Four projects have been offered HRC funding for research that will provide an evidence base to inform practice or system change and improvement, and support decision making in the area of health delivery in the short term in New Zealand.
The Research Partnerships for New Zealand Health Delivery (RPNZHD), which was run for the first time in 2010, requires the collaboration of the health research community and health delivery organisations.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes many early deaths in New Zealand, particularly among Māori. Combination therapy with aspirin, cholesterol-lowering and blood pressure-lowering medicines can halve a person's risk of CVD but many who could benefit are not receiving or taking all these medications. Associate Professor Christopher Bullen will lead a research project that aims to measure the costs of treating people at high risk of CVD with 'usual' care compared with a 'polypill' (a single pill that combines the medications mentioned above), and obtain detailed information about patient and doctor medication practices over a longer time frame. This will help DHBs determine how to improve the medication management of CVD among high-risk patients.
The proportion of people aged over 85 years in New Zealand will double by 2035, markedly increasing care burden and healthcare expenditure. A research team led by Professor Martin Connolly will aim to improve residential aged care (RAC) outcomes, including reducing costly hospitalisations.
Depression is common and disabling but fewer than half of people with depression seek any treatment and few receive any help from specialised mental health professionals. Computerised psychological therapies, or e-therapies, have the advantage of being accessible and convenient for users.
Dr Robyn Whittaker and Associate Professor Simon Hatcher are undertaking a project that will seek to answer the question of whether computers can provide effective psychological therapies. The project will use John Kirwan's 'The Journal', supplemented by a health professional acting as a coach, to test whether this is better than usual care for people referred to mental health services with depression. If the e-therapy is effective, it will result in shorter waiting times and more convenient treatment for patients and free-up clinicians to focus on more complex problems which do not respond to routine care.
The treatment of depression is particularly pertinent for young people, with more than 50,000 young New Zealanders being affected by depression each year. An e-therapy called SPARX has been developed for depressed adolescents. A research team led by Associate Professor Sally Merry will undertake a project that aims to make SPARX available online and link it electronically with primary care clinicians who 'prescribe' SPARX so they can monitor young people's progress. Young people would be able to contact a clinician and request more support, if needed. Professor Merry’s project, in partnership with Kapiti Youth Support, will develop and pilot a system that can be used in day-to-day primary health care settings to make evidence-based therapy more accessible to adolescents.
For more information about the research projects, please contact the researchers direct. Contact telephone numbers are detailed below. The following list of successful applicants includes the named Principal Investigator only.
Associate Professor Chris Bullen
The University of Auckland, in partnership with Auckland DHB, Counties Manukau DHB and Waitemata DHB
Telephone: (09) 262 1855 x 5835
Adding IMPACT via a DHB partnership
Funding: $199,998
Professor Martin Connolly
The University of Auckland, in partnership with Waitemata DHB and Waitemata PHO
Telephone: (09) 442 7146
Aged Residential Care Healthcare Implementation Project (ARCHIP)
Funding: $200,000
Associate Professor Sally Merry
The University of Auckland, in partnership with Kapiti Youth Support
Telephone: (09) 373 7599 x 86981
E-monitoring and e-therapy for youth depression in primary care
Funding: $199,500
Dr Robyn Whittaker
The University of Auckland, in partnership with Waitemata DHB
Telephone: (09) 923 4766
A randomised controlled trial of JK's "The Journal" for depressed out-patients
Funding: $199,500.