Adults

Projects investigating adults’ emotional health

Our research seeks to better understand emotional health needs and treatments in adults across a broad range of contexts – including emergency services workers, early childhood educators and people with chronic illnesses.

Discover our projects and the research teams behind each one.

Understanding adjustment to chronic disease

Full title: Understanding adjustment to chronic disease: who wants, needs and benefits from treatment, and when?

Funded by: Macquarie University Research Fellowship

Chronic disease affects nearly half the global population. Supporting psychological adjustment to disease is crucial to promote quality of life and avoid adverse outcomes.

Despite promising evidence that psychotherapy treatment effectively promotes psychological adjustment, there are critical knowledge gaps about who needs and wants psychotherapy, and when in their disease course.

The aims of this project are to:

• synthesise evidence from a variety of longitudinal studies to understand broad trajectories of adjustment to disease
• evaluate the acceptability and efficacy of a remotely delivered treatment using a novel, cohort multiple randomised controlled trial.

Creating an empirically based classification system for mental illness

Funded by: NHMRC Investigator Grant

Traditional mental disorders defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) guide nearly all clinical research on mental illness. It is now clear, however, that DSM diagnoses do not align with key mechanisms in neuroscience, genetics, biological psychiatry, or clinical psychology research.

This misalignment slows efforts to find the causes of mental illness, and effective treatments. This project is working to find new constructs to guide clinical research and to improve the way mental illness is classified in research and practice, fleshing out a new empirically based classification framework – the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP).

View the survey for this project.

MicroDep: microdosing with psilocybin to treat moderate depression

Full title: MicroDep: a double-blind randomised controlled trial of microdosing with psilocybin to treat moderate depression

Funded by: Woke Pharmaceuticals

There is promising self report data indicating that regular ingestion of low doses of psilocybin can lead to mood and mental health benefits, but so far this has not been investigated in patient populations.

MicroDep is an industry-funded, investigator-initiated randomised controlled trial that will investigate the efficacy of a six-week low dose psilocybin intervention as a treatment for moderate depression.

Secondary measures will investigate the impact of microdosing on neurophysiology, cognition, attitudes and blood-based biomarkers. This is one of the largest psychedelic research trials in Australia and will provide important new insights about the potential of low dose psychedelic treatments.

What works in psychological interventions for cardiovascular risk?

Full title: What works to shift diet quality and physical activity in psychological interventions for cardiovascular risk? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Funded by: Macquarie University Early Career Researcher Enabling Scheme

There is agreement on the need to improve key health behaviours, such as diet and exercise, to reduce cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk. However, little is known about how well psychological interventions work to change these health behaviours.

This comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis will address this gap by synthesising information on psychological health behaviour change interventions for people with cardiovascular/metabolic risk.

Information on mental health outcomes and on participant characteristics will also be examined.

Knowledge gained will inform the development of new psychological interventions aimed at changing health behaviours.

Learn more about this study on PROSPERO.

Wellbeing neuro course: online treatment for multiple sclerosis

Full title: The Wellbeing Neuro Course: a randomised controlled trial of an online treatment program for adults with Multiple Sclerosis

Funded by: Dr Gandy is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from MS Australia

This clinical trial examines the acceptability, efficacy and long-term outcomes of an internet-delivered psychological treatment program: the Wellbeing Neuro Course to support the mental health (eg depression and anxiety) and functioning (eg cognitive difficulties, activity) of adults with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

The course contains a six-lesson 10-week program based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy and compensatory cognitive rehabilitation. Participants will have the choice of contact with a psychologist as they work through the course.

View the course on the eCentre clinic.

Wellbeing neuro course: effect in patients at MSC-RNSH

Full title: Examining the effect of the Wellbeing Neuro Course on symptoms of depression, anxiety and disability in patients with Multiple Sclerosis at Multiple Sclerosis Clinic-Royal North Shore Hospital (MSC-RNSH)

Funded by: Dr Gandy is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from MS Australia

This clinical trial will to assess the acceptability, feasibility and effectiveness of an established internet-delivered psychological treatment – the Wellbeing Neuro Course – in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety and disability in patients with Multiple Sclerosis attending the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic-Royal North Shore Hospital (MSC-RNSH).

The secondary aim is to gather information about the implementation of the Wellbeing Neuro Course into routine care at the MSC-RNSH.

Comparing digital mental health care models for epilepsy

Full title: A comparative effectiveness trial of digital mental health care models for adults with epilepsy

Funded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Medical Research Future Fund

This clinical trial will compare the acceptability and clinical and cost effectiveness of two models (guided vs unguided) of delivering a digital psychological intervention aimed at improving mental health and functional outcomes in adults with epilepsy.

The guided model delivers the intervention with support from mental health specialist, whereas the unguided model offers the intervention in a standalone, self-directed format. This trial will inform the public health potential of these two approaches to care.

Hoarding and compulsive buying

Full title: Hoarding and compulsive buying in adults

Funded by: Psyche Foundation

Are you interested in why people buy and save things? We are looking to connect with adults who compulsively buy or hoard possessions, as well as those who believe ‘less is more’ when it comes to buying and saving possessions.

We are studying if hoarding and compulsive buying are addictive and, if so, why these behaviours might become addictive for some people.

The study involves a phone interview, followed by a three-and-a-half-hour session completing interviews, tasks and questionnaires online via Zoom. You will be paid $20 per hour for the Zoom session and will have the opportunity to receive bonus prize money.

Register your interest in participating in this study.

Impact of online course on buying and saving behaviour

Full title: Investigating the impact of an online course for adults on buying and saving behaviour: a pilot randomised controlled trial

Funded by: Macquarie University

The study investigates the effectiveness of a new online educational course developed to help people buy and save fewer possession to save money, reduce clutter and safeguard the planet.

The course – Breaking up with Belongings – is based on scientific research regarding object attachment, possession ownership and behaviour change. The course is self-paced, comprising six hours of content and activities.

Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to receive this program immediately or after a three month delay. Participants are assessed at baseline and three months later.

Learn more about the study on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.

Facilitating decision making for hearing health

Funded by: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Many people do not access hearing healthcare even though help exists and hearing aids, the most common intervention for hearing loss, are clinically effective.

This research will conduct a needs analysis, and then co-develop and evaluate a tailored decision support intervention (HearChoice) to help increase informed decisions, accessibility and uptake of hearing healthcare for adults with hearing loss.

The aim is to empower adults with hearing loss by offering them choice and control over their own hearing healthcare, leading to improved individual, societal and economic outcomes.

Developing communication tools for people living with endometriosis

Full title: Let’s talk about sex: the development of communication tools for people living with endometriosis

Funded by: Endometriosis Australia

Between 70 and 80 per cent of people living with endometriosis (PlwE) report sexual dysfunction associated with various negative prognostic factors including poor quality of life.

Nonetheless, sexual dysfunction remains overlooked in PlwE; many individuals are reluctant to disclose with GPs for fear of being stigmatised, and GPs acknowledge insufficient awareness of endometriosis symptoms.

The barriers to person-provider communication for PlwE regarding sexual relationships remain unclear, with a lack of person-centred resources to facilitate communication.

This mixed-methods project aims to identify the barriers PlwE encounter when discussing their sexual relationships with medical practitioners with the view to co-designing communication tools.

The Early Childhood Educators’ Wellbeing Project (ECEWP)

Funded by: philanthropy

Compromised educator wellbeing is costly to educators themselves, their employers, their students and ultimately society.

ECEWP is a research program that investigates educators’ work-related wellbeing holistically. We aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of educators’ wellbeing that can inform interventions to better support and sustain the workforce.

Learn more about the ECEWP.

Trial of a single-session online treatment for depression and anxiety

Full title: A randomised controlled trial of an online single-session online treatment for depression and anxiety

Funded by: Macquarie University Research Fellowship

This trial will explore the long-term efficacy of a novel single-session online treatment for depression and anxiety in adults.

This clinical trial will compare the single-session treatment to a longer multi-session treatment and usual care control group.

It will result in valuable theoretical contributions to our understanding of how, why and for whom different psychological treatments are effective, leading to the development of more effective and accessible treatments in the future.

Vibe Up: digital interventions for reducing psychological distress

Full title: A bandit-based response adaptive trial to evaluate the effectiveness of brief self-guided digital interventions for reducing psychological distress in university students: the Vibe Up study

Funded by: Commonwealth of Australia Medical Research Future Fund grant (MRFAI000028) Optimising treatments in mental health using AI

University students have an increased psychological burden compared to same age adults not enrolled in tertiary education.

The Vibe Up study will evaluate the impact of smartphone-delivered physical activity, mindfulness and sleep hygiene interventions on students’ psychological distress.

This trial will use artificial intelligence to reduce the number of participants recruited, and get more certain estimates. The results will inform which intervention is more effective per psychological distress severity level, and whether the AI trial design represents value for money compared to a traditional trial.

Learn more from the Black Dog Institute.

Improving mental health outcomes across the emergency services sector

Full title: Improving mental health outcomes and reducing suicide across the emergency services sector

Funded by: Department of Home Affairs

Emergency service personnel (including police officers, correctional staff and other first responders) are exposed to high stress, trauma and demanding work environments. This can lead to mental health challenges including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and increased suicide risk.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a widely recognised and evidence-based therapeutic approach that identifies and changes negative thought patterns and behaviours.

Based on a randomised clinical trial, this study will test the cost effectiveness of an augmented version of CBT in police personnel. The cost effectiveness of a resilience program in preventing mental illnesses will also be tested in correctional staff.