Clinical and Community Health
Promote healthy community
The Clinical Community Health Research Unit conducts leading edge, collaborative research that:
- addresses important healthcare challenges
- improves health and well-being
- enhances clinical and community care
- enriches quality of life.
The work of our qualified academic researchers are focused on three key research programs:
- mental health
- pregnancy
- acute and chronic illness.
On this page
Research themes
Researchers in the Clinical & Community Health Research Unit carry out research in key programs with the following themes:
- Utilising health information technology
- Promoting health and wellbeing
- Improving the quality of care
- Providing culturally sensitive care
Mental Health research
Mental health volunteer
Mental health research focuses on three main areas: prevention and early intervention in people with mental health problems, including alcohol and drug misuse issues; promotion of recovery in people with severe and enduring mental illness; and promotion of primary caregiver/family coping and wellbeing.
Research projects
- The experience and needs of primary caregivers of elderly family members/friends with mental illness.
- Evaluating the use of restraint and seclusion in inpatient aged psychiatry units.
- Mindwise: Preventing mental health problems in young people through better mental health literacy
- Preventing mental health problems in young people through better mental health literacy.
- Exploring needs - examining barriers to service access: Youth with depression, anxiety and substance use issues.
- A peer support program for enhancing medication adherence in mental health consumers with schizophrenia.
- Problem-solving based self-help manual for primary caregivers of family members with first-episode psychosis.
Pregnancy research
Pregnancy and diabetes
Pregnancy research focuses on women’s pregnancy experiences, adverse outcomes and risk in pregnancy, perinatal health and morbidity, gestational diabetes, older maternal age, and sexual health.
Research projects
- Gestational diabetes among multiethnic groups in the Western Region of Melbourne.
- Having a baby in Australia: African women’s experience.
- Anxious waiting: soft markers and high risk pregnancy.
- Perinatal morbidity among Australian women aged 35 years and older.
- Limerick Lullaby project: An intervention to relieve stress in pregnancy.
- Promoting normal birthing: Endeavouring to develop a midwifery focused scope of practice.
Acute and Chronic Illness research
Serum treatment
Acute and chronic illness research concentrates on investigating interventions which will enhance standards of community and hospital care in collaboration with health service providers, in particular, evaluation of current practice and the generation and use of evidence to improve patient outcomes.
Research projects
- Intranasal fentanyl for women in childbirth.
- Intranasal naloxone for heroin overdose.
- Effectiveness of bedside handover.
- Evaluation of medication endorsement for Enrolled Nurses.
- The use of health data to improve nursing services and the quality of nursing practice.
Capabilities statement
View the Clinical and community health capabilities statement for a brief overview of our research focus, expertise, facilities and resources, track record, profile and contact information.
Our researchers
| Staff | ||
| Name | Phone and email | Research interests |
|---|---|---|
|
Professor Terence McCann (Dr) Unit Leader |
+61 3 9919 2325 terence.mccann@vu.edu.au |
Mental health |
|
Associate Professor Mary Carolan (Dr) Deputy Leader |
+61 3 9919 2585 mary.carolan@vu.edu.au |
Pregnancy |
| Rob Ryan | +61 3 9919 2755 rob.ryan@vu.edu.au |
Mental health |
| Vera Brown | +61 3 9919 2420 vera.brown@vu.edu.au |
Pregnancy |
| Gina Kruger | +61 3 9919 2697 gina.kruger@vu.edu.au |
Pregnancy |
| Mimmie Ngum Chi | +61 3 9919 2766 mimmie.ngumchi@vu.edu.au |
Pregnancy |
| Dr Deb Kerr | +61 3 9919 2053 deb.kerr@vu.edu.au |
Acute and chronic illness |
| Dr Lucy Lu | +61 3 9919 2495 l.lu@vu.edu.au |
Acute and chronic illness |
| Dorota Frankowska | +61 3 9919 2820 dorota.frankowska@vu.edu.au |
Acute and chronic illness |
| Clive Miller | +61 3 9919 2387 clive.miller@vu.edu.au |
Acute and chronic illness |
Our research students
We have several Australian and international research students undertaking PhD (by thesis or by publication), and Masters by Research.
| Name | Thesis topic |
|---|---|
| Astri Madjid (PhD) | Determinants of Six-Month Exclusive Breastfeeding Perseverance in Bandung, Indonesia. |
| Denise Cornall (PhD) | Osteopathic care of babies with breastfeeding difficulties. |
| Gayelene Boardman (PhD) | A timed series study of a peer support intervention program for enhancing medication adherence in consumers with schizophrenia. |
| Robyn Fairhall (PhD) | Operationalising the clinical role of the nurse practitioner. |
| Gina Kruger (PhD) | Clinical Decision-Making by Midwives During Women's Labour and Birth Experiences. |
| Ladawan Panpanit (PhD) | Striving to maintain well-being: Self-management of chronic pain by elderly people living in rural communities in North-East Thailand. |
| Philip Shields (PhD) | Mediating Overseas and Australian Nursing Data Sets: A Model for Mapping and Validation. |
| Rita Furnell (PhD) | Opinions of Registered Nurses about Quality of Working Life in Victoria's Public Hospitals. |
| Russell Freemantle (PhD) | Understanding the unfolding phenomenon of division two medication endorsement in aged care nursing. |
| Elvira Brown (PhD) | Understanding Childbirth Education: A Phenomenological Case Study. |
| Wallapa Songprakan (PhD) | Evaluation of a cognitive behavioural bibliotherapy self-help intervention program on the promotion of resilience in individuals with depression. |
| Xiaoquan Xu (PhD) | An examination of quality monitoring processes for frontline nurses within hospital ward settings: A case study. |
We also pride ourselves with recent postgraduate completions of our research students.
| Name | Thesis topic |
|---|---|
| Elvira Brown (Masters) | Understanding childbirth education: A phenomenological case study. |
| Rita Furnell (PhD) | Opinions of registered nurses about quality of working life in Victoria's public hospitals. |
| Wallapa Songprakan (PhD) | Evaluation of a cognitive behavioural bibliotherapy self-help intervention program on the promotion of resilience in individuals with depression. |
Research publications
Members of the Clinical and Community Health Research Unit continue to publish their work in a broad range of scholarly journals and in proceedings of international learned conferences.
Our recent Clinical and Community Health research publications.
Research partners
The Clinical and Community Health Research Unit undertakes collaborative research with the following organisations :
- Mindwise
- BeyondBlue
- Headspace
- Western Health
Contact us
Professor Terence McCann (Dr)
Unit Leader, Clinical and Community Health
Phone: +61 3 9919 2325
Email: terence.mccann@vu.edu.au
Associate Professor Mary Carolan
Deputy Leader
Phone: +61 3 9919 2585
Email: mary.carolan@vu.edu.au