A project led by Western Sydney University's Transforming Early Education and Child Health Research Centre (TeEACH) has received more than $950,000 through the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Collaborations in Health Services Research (CHSR) grant. The research team will investigate health services for young children and their families who experience disadvantage.
The Collaborations in Health Services Research (CHSR) grant aims to improve health outcomes by supporting health service focussed research projects that foster collaboration between health services and research organisations across both metropolitan and regional, rural and remote areas.
Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research, Enterprise and Global) Professor Deborah Sweeney congratulated all involved in this funding success.
"Equitable access to healthcare is vital. I congratulate Professor Grace and her team for their research excellence, community engagement and focus on translatable outcomes set to make major impacts on the wellbeing of some of our most vulnerable communities," said Professor Sweeney.
Professor Rebekah Grace from TeEACH secured $951,799 to lead the project, 'Health services in the spaces that matter most: Cross-sector collaborations in the provision of health services for young children and their families who experience disadvantage'. The research will focus on one of the most significant challenges within health services, the 'inverse care law', in which families who would most benefit from service engagement, those who experience disadvantage and marginalisation, are the least likely to engage with them. The project will explore five different initiatives, all delivered in home and community settings, and all working in integrated ways with other service systems. Collectively they will inform understanding of the best support place-based and integrated models of care.
Professor Grace's research team includes Western's Distinguished Professor Lynn Kemp from the School of Nursing and Midwifery and Translational Health Research Institute (THRI); Associate Professor Elise Baker and Dr Nicole Peel from the School of Health Sciences; Dr Betty Luu from TeEACH and THRI and Dr Elisabeth Duursma from TeEACH.
The research project will be also supported by partners from the University of Technology Sydney, South Western Sydney Local Health District, University of New South Wales, Playgroup Queensland, Mission Australia, Liverpool Hospital and Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service.
