and beyond. A New Zealand Covid study (Russell et al, 2022) found Pacific participants identified persistent symptoms beyond 1 month after initial infection displaying multiple symptoms including severe fatigue, shortness of breath, and loss of smell. In the absence of an agreed definition, Pacific families doubted their ongoing COVID symptoms related to the virus, reinforced by health professionals who dismissed family concerns. The study also found the risk of long COVID was higher among people with pre-existing heart disease or a high BMI – identified serious health issues that are prevalent among Pacific peoples (Ministry of Health, 2021). Pacific researchers will undertake network meetings to identify research priorities and undertake a comprehensive and systematic literature review to inform further research.
Professor Joanne Crawford, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Wellbeing at work: reducing harm and improving health
12 months, $29,913
Annually in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is estimated that between 750-900 people die from work-related diseases and a further 6000 people are hospitalised due to work-related ill-health. Prevention through better workplace health and safety and improved management of known health risks is key to reducing that number. Currently at Victoria University of Wellington an evidence hub is being built to improve accessibility to what works in improving health and reducing harm at work. This activation grant proposal aims to bring together the different stakeholders involved in delivering prevention activities from academics to business organisations, regulators, practitioners and workers. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach across occupational health, our aim is to develop a research-practitioner network to bridge the gap between research and practice to identify research priorities to improve prevention activities and through that workplace health.
Associate Professor Mona Jeffreys and Ms Kahurangi Dey, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
An evaluation of WELLfed: pilot data collection
6 months, $29,781
Food security is a challenge faced by many people in Aotearoa, particularly those living in poverty. Since 2016, WELLfed has been "nourishing communities through food & connections". Staff and tutors teach learners food preparation, and provide food and utensils for a 10-week course. Informal evaluation shows that learners are more confident, eat more healthily, and spend less on food following the course. In preparation for a formal evaluation, we propose two activities: i) literature review of evaluation of other similar initiatives in the food security space, and i) interviews and focus groups with WELLfed leaders, tutors and learners, to refine proposed outcome measures, to strengthen the development of a full evaluation, with the potential for co-designed changes to the current and future offerings. The work will also strengthen a relationship between WELLFed and Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington.
Professor Karen McBride-Henry and Dr Tara Officer, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Invisible inequity: Healthcare insights from people with rare disorders
18 months, $29,992
Rare disorders (RD) are classified as low-prevalence health conditions. However, 6% of the worldwide population has a diagnosed RD; this reflects the prevalence of RD in the community in Aotearoa. The burden of having a rare disorder is high, resulting in concomitant disability and additional health service needs. There is a shortage of research exploring the needs of those with RD when accessing healthcare in Aotearoa. In partnership with Rare Disorders New Zealand, this activation grant will 1) Create scoping reviews exploring healthcare and RD; 2) explore the use of inclusive and novel research designs, such as photovoice; 3) Activate a RD research strategy network and develop a research strategy for RD. This project will explore current knowledge and inclusive research designs, create research partnerships, and contribute to future grant applications that address healthcare access challenges, informs policy, and support excellent clinical care provision for those with RD in Aotearoa.
Dr Claire O'Loughlin, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
The COVID-19 lockdown cohort: investigating the utility of a longitudinal study
6 months, $25,162
During winter 2020, at Middlemore Hospital, the number of under-two-year-olds hospitalised with respiratory infections dropped by more than 80%. Similarly, Christchurch Hospital recorded ‘almost no cases of respiratory syncytial virus or influenza infections’ in babies and pre-schoolers. Commentators have suggested that a range of measures designed to suppress the transmission of SARS-CoV_2 in Aotearoa/NZ contributed to this phenomenon. What might be the flow-on effect of a significant drop in respiratory infection rates in under twos during the 2020 lockdown for the number of children developing long-term respiratory conditions? What impact would one winter without exposure to respiratory infection requiring hospitalisation at a young age have on later respiratory health? We propose a literature review to assess the utility of a longitudinal study, drawing on the ‘natural experiment’ provided by the COVID-19 lockdown to investigate the impact of reduced or delayed respiratory infection rates in under twos on later respiratory health.