We have started 2019 with some new additions to the team!
Louisa Walsh, who has worked at the Centre for Health Communication and Participation (CHCP) since 2016, has joined the Consumers and Communication editorial team as Assistant Managing Editor, working one day per week. Louisa is taking on this role alongside starting her PhD, and brings with a her a diverse set of skills due to her background as a clinician, communications professional and researcher. Louisa will be spreading her hours throughout the week, and so if you are a review author you will likely hear from Louisa at some point soon!
Nami Nelson joined CHCP in late 2018. She is currently working on a project to conduct a rapid review and provide recommendations that will inform how Safer Care Victoria (the state's healthcare safety and quality improvement agency) approaches establishing a centralised support process for consumer initiated escalation of care in Victorian health services. Nami comes to CHCP from a background of managing health and development programs in Australia and overseas, including an interactive online advocacy program for optometrists, family planning programs in Papua New Guinea, sexual and reproductive health in Cambodia and integrated rural development, disaster preparedness and reducing risk of unexploded ordinance in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
Lina Schonfeld joined the team as a Research Assistant in January to assist with various tasks around conducting systematic reviews, such as study screening and data extraction. Lina first came to La Trobe in 2018 to study Honours in Psychology, and is now completing her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at La Trobe. Lina says "having grown up in Germany, I am thoroughly enjoying the welcoming atmosphere and friendliness of La Trobe staff and students, and hope to stay connected to the University through my future studies and employment in the years to come.”
Gian Luca di Tanna has returned to Cochrane Consumers and Communication (after a couple of years away) as our external statistics editor. Gian Luca is an applied medical statistician with a keen interest in statistical methods in epidemiology, health technology assessment, economic evaluations and evidence synthesis. Gian Luca has worked in various settings including the public sector, research centres, industry and consultancies. He is currently working as the Head of Statistics, Australia at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney.
An important part of the co-production process so far has been the stakeholder panel coming together to learn how to screen full text articles. The preparation and experience of this day - from both researcher and stakeholder perspectives - was captured in a recent Cochrane Community Blog post - "Involving stakeholders in Cochrane review screening".
Two new protocols on health literacy in migrant populations
Two new protocols from the same author team have been published for upcoming reviews which will examine health literacy interventions and gender differences in migrants.
Interventions for improving health literacy in migrants by Baumeister et al is a Cochrane review which seeks to assess the effectiveness of interventions for improving health literacy in migrants and also assess whether men or women respond differently to the interventions.
Dr Jessica Kaufman has been hitting the headlines with her work on communication and vaccine hesitancy. As well as her work outcomes in vaccination communication that Jessie conducts at CHCP, she is also a Postdoctoral Research Officer at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute working on a range of projects associated with vaccine uptake and hesitancy.
Jessie has recently appeared on radio, television and in The Conversation sharing her research and spreading tips about how we can all play a role in supporting people to choose vaccination for themselves and their children.
'Practical guidance for involving consumers in health research'by Concannon et al and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine does what it says on the box - it provides a practical guide and range of resources for researchers wanting to involve a range of stakeholders (including consumers) in the design and delivery of their research project.
CHCP PhD student, Annie Synnot, is a co-author, and CHCP head, Sophie Hill, is an acknowledged contributor.
Evidence of stakeholder engagement is becoming increasingly linked to research funding and publication, and involving stakeholders is a way to reduce research waste. This paper is likely to be very useful for a range of researchers across many health fields - bookmark and share widely!
Partnering in Healthcare: Together is Better will celebrate consumer involvement in health from interactions with their health professionals to involvement in government decision-making. The day will include keynote addresses and interactive workshops from national and international leaders in the field.
Our Centre will be presenting two sessions at the Forum. Dr Bronwen Merner will be leading a session on the role and importance of carers in patient safety. Louisa Walsh and A/Prof Sophie Hill will be conducting a workshop on the new Health Information Guidelines for Victoria. Both sessions will be held on Tuesday 30th of April.
Unfortunately registration for this event is sold out, but if you've already secured tickets, please come along to our presentations and say hello to Sophie, Bronwen and Louisa during the breaks!
Congratulations to Cochrane Consumers and Communication editor, PhD student and all-round CHCP superstar Annie Synnot on her latest achievement... Orla Wyn Synnot arrived safely and without fuss (according to Annie) on the 9th January 2019!
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