student projects
A major component underpinning the TACTICS CRE is building Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research capacity and supporting the development of future research leaders. We have supported a number of students along their undergraduate, post-graduate and HDR journeys.
PROJECTS
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PhD Student Khwanruethai Ngampromwongse
Supervisors A/Prof Kate Anderson, Dr Alana Gall, Prof Gail Garvey
Khwanruethai’s PhD focuses on ‘Cancer Screening at the Intersection: Supporting LGBTQISB+ First Nations Peoples’ which aims to explore and describe the needs of sexual and/or gender diverse First Nations peoples accessing cancer screening to inform the provision of appropriate cancer care that is culturally safe, and supportive of sexuality and gender identity.
Part of her PhD will be undertaken through a TACTIS-supported Pilot study Enabling Cancer Screening for LGBTQISB+ Mob, a research project that centres the views and experiences of LGBTQISB+ First Nations people with the aim of improving the delivery of appropriate early detection and cancer screening for LGBTQISB+ First Nations peoples that is culturally safe, supportive of sexuality and gender identity, and ameliorates the discrimination related barriers to cancer care.
Contact
Khwanruethai Ngampromwongse
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PhD Candidate Mi Hye Jeon
Supervisors Dr Abbey Diaz, Prof Gail Garvey, Dr Louise Wilson, Dr Tracey Di Sipio
Overview
Mi Hye’s PhD seeks to understand which factors may best predict cardiovascular risk in people with breast cancer and whether a cardiovascular risk assessment tool for people with breast cancer may improve the quality and equality of cardio-oncological care.
She will address this through the following :
Data linkage study to identify factors associated with cardiovascular incidence and mortality after breast cancer for Australian women.
Co-design (with people impacted by breast cancer, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) and pilot a cardiovascular risk assessment tool for people with breast cancer, including qualitative exploration of women’s experience of cardiovascular care and management after breast cancer diagnosis.
Develop service maps for current cardiovascular care pathways for women diagnosed with breast cancer .
Work with health professionals to map optimal cardiovascular care pathways after breast cancer diagnosis and explore their experiences of using the pathway and cardiovascular risk assessment tool.
Contact
Mi Hye Jeon
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PhD Candidate Claire Zammit
Supervisors Prof Julia Brotherton, A/Prof Lisa Whop, Dr Claire Nightingale, Prof Mark Jenkins
Overview
Claire’s PhD will is embedded within a larger body of work led by Prof Brotherton and A/Prof Whop. Her PhD will seek to address public health and knowledge gaps through the following objectives:
National Scoping Survey to document existing strategies to improve cancer screening participation and develop evidence to inform the implementation of self-collection in ACCHOs
Develop and implement strategies to encourage increased self-collection uptake.
Evaluate the impact of tailored implementation strategies to improve uptake of self-collection and completion of follow-up for HPV+ women.
Contact
Claire Zammit
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PhD Candidate Alice Bergin
Supervisors Prof Sherene Loi, Prof Gail Garvey, Prof Sue Evans
Overview
Alice's research is focused on understanding the outcome disparity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people diagnosed with breast and lung cancer. Alice is using a combination of lab based translational research techniques and clinical research with registry data.
Contact
Alice Bergin
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PhD Candidate Tsegaw Amare Baykeda
Supervisors Prof Gail Garvey, Dr Shafkat Jahan, Prof Kirsten Howard, Dr Rakhe Raghunandan
Overview
Tsegaw’s PhD aims to address the bowel cancer inequity for First Nations Australians.
Tsegaw will use a population-based linked dataset along with a survey of First Nations people accessing Home Care services to understand individual-level factors associated with bowel cancer screening participation.
Contact
Tsegaw Amare Baykeda
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PhD Student Monica Green
Principal Supervisor Prof Joan Cunningham
Associate Supervisors Dr Kate Anderson and Prof Gail Garvey
Aim
Develop and test new approaches to measuring the experiences of care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer, for use in hospitals or health centres.
Method
Monica’s PhD aimed to work towards systematic monitoring of the healthcare experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer. With her supervising team, she conducted qualitative research to understand what was important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer, their families and carers, and what measurement approaches were likely to be acceptable. The next step was to identify critical gaps in existing tools, then we trialled a new approach to measuring patient experiences that privileged patient’s voices. Although the new approach was not able to be refined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the work demonstrated the critical importance of including patient’s voices and stories in patient experience feedback.
Publications
Green M, Cunningham J, Anderson K, Griffiths K, Garvey G. Measuring cancer care experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia: trial of a new approach that privileges patient voices. Patient Experience Journal. 2021;8:2(Article 9)
Green M, Cunningham J, Anderson K, Griffiths K, Garvey G. Measuring health care experiences that matter to Indigenous people in Australia with cancer: identifying critical gaps in existing tools. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2021;20(100).
Green M, Anderson K, Griffiths K, Garvey G, Cunningham J. (2018) Understanding Indigenous Australians’ experiences of cancer care: stakeholders’ views on what to measure and how to measure it. BMC Hlth Serv Res, 18, 982.
Green M, Cunningham J, O'Connell D, Garvey G. Improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer requires a systematic approach to understanding patients' experiences of care.
Contact
Monica Green
This is a completed project
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PhD Student Alana Gall
Principal Supervisor Prof Gail Garvey
Associate Supervisors Prof Kirsten Howard, Dr Abbey Diaz and Dr Kate Anderson.
Alana's PhD was part of a larger project, The What Matters Study, that aims to develop an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific, nationally-relevant and strengths-based wellbeing measure with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults.
Alana’s PhD has contribute to the development of this measure (e.g. content validation); explore the appropriateness of research methods used to develop such measures (e.g. Think Aloud) and critically appraise previous methods used to develop patient reported outcome and experiences measures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults.
Expanding on a review by Butler et. al. that was previously done by the What Matters Study, Alana’s work has expanded our knowledge and understanding of the domains of wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people globally through an international systematic review.
Contact
Alana Gall
This is a completed project
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Masters by Research Student Beverley Marcusson
Principal Supervisor Prof Gail Garvey
Associate Supervisors A/Prof Kate Anderson and A/Prof Lisa Whop
Aim
This project aimed to understand Indigenous cancer patients’ experiences of accessing and engaging with cancer services and to identify the key challenges they faced and suggest potential solutions. To identify the challenges facing Indigenous Australians access to cancer care, this thesis examined this in two contexts: first, Indigenous cancer patients’ experience of gynaecological cancer care; and second, the challenges faced by Indigenous Australian adults with cancer in accessing and engaging with a major cancer service in the Northern Territory. The findings presented in this thesis identify a number of significant challenges facing Indigenous patients accessing cancer care, including: miscommunication and unsatisfactory relationships with cancer care providers; the intractability in the healthcare system; interpersonal and financial pressures associated with cancer and cancer care; a dearth of welcoming and culturally safe cancer care environments; and a pervasive historically-based wariness of state-controlled systems.
Outcomes
Understanding the experiences of Indigenous cancer patients is critical in reshaping cancer policy and practice to achieve equitable access to cancer care for Indigenous people and decrease the current disparity in the burden of cancer between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Immediate attention is required to adapt existing cancer services to advance equitable access for Indigenous Australians, especially in regional and remote areas. Adapting services must be guided by the views and experiences of Indigenous Australians with cancer, in conjunction with best-practice guidelines, such as the Optimal Care Pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the Northern Territory’s Aboriginal Cultural Security Framework.
Contact
Professor Gail Garvey
This is a completed project