Social and Emotional Wellbeing
Digital perinatal mental health resources for women of migrant and refugee background in Australia
Funding: MRFF, through the AHRA Womens Health Research Translation Network
Lead CIs: Jacqui Boyle and Malavkia Kadwadkar
Other investigators from HS&E: Dr Subasinghe and Dr Altun
The research team is comprised academics from Uni Adelaide, Monash University, Deakin, Uni NSW and community representatives.
This is a co-designed research program from beginning to end, with academic and community investigators all determining the research priority to be addressed, the methodology and analysis.
It incorporates three stages:
- A search for digital resources available for women from migrant and refugee backgrounds and an assessment made of how they were developed and how they are shared.
- Assessing how women find resources, do the ones identified meet their needs and what are the gaps.
- Co-design of a framework for future digital health resources.
Evaluating community services for inclusion and belonging among migrant and refugee women in Victoria
Funding: VicHealth Impact Research Grants 2026
Lead CIs: Dr Siew Lim, Associate Professor Jacqueline Boyle, Dr Ella Zomer, Dr Sylvia Ang, Dr Ling Wu, Jenna Van Der Velden, Lily Kovacevic, Rachna Muddagouni, Bronwyn Upston
Research team and partners:
The research team includes academics from Monash University and collaborators from community and policy organisations including Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne), Whitehorse City Council, the Network of Inner East Community Houses, and Diabetes Victoria. The project also involves women with lived experience as core contributors.
This is a co-designed research program from beginning to end, with women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, community organisations, and academic investigators collectively shaping the research priorities, methodology, evaluation metrics, and translation outputs.
It incorporates four stages:
- System mapping and project setup
Mapping the systems, actors, and processes influencing inclusion and belonging in community spaces, informed by stakeholders and women with lived experience. - Co-design of inclusion and belonging measures
Working with migrant and refugee women, service providers, and policymakers to develop culturally relevant, community-defined outcome measures. - Pilot testing of measures
Testing the feasibility and acceptability of the co-designed measures in community partner sites using mixed methods evaluation. - Development of an evaluation toolkit
Co-designing a practical toolkit with outcome measures, data collection protocols, and a health economic analysis plan to support organisations in monitoring and improving inclusion and belonging.