Alumni

Seema Deb (BMedSc Hons)

Supervisors: Professor Danielle Mazza, Dr Asvini Subasinghe

Project Title: Improving and increasing the delivery of medical abortion in Australian general practice: models of care

Although the current method of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MToP) has been approved by the Australian government since 2012, very few general practitioners provide this service. The qualitative data generated from this project will describe the current models of care used by providers and seek to explain how they have established and maintained effective access to such a service. Its aim is to potentially assist other primary care providers to set up similar services in areas of need. This project sits in the medical abortion stream of SPHERE-The Centre of Research Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health for Women: Achieving Better Outcomes through Primary Care.

Ridmi Dolamulla (BMS Hons)

Supervisors: Professor Danielle Mazza, Dr Asvini Subasinghe

Project Title: Statistical analysis of Australian Contraceptive ChOice pRoject's (ACCORd) contraception specific data and construction of comprehensive contraceptive advice for general practitioners

Drawing upon data collected during baseline interviews from the Australian Contraceptive ChOice pRoject (ACCORd) this project will explore women’s contraceptive journeys. Reported previous use of contraception to current contraception used will be documented. Contraceptive experience, side-effects, bleeding patterns, reasons for discontinuation and levels of satisfaction will be explored in order to gain a holistic idea of women’s experience of, and attitudes towards different types of contraceptives. This research will enable health care professionals to better understand women’s contraceptive journey and provide more comprehensive contraceptive advice.

Sumudu Setunge (BMedSc Hons)

Supervisors: Dr Jo Enticott and Prof Grant Russell

Project Title: The economic integration of resettled refugees in Australia as a predictor of mental illness: A five year longitudinal study

In 2013 the Australian Institute of Family services commissioned the Building a New Life in Australia longitudinal study into how humanitarian migrants settle into Australia. This research project aims to review the data from the fourth wave of the study to analyse the potential association between the economic integration of refugees and the prevalence of poor mental health. This project will investigate the demographics associated with financial stresses, employment, and income and aim to identify targets of policy to help decrease the well-recognised burden of mental illness experienced by refugees.

Pravik Solanki (BMedSc Hons)

Supervisors: Dr Riki Lane and Dr Chris Barton

Project Title: Complexity in models of care for the transgender and gender diverse community in Victoria: a quantitative comparison

Transgender and gender diverse people have some of the highest unmet health needs across the Australian population, with two-thirds desiring cross-sex hormones and close to half attempting suicide. In response to growing demand on services, a shift towards new 'informed consent' models (allowing cross-sex hormones to be initiated by GPs) is underway, in favour of referred-care models requiring a mental health clinician to approve therapies. This cross-sectional study will gather data on sociodemographic, mental health and healthcare utilisation characteristics to quantitatively compare patient complexity in the two models of care, providing novel insights into how the two models are currently being coordinated to meet patient needs.