Research Supervisor Connect
The self-management clinic for adolescents with chronic physical illness runs within the Department of Adolescent Medicine and is set up as a research clinic with pre- and post-intervention data collection.
Professor Katharine Steinbeck.
Westmead - Childrens Hospital at Westmead Clinical School
Masters/PHD
Young people with chronic illness ultimately need to transition from paediatric care to adult care. Part of the transition process is the achievement of competent self- management, management which in the past was undertaken by parents and carers. Self-management is not simply about therapy adherence. It includes broader aspects of self-care, goal setting, health literacy, management of emergency care and confidence in dealing directly with health care providers. There is very little empirical research on self-management in adolescents and how it changes over time. This clinic provides research opportunities for medical, nursing, pharmacy and occupational therapy students as it is an ongoing clinical service with standardised data collection including psychosocial HEADSS assessment, self esteem, depression and anxiety, as well as individual measures of illness severity. Research initially would involve the short-term outcomes of a standardised intervention, with opportunities for longer term prospective research. The clinic approach is based on the Flinders self-management model (http://www.flinders.edu.au/medicine/sites/fhbhru/self-management.cfm).
This project provides opportunities for PhD and MPhil students who are interested in clinical research with adolescents. There are also opportunities for selected Honour's projects. All research enquiries should be directed to Professor Kate Steinbeck.
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 1024