QUT School of Public Health and Social Work

09/12/2024

The world has been a tricky place to research, educate, and learn in lately, and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Philip Baker has just published an article summarising key innovations and evaluations undertaken in response to these changes by himself, Dr Julie-Anne Carroll, and Dr Daniel Demant, from UTS.

They state in their article 'The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, increasing health disparities, and a shift to a focus on noncommunicable diseases has merged with the changing nature of social, cultural, and technological preferences of the generations living through such times to see an increasing need in more viable teaching solutions for these “wicked problems.”

READ HERE for some teaching innovations, evaluations, and ideas for working with students both now and in the future:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10105395241301817

Photograph: Mika Baumeister.

08/12/2024

Interested in Health Information Management Careers? Are you a current undergraduate or postgraduate student in the SPHSW and want to start putting feelers out for a job? Sue and Maryann kindly provided this resource for sharing on our social media platforms - very useful indeed!

Helping us manage information supports patient care and our health system.

01/12/2024

At SPHSW we are always looking for ways to involve our students in conferences, health science and social work events, and provide them with opportunities for networking!

Recently, our PU65 GradDipOHS and PU80 MHSE students staffed our PHSW sponsor table at the annual conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA) held in late November at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Nektarios was there to support them in learning and enjoying the experience! Nice one, team!

More about that conference can be found here:
https://conf.ergonomics.org.au/

01/12/2024

In a new episode of Talking HealthTech, host Regina Akacich speaks with AusHSI researchers Prof Steven McPhail, A/Prof Amina Tariq, and Dr Sundresan "Sunny" Naicker, PhD about the state of digitalhealth, the misconceptions around predictive models, and the need for a systems approach to healthcare innovation.

Key Takeaways:

🤖 AI's Potential: AI plugins for telehealth can help physiotherapists measure joint angles and range of motion, while AI for wound care management offers objective feedback. Generative AI is also being explored for the development of new drugs.

⚠️ Caution with AI: The importance of focusing on preventative medicine and the need for skepticism about AI's rapid advancements without fully understanding their implications.

🔐 Ethical Concerns and Data Privacy: There are significant ethical concerns and data privacy issues surrounding AI, particularly when summarizing call notes and scraping emails.

🤲 Balancing AI and Human Touch: The importance of using AI to augment human capabilities rather than replace them, ensuring the human touch in patient care remains vital.

🌐 Future of AI in HealthTech: Envisioning a future where AI assists in reducing clinician burnout, improving health outcomes, and lowering costs while fostering innovation and start-ups in the healthtech space.

🎧 Watch the full podcast:

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Professor Steven McPhail, Associate Professor Amina Tariq, and Dr. Sundresan "Sunny" Naicker, PhD from The Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) share their perspectives on the intersection of technology and healthcare, highlighting key conc

01/12/2024

An ideal outcome following students' placement and prac experiences, is an opportunity for employment. Recently, one of our Public Health Students, Sara Levack, was offered a full-time position following her placement at the Brisbane South Public Health Network. To add to this goodness, Sara was supervised by Noah Bray, who also gained full time work there after he had his placement there in 2023. WELL DONE TO THEM BOTH!

Sara had this to say about her experience and opportunity: 'My placement at Brisbane South PHN, under the supervision of Noah, gave me the opportunity to see interested concepts in action. I observed the real-world challenges faced by priority populations, especially in accessing care for conditions like Hepatitis C, and witnessed how innovative public health interventions are used to address these challenges.

This experience helped bridge the gap between theory and practice, allowing me to apply my academic knowledge in a real-world setting. Noah was also instrumental in helping leverage key local contacts, which significantly supported my research and understanding of the regional health landscape.

I am incredibly grateful for the support and guidance I received from Noah (as a QUT graduate and PHN staff member), Brisbane South PHN , and QUT (Thanks Yvette!). This experience has been invaluable in shaping my career, and I look forward to continuing to apply the knowledge and skills I’ve gained in future roles.'

10/11/2024

The end of last month saw academics and a PhD student have the chance to showcase their research and methodological expertise at the annual APACPH conference, which was held this year in Busan, South Korea.

Professor Philip Baker, Associate Professor Darren Wraith, Dr Julie-Anne Carroll and Yanming Lu presented workshops, oral presentations, and poster presentations. Professor Baker ran a workshop on how to conduct a Systematic Literature Review, which was chaired by Dr Carroll. Dr Carroll and Dr Wraith presented findings from their research on sexual health and physical activity respectively, and Yanming had his early PhD findings displayed in a poster presentation.

The conference hosted over 1000 delegates and ran for three days. Dr Carroll stated that 'Busan was an exciting and culturally rich city to visit and learn from and about, and the research we viewed gave us great insights into the core health challenges facing all of South East Asia. It was wonderful to have so many of us from the School in attendance.' Full program is here: https://apacph2024.com/

01/11/2024

EDIT: If you wish to read more about what Yanming et al have discovered so far about what is currently known in this health safety and promotion research space - see their recent publication: https://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/article-1-656-en.html

Research suggests that workplace interventions integrating both Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) approaches can be more effective in implementing and ensuring workers' health and safety overall. However, little is known about how to best plan, implement, and evaluate an integrated approach.

If you are willing to share your thoughts and ideas on what you think about health in the workplace in Australia, get involved in this study! The study is being done by Yanming Lu, a PhD student from our School, and his work is supervised by Associate Professor Nektarios Karinikas and Dr Julie-Anne Carroll.

https://www.qut.edu.au/research/our-research/participate-in-research/focus-groups-interviews-an-integrative-framework-of-occupational-health-and-safety-and-health-promotion-in-australian-workplaces

01/11/2024

Prof Melissa Haswell's recent PhD graduate, Dr Shay Dougall, has made national news with the findings from her PhD pointing to a practical solution to the tensions between gas companies and farmers in the Dalby region. Channel 7 stated that 'There isn't enough connection between lawmakers, farmers and gas companies' and that 'Shay's toolkit allows a fairer power balance, so locals know who to consult and what rights need to be considered.'

Dr Dougall's passion and commitment are proving to have long lasting impacts due to the empirical basis her research provides to all the stakeholders involved.

https://www.facebook.com/7NEWSToowoomba/videos/1576648816610397

01/11/2024

Recently, our Dr Michelle Newcomb, from the Social Work Discipline in our School, was selected to showcase her research in one of the 'Women in Research' symposiums held by QUT, at the Gardens Point Campus. These events are always of a superb quality, with dynamic and brilliant speakers, and Michelle's presentation proved to be no exception.

Michelle is internationally recognised for her research
enhancing workplace well-being and reducing burnout in social work. Michelle’s research investigates how organisational processes and practices, which acknowledge and attend to staff well-being, can reduce workplace attrition. She applies the theory of care ethics to identify how employers can better support staff in emotionally taxing and high-risk settings such as child protection.

A clear leader in research done by women at QUT! Well done, Michelle.

18/10/2024

Recently, our Associate Professor Yvette Miller published research with Dr Elizabeth Martin and our PhD graduate, Olivia Fisher, in PLOS ONE. Yvette checked in to let us know that 'Elizabeth Martin was interviewed talking about our new study out in PLOS ONE.

'We’ve been working on establishing the population norms for ‘quality of life’ just after having a baby. We found out that the norms that had been previously assumed for quality of life for postpartum women were inflated (so QoL was bit worse than had been assumed) – but it did get better as the weeks after birth progressed, and the only other factor that made a difference was whether your baby was born early (not so good) or at term (better) – but no other apparent nasties in terms of equity.'

🎙️ Listen to her interview with Adam Stephen from ABC Queensland Northern Drive,
between minutes 46.25 and 53.30.
https://lnkd.in/gqVztUXe

FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0310913

18/10/2024

This week our Health, Safety, and Environment students went on an excursion to gain more on site learning experiences. As part of our efforts to instil real-world perspectives in the Human Factors & Ergonomics (HFE) unit, we organise a field visit to Holy Cross Laundry on Friday 11 October 2024.

Following a presentation by staff about their HFE journey, students joined a guided tour around Holy Cross Laundry with a focus on understanding how HFE are applied in practice. This is especially important considering that the organisation employs persons with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Associate Professor Karanikas, who organised the visit, said 'Another insightful visit for our students, this time at Holy Cross Laundry to witness first-hand how good ergonomics look like!

Massive thanks to Adrienne Tracy for organising and Leeanne Hopgood for being a great host along with the rest of the management team.

Well done, everyone!

13/10/2024

Our Epidemiological Professor, Philip Baker, is on Professional Development Leave (PDL), and has organised a number of exciting collaborative projects and international connections for our School. This is one such exciting visitation.

Dr Kishwen Ratmam from National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia visited the School, hosted by Professor Philip Baker. Dr Ratmam is also a sessional lecturer at University of Malaya KL where Philip has been a visiting Professor.

Dr Kiswhen came a Philip has published several scholarly works on learning and teaching in public health, and recently provided a premier lecture hosted by UiTM in Kuala Lumpur, joined by 200 academics from the region.

Together they met to discuss innovative methods in public health learning and teaching. During his visit, Philip provided guided exploration of the campus, where Philip showed the diversity of learning spaces and how technology is used in these places to employ various pedagogies such as peer learning and social constructivism theory. It is hoped that this will lead to further opportunities for engagement with the Malaysia Ministry of Health Malaysia.