Supporting better health outcomes

What impact did COVID-19 have on the mental wellbeing of Australians? And how can we improve access to mental health supports for our most vulnerable children? Researchers Sonja de New and Nicole Black, from our Centre for Health Economics, are on a mission to answer these pressing health questions.

Associate Professor de New and Associate Professor Black are part of a team that collaborated with the Australian National University (ANU) and KPMG to examine the impact of COVID-19 on mental wellbeing and healthcare use across Australia.

Led by Professor Dennis Petrie, and including Professor Anthony Harris and Dr Johannes Kunz, the team produced an analytical simulation model that helped inform the Commonwealth Department of Health’s mental health policy response to COVID-19.

The work was recently recognised with a Dean's award for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact.

Associate Professor de New explains the project analysed linked administrative and survey data and developed a model capable of predicting the current and future impact of COVID-19 on rates of mental illness, mental wellbeing, suicide risk, suicide rates and mental health service use.

“It was exciting to see how we all worked together effectively under tremendous time pressure to deliver critical evidence needed to guide the policy response during the COVID-19 pandemic,” A/Prof de New says.

Passionate about influencing policy to improve outcomes, A/Prof Black said her involvement in the project ties with her broader program of research that seeks to understand how economic factors influence population health and wellbeing, especially among young people.

“We know many factors are associated with better health or better educational outcomes, however, the relationships are complex and there is less evidence to show what factors we need to change to improve lives,” she said.

“Ultimately, causal evidence is important for designing policies that improve wellbeing and economic prosperity and reduce socioeconomic inequalities.”

A/Prof Black believes COVID-19 has raised many questions about the interrelationship between economic factors and the health and development of Australians.

“I’m hoping to continue my work with fellow health economists and others across disciplines to build up a greater collective capacity to answer these new and pressing questions,” she said.

And while most people are daunted by tackling large datasets, A/Prof Black relishes the challenge.

“I love data - I’m curious about what we can learn about society from large datasets,” she says.

“They allow us to explore differential impacts more carefully; people differ in many ways so one policy may work well for one group, but not others, and it is important to tease out these different impacts.”