In July 2022 IHT and the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) were thrilled to launch The Aboriginal Data and Action on Prevention Together (ADAPT) report.

The report was the first to provide information about nutrition and physical activity among primary school aged First Nations children in Victoria.

Key findings from the report show that amongst the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids surveyed:

• 76% are eating the recommended amount of fruit each day,
• 21% are eating the recommended amount of vegetables each day,
• 79% reported eating take away foods once per week or less,
• 53% had a healthy weight,
• 84% are meeting the physical activity guidelines (when objectively measured),
• 68% met the guidelines for screen time, and
• 73% are getting enough sleep at night.

Learn more about The ADAPT report

Approximately 25% of Australians with type 2 diabetes (T2D) inject insulin. However, one in four adults with T2D report they are not willing to inject insulin, even if it is recommended by their health professional. This reluctance is known as psychological insulin resistance and is often based on myths, fears and misconceptions.

Dr Elizabeth Holmes-Truscott from the Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes (ACBRD) and her colleagues have developed a new web-based resource called Is insulin right for me? Reviewed by people with T2D and experts, the evidence-based resource was designed to support behaviour change among people experiencing psychological insulin resistance.

The resource was piloted in a randomised control trial. Thirty-five people with T2D were allocated at random to view the Is insulin right for me? resource or existing online factsheets about T2D. The trial and a subsequent larger trial found potential to impact attitudes to insulin.

The study was popularly received by the sector and was featured in national and international media.

Learn more about how IHT is capitalising on the rapid digitalisation of health.

Healthcare workers were depicted as ‘heroes’ throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but IHT research has suggested the label wasn’t necessarily good for the mental health of healthcare workers.

Dr Sara Holton from IHT’s Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research has demonstrated the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers. Dr Holton’s research found that health workers experienced significantly higher levels of anxiety, stress and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic than the general Australian adult population. The research was featured in several media outlets in 2022, including ABC News and The Age. Dr Holton and several other IHT researchers were referenced in a WHO European Regional technical brief on strengthening the nursing and midwifery workforce.

Professor Linda Sweet, also a member of IHT’s Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, was a member of the CovMat (COVid MATernity) study, which sought to find out how these changes affected all aspects of the maternity experience and care. The study surveyed more than 4,300 people who were involved in receiving or providing maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CovMat study received national interest and has been reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Canberra Weekly, WA Today, The Age and ABC news.

Findings from CovMat have been referenced by the Australian Institute of Family Studies and incorporated into the Government of Western Australia (WA)’s COVID-19 Guidelines for Maternity Services.

Learn more about how IHT researchers unmasked healthcare workers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in the IHT podcast, Healing Health.

The Australian health system generates significant amounts of medical waste, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, air and plastic pollution and avoidable healthcare costs.

IHT researchers and systems thinking experts have partnered with researchers from Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials and Barwon Health to better understand the drivers of single-use PPE waste in the emergency department and the actions needed to reduce the use of single-use PPE.

Together they identified four priority actions areas: procurement of re-useable and recyclable PPE, enhancing opportunities for circular economy approaches, sustainability and waste education, and practical application of infection control guidelines.

Listen to “Decarbonising our healthcare, a prescription for action” on Spreaker.

Read more about IHT’s work with Barwon Health to improve the sustainability of our health system.

People with disability and their family members from non-English speaking refugee backgrounds experience language and communication barriers when they try to access services such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia.

Small changes could bridge these gaps for people from refugee backgrounds who need disability support, says IHT’s Professor Angela Dew.

Over the past 6 years, Professor Dew and colleagues from Victoria and NSW have conducted research to understand the experiences and needs of people with disability and family members from Syrian and Iraqi refugee backgrounds. Most recently, Professor Dew led a project to co-design resources with people with disability from refugee backgrounds to increase access to information and services for those from Syria and Iraq.

The project team held workshops in Arabic with 38 service users to identify the information they need to access services and supports. Bi-lingual online co-design groups involving 16 workshop participants, service providers and academics planned and developed a suite of resources.

Co-design group participants reported the project provided a sense of hope and belonging, while others reflected pride in helping their community.

The resources, a set of videos about the NDIS and being a family with disability and postcards about oral health, have been viewed more than 200 times and nominated for the NSW Multicultural Communication Health Award in the Excellence for Communicating with Refugee Communities category.

Learn more about the resources.

Heart failure is one of the most frequent causes of hospitalisation in the elderly, and a quarter of patients will be readmitted within 30 days of discharge.

The I-HEART project seeks to improve patient outcomes by reducing the time heart failure patients must wait to be reviewed by cardiologists and improving processes for prescribing medications, which will reduce hospitalisation and mortality rates.

Professor Andrea Driscoll from the Institute’s Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research will lead the five-year project, ‘I-HEART: Implementation of Heart Failure Guidelines in Regional Australia’.

“Heart failure has a higher rate of mortality and leads to poorer quality of life for regional Victorians. This project aims to improve heart failure survival and recovery in regional Australia,” Professor Driscoll said.

“Through evidence-based best practice, we know we can improve the translation of the clinical guidelines and reduce mortality rates and hospitalisations in regional Australia where patients have less access to specialist medical teams.”

Working with six regional hospitals, her research team is running workshops and overseeing several initiatives to improve patient outcomes. These include reducing the time heart failure patients wait to be reviewed by cardiologists and improving processes for prescribing medications, which will reduce hospitalisation and mortality rates.

“Regional hospitals have a higher rate of rehospitalisation and mortality, partly because people may be sicker living in rural areas and partly because there isn’t adequate access to cardiologists and nurse practitioners,” said Professor Driscoll.

“We will be linking patients to specialist care at Austin Health and St Vincent’s through telehealth, as well as running workshops and working with GPs and regional services to improve care and to support their management of patients in the community.”

Learn more about I-HEART and the valuable partnerships that underpin the work, including IHT’s partnership with Western Alliance

Residents in Portland, Heywood and Port Fairy will soon have great tasting water flowing from their taps, thanks to research from the Institute for Health Transformation’s Deakin Health Economics (DHE) and Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE).

IHT’s systems thinking experts and health economists partnered with residents of Portland, Heywood and Port Fairy to better understand their health experience and model the potential benefits of improving the taste of tap water in the region.

People living in rural and regional communities typically experience more overweight and obesity and have poorer health outcomes than people who live in urban or suburban areas, explains project team member Ms Phuong (Pam) Nguyen.

‘We found that the poor taste of water in these communities was deterring people from drinking tap water,’ she says. ‘Instead, they were consuming less healthy alternatives, such as sugar-sweetened beverages.’

The team, led by Dr Jaithri Ananthapavan, demonstrated a healthcare cost savings of $17M could result if residents switched to drinking tap water.

The team worked with Wannon Water to incorporate their findings into the Great Tasting Water business case, that also demonstrated the impacts on dental health outcomes, local industries and household assets.

In 2022, the Wannon Water Board formally endorsed the business case and allocated $16M to improve the taste of water.

Learn more about how IHT helped deliver great tasting water to South West Victoria.