Chronic conditions, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic breathlessness, diabetes, and arthritis have a significant impact on the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Our focus is on interdisciplinary collaborative research that improves the quality of life of people with living with chronic illness.
Prof Angela Dawson: Welcome to the Faculty of Health here at the University of Technology, Sydney. Our research on chronic disease focuses on interdisciplinary collaborative research, optimising the health and wellbeing of individuals living with life-limiting illnesses.
Prof David Sibbritt: Usually with chronic illness, we might think of someone who's got asthma or someone who's got arthritis, people who've had a stroke. They may have problems communicating, mental health problems as well. So there's quite a range of things that can happen after someone has been diagnosed with a chronic illness.
A/Prof Emma Power: A large part of my research is developing assessments and treatments so that people with brain injury and stroke can live successful lives, but their families can also live successful lives.
A/Prof Cristina Caperchione: We're starting to see this direct connection between physical activity in many chronic diseases, specifically cancers, stroke, dementia, diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes. So being active, just that minimal amount can have such a major impact on the larger population.
Dr Tim Luckett: My research is unusual in that I'm trying to learn from expert patients. You wouldn't believe how some people are able to really get every ounce of enjoyment out of life when they're hardly able to walk to the bathroom. So these are people who are really good at self-managing the most difficult symptom. They really have so much to teach us.
Dr Kamal Dua: There are three main areas in which my laboratory work, one is asthma, COPD, and lung cancer. I work on developing quite a number of novel drug delivery system, which are called nanoparticles. They're the tiny ball of polymers in which we encapsulate the drug. And that drug actually can release for a longer period of time in the body. It means the patients need not have to take multiple dosing. There would be a better patient compliance, lesser side effects, and better targeted effects.
A/Prof Emma Power: Imagine having a loved one who suddenly couldn't communicate. It would be really, really difficult. And we know that a lot of people are in that situation. So over the years, we've found really positive outcomes from our work in training communication partners. They've been able to improve their skills, which has improved the communication of the person with brain injury or stroke and their relationships.
A/Prof Cristina Caperchione: One of the really unique things about my work is that we always go in with the agenda of co-design, co-delivery, co-evaluation. And that's really important because if these communities feel that they have some ownership, if they feel that they have some autonomy in making decisions about what they're going to do, then they're more likely to engage, to participate, and to sustain that behaviour.
Dr Kamal Dua: These chronic respiratory diseases will just keep rising every single day. It's a time for us to look into that so that we have a suitable treatment across the globe to cut down the level of the financial burden and the healthcare burden because of such diseases.
A/Prof Emma Power: What I want people to recognise is that we can improve the lives of people with brain injury and stroke, and that research actually is one of the key solutions. With partnerships and funding, of course, we can actually make a difference.
Prof David Sibbritt: There's quite a wealth of information that will be collected by us that opens the door to such a huge range of research. PhD students or early career researchers will have this wonderful resource available to them, and then they can grow their research career off the back of this resource.
Living with chronic illness commonly requires people to make difficult decisions about treatment options, lifestyle changes, and engage in self-management strategies.
At IMPACCT, we undertake research and health services planning to help individuals and their families cope with these challenges. The research includes the design, implementation and management of clinical trials focusing on health services, symptom management, and evaluation of interventions to improve outcomes for individuals with chronic illness.
This research is conducted in collaboration with the Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative (PaCCSC) and Cancer Symptom Trials (CST)
For any enquiries about our projects, please contact us.
Current Projects
Cardiovascular Disease
Tele-PC Study: examining consumer (patients and carers) and clinician perspectives on the use of telehealth for cardiovascular care in Australia
Your participation will inform future design of cardiovascular care and improvements in telehealth services.
The Tele-PC Study ends soon, be sure to contribute your views and experiences.
Clinicians
Clinicians (Physicians, Surgeons, General Practitioners, Pharmacists, Nurses, Allied Health) are invited to share their views and experiences of using telehealth for cardiovascular care in Australia. The anonymous survey takes 5-7 minutes to complete.
Complete survey [opens external site]
We also invite clinicians to participate in a quick phone interview to discuss their views and experiences of providing cardiovascular care using telehealth. Survey responses will not be linked to interview participation and participants will not be identified.
Please email Dr Serra Ivynian, e: serra.ivynian@uts.edu.au to register your interest or to find out more information.
Consumers - Patients and Carers
People with cardiovascular disease and carers (including stroke, diabetes and vascular conditions) who have received healthcare using telehealth are invited to participate in a brief phone interview to discuss their experiences of receiving healthcare via telehealth. Participants will not be identified and no personal or health information is collected.
Please email Dr Serra Ivynian e: serra.ivynian@uts.edu.au to register your interest or to find out more information.
More information about the study
The Tele-PC Study is led by Associate Professor Sally Inglis (University of Technology Sydney) and Professor Peter Macdonald (St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and UNSW) and is funded by SPHERE [opens external site].
This study has been approved by the University of Technology Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee. If you have any complaints or reservations about any aspect of your participation in this research which you cannot resolve with the researcher, you may contact the Ethics Committee through the Research Ethics Officer, ph: +61 2 9514 2478 e: Research.Ethics@uts.edu.au and quote the UTS HREC reference number ETH20-4983. Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence and investigated fully and you will be informed of the outcome.
Closing the palliative care heart failure evidence practice gap
Closing the palliative care heart failure evidence practice gap: implementation of the Needs Assessment Tool for progressive disease (NAT-PD) into usual heart failure practice to improve patient outcomes and optimise the care experience.
Funding
SPHERE - Implementation Science Strategic Platform 2020 Translational Seed Funding Scheme - $19,772
Investigators
Dr Caleb Ferguson [opens external site]
Dr P Macdonald
Dr N Bart
Dr C Pene
Remote monitoring and mHealth interventions for people with heart failure
This research examines the use of eHealth and mHealth technologies to support and educate people with chronic conditions, especially heart failure and atrial fibrillation to better self-manage their condition. This research includes Cochrane Reviews.
Funding
Cardiovascular Research Network Life Science Research Fellow, supported by the Heart Foundation and the NSW Office for Medical Research and UTS Re-establishment Grant.
Chief Investigator
Understanding the Needs of People with Peripheral Arterial Disease
Understanding needs of people with Peripheral Arterial Disease and developing and evaluating interventions to address those needs.
Peripheral arterial disease is a debilitating form of chronic cardiovascular disease that leads to poor quality of life and increased risk of events such as heart attack and stroke. Unlike other forms of cardiovascular disease, people with peripheral arterial disease have limited access to specialised support services such as rehabilitation services and self-management programs.
These projects examine the need for additional support and services that people with peripheral arterial disease that they themselves identify. They also examine the current evidence to support self-management for people with peripheral arterial disease and look to develop new interventions to support self-management for people with peripheral arterial disease.
- Allida S, DiGiacomo M, Inglis SC. Cochrane Review: Disease management interventions for improving self-management in lower-limb peripheral arterial disease.
- Living with peripheral arterial disease in Australia: patient experiences and unmet needs: Nine face-to-face and telephone semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who have peripheral arterial disease in 2017. Interviews were transcribed and have undergone thematic analysis. (Under review at Chronic Illness).
Funding
Cardiovascular Research Network Life Science Research Fellow, supported by the Heart Foundation, the NSW Office for Medical Research and NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for Peripheral Arterial Disease.
Chief Investigators
Associate Professor Michelle DiGiacomo
Walking Tall against Vascular Disease for at-risk patients in vascular clinical practice
Implementation of Walking Tall against Vascular Disease for at-risk patients in a vascular clinical practice.
This collaborative project involves biomedical engineers, clinicians, and researchers from the University of New ?South Wales (UNSW) and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) to examine an engaging evidence-based rehabilitation program using smart textiles to improve mobility in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) at risk of foot disease.
Funding
Neuroscience Research Australia - $20,000
Investigators
Dr Matthew Brodie [opens external site]
Dr Belinda Parmenter [opens external site]
Dr Ramon Varcoe
Dr Jon Golledge [opens external site]
Dr S Ooi
Dr N Novell
Associate Professor Kim Delbaere [opens external site
Dr Branko Celler [opens external site]
Telehealth: examining cardiovascular patient and clinician experiences during the pandemic
Telehealth: examining cardiovascular patient and clinical experiences of receiving and delivering care during the pandemic to inform 21st Century Cardiac Care.
Funding
Maridulu Budyari Gumal SPHERE Grant - $40,540
Investigators
Chronic Breathlessness
The BREATHE Project
The BREATHE project is a collaboration between IMPACCT and the Lung Foundation Australia. Our aim is to co-design and test an optimal breathlessness action plan and supporting resources.
This 3-year project will partner with people living with COPD, support persons, and healthcare teams (e.g. doctors, nurses, allied health) to co-design and test an optimal breathlessness action plan and supporting resources.
Please go to the project page for more information: uts.edu.au/research/impacct/about-us/impacct-research/chronic-care/breathe-project
Delineating the impact of chronic breathlessness: a cross-sectional, population-based study
Chronic breathlessness is a distressing symptom that affects people’s quality of life, compromising their functionality, and leading to increased anxiety and depression.
This international collaborative research will enable a better understanding of the predictors and impact of chronic breathlessness to facilitate more effective assessment of its symptom burden in clinical consultations, leading to better symptom management and care provision aligned with people’s unmet needs.
Funding
University of Technology Faculty of Health Seed Funding Grant
Investigators
Professor Miriam Johnson [opens external site]
Associate Professor Magnus Ekström [opens external site]
Professor Danny Eckhart [opens external site]
Professor Robert Adams [opens external site]
Professor Helen Reddel [opens external site]
Dr Diana Ferreira [opens external site]
Evaluation of a new Breathlessness Clinic at Westmead Hospital
Randomised controlled trial of a non-pharmacological integrated care intervention to reduce breathlessness in patients with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
This project addresses the question of whether an integrated care approach using nonpharmacological interventions in patients with COPD can reduce breathlessness, with consequent improvement in quality of life and reduction in health care utilisation and hospital admissions.
An RCT (single-blind, parallel-group with waitlist control) is underway of a combination of short-term (8 weeks) intensive non-pharmacological interventions added to standard care in 88 patients with COPD and refractory breathlessness.
The primary outcome is mastery of breathlessness as measured by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ), with secondary outcomes of quality of life, breathlessness intensity, anxiety and depression, and health care utilisation.
IMPACCT is leading a qualitative sub-study that will contribute to interpretation of outcome data. Participants are interviewed immediately after completing the 8-week program and again at 6 months to see if any intervention effects have been sustained. In 2019, sampling was completed for interviews at the first time-point (N=41). Follow-up interviews will be ongoing into 2020.
Funding
NSW Health Translational Research Grant
Investigators
Dr Tracy Smith
Ms Mary Roberts
Dr Jin Gun-Cho
Dr Adrienne Kirby [opens external site]
Hand-held fan therapy for chronic breathlessness
Using behaviour change theory to drive scalability of the hand-held fan for chronic breathlessness.
The hand-held fan is an evidence-based non-pharmacological management strategy for chronic breathlessness, which has no real side-effects and is cheap and portable. However, it’s rarely recommended to patients by respiratory teams, for unknown reasons.
The funded project aims to find out what barriers and facilitators there might be to recommending the fan, and design and pilot-test an intervention to overcome such barriers and promote it to health professionals.
The research team includes other IMPACCT members, Emerita Professor Jane Phillips, Professor David Currow, and Dr Slavica Kochovska, and is a collaboration with Western Sydney Local Health District and the Wolfson Centre for Palliative Care Research in the UK.
Funding
SPHERE Implementation Science Strategic Platform 2020 Seed grant Funding Scheme - $19,942
Investigators
Associate Professor Caleb Ferguson [opens external site]
Dr M Roberts
Emerita Professor Jane Phillips
Professor Miriam Johnson [opens external site]
Dr Flavia Swan [opens external site]
Dr Mark Pearson [opens external site]
Dr S Dunn
Dr D Penola
The Impact of Chronic Breathlessness in Clinical Consultations – making the invisible, visible
Discussing the impact of chronic breathlessness in clinical consultations – making the invisible, visible: perceptions and experiences of people with chronic breathlessness, their caregivers, and health professionals as they have clinical interactions
Chronic breathlessness is one of the most prevalent and feared symptoms in people with life-limiting illnesses. It is highly debilitating and has a profound impact on people’s lives and those of their families, affecting their function (both physical and psycho-social), compromising their ability to perform everyday tasks, and resulting in poor quality of life, and greater anxiety and depression.
Despite these effects, chronic breathlessness is often under-reported by patients and under-detected by their clinicians, making this symptom particularly ‘invisible’ and, subsequently, under-treated. Reductions in activities of daily living (i.e. ‘doing less’) can reduce the intensity of breathlessness while magnifying its impact.
Because of its insidious nature, early detection of chronic breathlessness is important, before deconditioning sets in and people self-impose ever more limiting function. Finding an effective means to engage clinicians to identify and respond to this symptom during clinical consultations is crucial.
This qualitative study is exploring the experiences of people with chronic breathlessness, their caregivers, and clinicians (respiratory and palliative care physicians and nurses) in discussing chronic breathlessness.
Using focus groups and semi-structured interviews, and participants from English- and Arabic-speaking backgrounds, the study is exploring whether chronic breathlessness is discussed in clinical consultations and whether current communication practices are effective in identifying the presence and burden associated with this symptom.
Funding
Health Futures Development Grant, University of Technology Sydney
Chief Investigators
Emerita Professor Jane Phillips
Professor Patricia Davidson [opens external site]
Associate Professor Michelle DiGiacomo
Dr Diana Ferreira [opens external site]
Meg Brassil