Public Health

Project

Metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) are frequently used to treat respiratory conditions. The carbon footprint per MDI is reported to range from 10 to 35 kg carbon dioxide equivalent, equating to a petrol car journey of 53 to 185 km. The propellant used to deliver the dose to the lungs is a significant contributor to this, and some remains in the cannister even when all doses have been delivered. There is an opportunity for these empty MDI cannisters to be processed in a way that captures residual propellant, which could reduce the carbon dioxide equivalent of each MDI by around 22%.

This project will quantify the number of MDIs that are currently being returned to community pharmacies and explore the attitudes of community pharmacists to be involved in such a scheme.

Findings from this study will directly influence decision-making in the development of a new processing plant in Aotearoa.

This project aims to:

• Identify how community pharmacies manage their returned and expired medicines
• Quantify the number of MDIs that are returned to community pharmacies
• Determine the attitudes of community pharmacists towards promoting the return of MDIs
• Explore what a feasible MDI returns scheme might look like in practice.
  

Project

The aim of this project is to assess the user acceptability and clinical safety of a wellbeing/mental health app, through the integration of AI capabilities.

The project will involve conducting testing under various scenarios and gathering feedback from clinical experts and end users. Assessing clinical safety will involve a thorough examination of the app's performance in different scenarios. Data collected during testing will be analysed to identify any potential risks or limitations. In addition to testing, interviews will be conducted with clinical experts and end users to gather their views and perspectives on the app's functionality, effectiveness, and overall clinical safety.

You will work in a multidisciplinary team - digital health researchers, clinical/health psychologists and software engineers. You will be working on a 'real world' project.

Keen interest in mental health and digital innovation are a must.

Also required:

• Attention to detail
• Ability to work in a busy, multi-stakeholder environment.
  

Project

Join our research team focused on mental health and digital innovation. You will be assisting a PhD student on a real-life impactful project (under the supervision of leading digital health researchers).

You will be working on an app to support the mental health of individuals on waiting lists for services. You will brainstorm and canvas ideas for the app based on collected data, literature and industry examples. You will use your tech-savviness to create user-friendly prototypes (no programming necessary). You will assist with testing and iterating these prototypes, ensuring they meet users' needs, are easy to use and culturally responsive in the NZ context. You will consult with various stakeholders (consumers, clinicians, technology experts) using appropriate methodologies (qual and quant).

Gain practical experience and work alongside experts in the field. This studentship is a unique opportunity to contribute to a project with real-life impact.

Essential skills:

1. Tech-savvy and keen on digital innovation 
2. Creative (background or personal interest in design/art, userX etc)
3. Passionate about mental health 
4. Open-minded and able to work in a multidisciplinary team (psychology, digital experts, mental health practitioners).
   

Project

Background

Typically, it is a small child who falls victim to a low-speed vehicle runover. Often, they are in the driveway of their own home, run over by a SUV or car driven by a close relative or parent.

For over twelve years, Safekids Aotearoa has run a prevention campaign against driveway injuries. Unless kept indoors, children still have significant exposure to motor vehicles not only on the road but on footpaths and at home too. This raises questions on how we plan outdoor play areas for children that are accessible, pleasant, and safe.

Methods

This project will investigate the accessibility of outdoor play areas to children with reference to locations of low-speed run-over vehicle events. Locations where driveway injuries occurred will be identified from the Children’s Trauma Registry of Starship Children’s Hospital.

The built environment will be examined using the publicly accessible map service, Google Earth®. Urban planning will be investigated by analysis of the Auckland Unitary Plan. Suburbs with high rates of low speed runover events will be compared to those with low rates. We hypothesise that the rate of driveway injuries is negatively correlated with access to safe outdoor play.

Project

The world is set to be urbanised by 2050. Increasing urban density brings numerous opportunities for health promotion through access to, and availability of, services and settings; facilitating social connections; and reducing reliance on motorised transport. Conversely, suboptimal planning can lead to urban areas with impermeable surfaces, heat islands, insufficient natural spaces, and a prioritisation of motorised transport modes.

Density design is thus crucial to both human and planetary health through the impact of density on climate change, individual health behaviours, environmental exposures, and social wellbeing. Increasingly, children are living in urban areas, either benefiting from, or being harmed by, the environmental typology in which they reside. However, little is known about the inter-relationships of differing “density assemblages” and children and young people´s health and wellbeing.

This project will involve undertaking a systematic literature review to identify, define, and characterise different density assemblages, and elicit associations between density assemblages and health and wellbeing in children and young people.

The process will include undertaking systematic literature searches, screening literature, tabulating literature, assessing study quality, and writing findings up for publication.

The successful applicant will be supported by an international team of trans-disciplinary experts to reflect on density from their disciplinary and cultural standing.

Project

Aim: To conduct a systematic literature review about the unhealthy home environment and the associated illness leading to the hospitalisation of kids and the aged population.

Background: A quick search shows that Māori and Pacific children and the aging population are at significantly greater risk of hospitalisation and death from preventable housing-related diseases. Hospitalisation rates for Māori under 15 with bronchiectasis were four times higher than for non-Māori, Pacific, and Asian (MPA) peoples. Overall, Pacific peoples were 6.2 times more likely to be hospitalised with bronchiectasis than non-MPA, and Māori was 3.8 times more likely to be hospitalised.

This topic is worth further investigating to help public health policymakers with evidence-based policies and evaluate the impact of healthy homes-related policies both at the local (Auckland Council) and central governments levels (Ministry of Health) in New Zealand.

Objectives:

1. To undertake a systematic literature review of the impact of housing conditions on the health of occupants in New Zealand and on the effectiveness of initiatives to reduce the impact
2. To write a paper for publication based on the review.
   

Skills taught during the summer studentship:

• Searching databases and research articles, including grey literature
• Critically appraising and analysing literature
• Report writing
• Developing a peer-reviewed article for publication.

Research methods: The research methods for this review will include the systematic search of Library catalogues, Search engines for key databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed and Medline. Online databases or abstracting and indexing services provide access to journal articles, conference proceedings, reports, dissertations and other grey literature.

Data analysis: The data analysis will include a critical appraisal of identified articles and a thematic content analysis of the findings from the literature review.

Roles and responsibilities of the summer scholar: You will support our research team with various tasks, including literature reviews, research ethics, instrument development (survey and semi-structured interviews), and (potentially) data analysis for a mixed methods project.

Familiarity with both quantitative and qualitative methods and software is strongly preferred. You should be self-directed and intellectually curious.

There may be opportunities to contribute to one (or more) publications.

Project

Background: Each person's story matters. In studying heart disease-related health outcome measures, the patient's experience turns into quality data that can lead to new discoveries and research advances.

In this project, we aim to study Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) disease that follows infection with group A Strep. Although episodes of ARF can result in significant short-term disability, with high rates of long-term, irreversible damage to heart valves—termed rheumatic heart disease (RHD)—often due to ARF recurrences.

Rheumatic fever is a preventable disease with significant inequities, significantly overrepresented in Māori and Pacific peoples. Severe valvular heart disease can lead to a requirement for valve surgery and lifelong anticoagulation. Warfarin is the only form of anticoagulation that provides protection from valve thrombosis but requires regular testing to ensure International Normalised Ratio (INR) levels remain within a therapeutic range. Patients become adept at managing their care as with other chronic long-term conditions. The complex pharmacokinetics of warfarin and decreasing frequency of use due to the availability of newer anticoagulants results in more inconsistent dosing by practitioners unfamiliar with its use. Suboptimal dosing can prolong hospital length of stays.

As is now the standard of care for those with diabetes, exploration of a new model of care can be assessed by evaluating the impact on patients by use of patient self-testing and self-management techniques to provide long-term self-care.

Objectives: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and Clinician Reported Outcomes (CROs) are distinctive methods of evaluating patient response to health care or treatment.

A systematic review will be conducted to understand the role of PROs and CROs in warfarin management for early intervention to prevent hospitalisation readmission. There may be some surveys and semi-structured interviews and data analysis.

This project also aims to include a literature review of the recent health system management to address the warfarin therapy management issues in young people after scanning the global and Australian environment in warfarin management.

Roles and responsibilities of the summer scholar: You will support our research team with various tasks, including literature reviews, research ethics, instrument development (survey and semi-structured interviews), and (potentially) data analysis for a mixed methods project.

Familiarity with both quantitative and qualitative methods and software is strongly preferred. You should be self-directed, and intellectually curious. There may be opportunities to contribute to one (or more) publications.

Project

Researchers disagree on the inclusion of conference abstracts as a source of evidence for systematic reviews. Cochrane the producers of gold-standard systematic reviews is looking at excluding conference abstracts but are concerned about introducing reporting bias to their reviews. The main objection to the inclusion of conference abstracts is the poor reporting of trial methods and results in a conference abstract. There is also potential that the results are interim and may differ in the final analysis.

The aim of this project is to determine if results from subfertility trials presented at conferences differ from those in the final publications.

The first stage of this project will be to identify randomised controlled trials (RCT’s) presented at the annual meeting ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) and ASRM (American society of reproductive medicine).

The student would then search for corresponding publications in the scientific literature and record and compare.

This project is based at Cochrane New Zealand which is part of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department.

Skills gained would include improved understanding of trial methodology, data collection using Excel spreadsheets, and skills in scientific writing.

We would ultimately be hoping to publish the findings of this work.

Project

Aim: To assess the nutritional composition of commercially available foods for infants and toddlers and compare to the WHO proposed nutrient standards.

Background: Researchers and advocates in Australia and New Zealand are calling for stronger regulation of commercially available infant and toddler foods to better promote healthy eating patterns and taste preferences. Information on the nutrition composition of foods currently available in Australia has been assessed against the proposed WHO standards and this study needs to be repeated in New Zealand.

Methods: Products classified as infant and toddler foods in an existing packaged food database will be identified and cross-checked with supermarket in-store products. The products will be assessed for healthiness against the WHO Europe proposed standards for commercial infant and toddler foods.

The student will contribute to drafting an academic publication and a report for the Australia and New Zealand advocates.

Skills learnt during summer studentship:

• Study design
• Quantitative data analysis
• Nutritional analysis
• Writing an academic publication.

This study would suit a student studying nutrition or food science with an interest in food composition.

Project

Join our research team with a special interest in infant and child health and development. You will work on a project investigating the development of young (2-year-old) bilingual children and contribute to the set-up of a new automated language measure (developed in English, Māori, Samoan, and Mandarin).

Develop professional and personal skills by engaging with participants and families from diverse cultural backgrounds. Gain practical skills by assisting with developmental assessments.

You will meet study participants and observe how the assessments of children's development are completed in a research setting. You will be exposed to various test batteries commonly used in clinical practice and research (Bayley-IV, spot vision screener, eye tracker, behaviour and emotional health questionnaires, etc.).

This studentship is a unique opportunity to contribute to a research project and work in a family- and child-friendly research space. This is an excellent opportunity to witness children's developmental milestones at different proficiency levels.

Essential skills: Open-minded and able to work with families from different cultural backgrounds, passionate about how technology can help improve screening outcomes of young children.

Project

Complex structural, social and interpersonal factors result in Māori and Pasifika peoples experiencing inequitable ear and hearing health outcomes.

This project will seek to understand the themes and gaps in equity research in ear and hearing care in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using a scoping review methodology, the student will conduct an evaluation of ear and hearing health literature.

The purpose of the work will be to understand the key thematic concepts in the literature and define gaps in knowledge to inform future strategic approaches to address inequitable hearing health outcomes.

Skills learnt: The student will develop skills in undertaking a scoping review. The project will link the student to a range of Māori and Pacific ear and hearing health experts across Aotearoa. The student will gain research experience in a friendly, supportive, collegial environment.

Pre-requisites: An interest in health equity research; Māori or Pasifika student; Students interested in research that uses Kaupapa Māori and/or Pasifika methodologies.

Impact: The scoping review is critical to inform policy interventions and future projects for the Equity in Ear and Hearing Health in Aotearoa Advisory Group.

Project

The use of digital tools and websites in nutrition/food research (e.g. to collect dietary intake data) and as aids to support nutrition interventions to improve population health (e.g. to find healthier alternatives) is becoming more common. One of the limitations users (researchers and members of the public) often face is the ability to find the intended food/drink via a standard in-build search function, since the food/drink needs to be inputted as indexed in the underlying database and without spelling errors.

This project aims to summarise the literature/developments on the methods used to overcome the search function limitation in nutrition/food websites, apps and similar digital tools (e.g. supermarket websites or dietary intake collection apps).

The project will include recommendations on the practicalities and feasibility of incorporating the identified search-enabling techniques into digital nutrition/food tools. The findings from the summer research project will impact the development and updates of nutrition/food-related digital tools to make them more user-friendly.

This project would suit a student with a health/nutrition background interested in the technical aspects of nutrition research and intervention delivery. You also need to have a knowledge and interest in different foods. Experience using common nutrition/food digital tools (e.g. Nutritics or FoodWorks) would be an advantage.

Project

Taking probiotics can improve gut health, and influence physical and psychological outcomes. In one of the fastest growing fields of science new discoveries about the microbes in the gut are advancing at an extraordinary rate across all fields of medicine including cancer, mental health, obesity, and immunology.

The term probiotic is now widely used in the marketing of supplements, foods, and beverages. However the messaging on these items may not accurately reflect the scientific basis for health claims.

We will select a range of probiotic supplements and examine the health messaging on each of these. Using a criteria for evaluating the strength of evidence for each health claim you will conduct a review of the scientific literature to evaluate the evidence for the health messages used in the marketing of probiotics.

The project will involve preparing tables of results and drafting a background literature review and detailed description of the study methods.

This is an excellent opportunity to acquire scientific research skills in a fun and relevant project. The work will neatly fit into an interesting and publishable journal article on which you will be an author.

Excellent written skills and good attention to detail are required.

Project

The aim of this project is to introduce colours into digital apps for treating anxiety and depression.

Colours, as music, affect our mood and are associated with emotions. For example, we say: “I feel blue” when we are sad. Certain aspects of colour emotions association are universal and probably have biological origins. However, other aspects of colour emotion association depend on culture. For example, while green symbolizes happiness for Muslims, this colour corresponds to envy in English culture and can have negative connotations. Moreover, people of the same culture relate colours to mood and emotions differently. These differences are due to specific experience of individuals with colours and can arise from traumatic experience with a certain colour. Therefore, the colours that may help to calm down one person might yield strong negative emotions in another individual.

The successful applicant will develop an app for mobile phone, which will allow to establish individual relation between emotion and colour.

Ability to write apps for mobile phones is required.

Project

Putahi Manawa / Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa New Zealand CoRE have programmes of work which include community engagement and formal co-design methodologies.

Co-design hui commence later this year and this summer project is to support the analysis and interpretation of stage 1 hui.

Potential students will need a basic understanding of kaupapa Māori theory, and an authentic passion to learn from and with communities for better heart health outcomes.

The project is based at The Centre for Health in Tauranga, so the successful student will need to be able to be in Tauranga in blocks as required. About 50% of the work can be done remotely.

Students will gain a deeper understanding of kaupapa Māori as a methodology, be introduced to co-design as a method and participate in analysis and interpretation with a wide group of researchers.

Become a Manaaki Manawa student researcher!

Our Manaaki Manawa summer research scholars will have the opportunity to become a part of the Manaaki Manawa Centre for Heart Research. Manaaki Manawa will provide:

• A welcome event for our summer scholars so that you have a chance to meet each other, learn about the Centre’s work, have some kai and meet the Centre team, including our Pou Tikanga
• Hot desks if you need a place to work and our Outreach and Education Lead, who will be available to support you
• A celebration at the end of the scholarships with students doing presentations or posters about their research
• Continued connection with Manaaki Manawa after your project ends, with opportunities to continue with some research if you are interested, with support from our team and researchers, and to participate in Manaaki Manawa events throughout the year.
  

Project

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition which affects somewhere between 3-7% of the world population. New Zealand research has shown that at the Before School Check 2.8% of Māori and 1.6% of non-Māori were screened as showing ADHD concerns. If left untreated ADHD can result in long term self-esteem and social function issues.

The Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) is a national database that contains deidentified data from education, income, benefits, migration, justice, and health. Using this database, it is possible to determine the number of scripts that are dispensed for ADHD medication by ethnicity and year in New Zealand. This database has been previously used to look at ADHD and determined that there has been an increase in the prevalence of dispensing ADHD medication from 2007 to 2016.

The objective of this research is to use the IDI to determine if COVID-19 has resulted in an increase in inequity of ADHD medication dispensing as anecdotally noted in South Auckland.

The data will be provided by an analyst specialising in big data, and it will be the student's job to write this up as a scientific paper ready for publication.

Project

Publication bias is introduced when authors, sponsors, editors or reviewers are influenced to publish or not, based on the direction or strength of the study's findings. It has been known for some time that it is more likely that studies with striking results get published than those with less striking results and that studies with positive results are published preferentially over those reporting null or negative results.

We are conducting a Cochrane systematic review to assess the extent of this problem. The successful applicant will assist in the preparation of this Cochrane systematic review by completing tables for characteristics of included studies and completing data extraction from the selected studies to meet the aims of the review which are:

1. To determine the publication rate by time
2. To determine the association between time of full publication of results and the studies reporting "positive" versus null or negative results.

Timing: The initial phase of the project is to understand which trial characteristics need to be taken from the included papers and learn how to assess a paper for risk of bias.

Week 1-5: Begin by reading the included studies and by using RevMan Web enter the data required in the systematic review

Week 6-9: Complete risk of bias assessments for the included studies and enter these into an excel spreadsheet. Time permitting data extraction for outcomes will also be undertaken.

Week 9-10: Finalising a report for supervisors of work completed.

The outcomes of this project will have been to assist in the completion of this Cochrane systematic review by providing the double data extraction and risk of bias assessment. The write up of the review which will result in a seminal publication in the area of publication bias.

Project

The digital health workforce is invisible. It is more likely to be both invisible and underdeveloped in aged care services than most healthcare services. The future of caring will involve digital technologies, e.g., service robots, electronic recording of healthcare notes, and collections of sensors that enable people to remain independent longer than anticipated.

The research question is, "How competent are healthcare workers in the aged care sector about the increasing digitisation of their work?"

To answer this research question, we will conduct interviews with healthcare workers in aged care services.

Required skills: Interviewing skills (we will train you but good interpersonal skills are necessary), literature search skills, and writing in English.

Research impact: The digitisation of society affects how people age (using technologies to support their independence) and how people care for and support them. This means that healthcare workers in aged care services are increasingly required to be digitally competent at work.

The results of this research will help bring digital skills and competences into the aged care worker's scope of practice to enhance their work and its effectiveness. We will write a paper for publication to share the findings.

Project

In New Zealand, young people are the population most affected by poor mental well-being. Recent estimates show that one in five adolescents aged 10-19 live with a mental disorder, and one in three young people aged 18-24 have mental distress or illness (Mental Health Foundation, 2022). From 2018-2021, there has been a 30% increase in the prevalence of poor mental well-being among 15-24 years olds in New Zealand (Stats NZ, 2022).

This is a significant problem as poor mental health status in young people leads to poorer quality of life and low satisfaction (Schlack et al., 2021). At the population level, an estimated NZD $560 billion a year is lost from economies due to mental disorders that lead to disability or death among young people (UNICEF, 2021).

Lack of access to quality support and services, discrimination, and being of an ethnic minority has been identified by the WHO as key factors that increase the risk of poor mental well-being in young people (WHO, 2023). We, therefore, aim to conduct a systematic review describing determinants of access to mental health services among young people aged 10-24 years who are of ethnic minorities in Aotearoa.

Project

The incidence of cancer is increasing significantly in Aotearoa (MOH, 2022), with serious implications for the affected families and the health system. The inequities in cancer diagnosis and treatment between the main ethnic groups in Aotearoa have been established, with evidence showing excess mortality for indigenous, marginalised and socioeconomically deprived populations (Teng, et al., 2016; Yu, et al., 2022). It is unclear, however, the impact that cancer, in general, has on ethnic migrant communities in Aotearoa.

The aim of this project is to conduct a systematic review of the occurrence of cancer in general and its implications on ethnic migrant communities in Aotearoa.

Project

Shared decision-making is a patient-centred approach in healthcare that fosters collaboration between patients and clinicians. This approach promotes healthcare decisions that are not only medically sound but also align with the patient's lifestyle, preferences, and values. AI has been gradually integrated into this decision-making process. By analysing personalised patient data and predicting potential outcomes, AI aims to deliver more precise and personalised information to patients and clinicians, which may enhance shared decision-making and ultimately better patient outcomes.

The focus of this project is to understand the perceptions and attitudes of diabetes patients towards the application of AI in shared decision-making.

Responsibilities will include:

1. Patient engagement and data collection: surveys will be used to collect data on perceptions and attitudes of patients towards AI in shared decision-making
2. Data analysis: qualitative data will identify trends, themes, and insights regarding patients' attitudes
3. Communications and project management: documenting insights and preparing presentations to share findings.

We're seeking students who have:

1. Interest in healthcare, patient-centred care, and the role of technology in healthcare
2. Strong interpersonal communication abilities
3. Previous experience or coursework in healthcare or patient engagement and Microsoft Excel would be an asset, but not necessary.
   

Project

Infants that are small for gestational age (SGA, <10th centile) are at increased risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Antenatal identification of SGA can help to prevent complications through increased fetal monitoring and timely delivery.

A fetal abdominal circumference (AC) measurement of <10th centile has been shown to be as predictive of the birth of an SGA baby as an estimated fetal weight (EFW) of <10th centile, however these international studies have used population birthweight standards, when customised standards (that account for maternal characteristics associated with birthweight such as height, weight, parity and ethnicity) have been shown to improve detection of SGA infants that are at-risk of morbidity and mortality. Fetal biometry (including AC) is also standardised which may lead to over-or under-estimation of risk of SGA for individuals.

This project is an analysis of routinely collected fetal biometry data (AC) to predict customised SGA with a focus on ethnicity.

The successful applicant will develop skills in ethical approval, data management, data cleaning, data analysis and interpretation.

It is anticipated a manuscript would be prepared which could result in a first author publication, depending on the student’s overall input.

The ideal student has a familiarity with Excel and basic statistical analysis.

Project

The community group Brown Buttabean Motivation (BBM) was set up to assist Pacific and Māori people manage their body weight, predominantly through free community-based exercise sessions. In response to community need, BBM’s activities have expanded to include other components of wellbeing. The kaupapa of the overall research programme is a mixed method evaluation of BBM’s community engagement and impact on the health and wellbeing of Pacific and Māori people.

The objective of the studentship is to assess how the length and frequency of members’ engagement with BBM’s physical activity bootcamps is associated with Hua Oranga scales of physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being.

The applicant will be comfortable with a collaborative team approach. Pacific and Māori students are particularly encouraged.

The student will be supported to use basic quantitative methods to carry out a descriptive analysis. Time-permitting, the student will also carry out a literature review to provide context for the analysis.

Data are already available and ethical approval obtained. The research approach is co-designed and informed by Pacific and Māori theoretical constructs.

Project

Internationally there is no accepted consensus on how to diagnose fetal growth restriction (FGR) in the neonate. In high performing obstetric units approximately 60% of small for gestational age (SGA) fetuses are identified antenatally, meaning 40% (or more) are diagnosed for the first time at birth. The majority of SGA infants are FGR, but not all, and some FGR infants are not SGA. Infants with fetal growth restriction are at increased risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality.

The new Clinical Practice Guideline Small for Gestational Age and Fetal Growth Restriction in Aotearoa New Zealand | He Aratohu Ritenga Haumanu mo te Tohuatanga Kopiri me te Pakupaku Rawa is the first international guideline to define growth restriction in the neonate.

This project aims to compare outcomes of SGA infants compared with FGR infants as defined by the new criteria.

This project is an analysis of routinely collected obstetric and neonatal data. You will develop skills in ethical approval, data management including data cleaning, data analysis and interpretation.

It is anticipated a manuscript would be prepared which could result in a first author publication, depending on the student’s overall input.

The ideal student has a familiarity with Excel and basic statistical analysis.

Project

Aotearoa New Zealand does not have comprehensive guidance regarding digital media use in young children, despite increasing concern about the effects of excessive screen time on their health and wellbeing. Identifying children who are at risk for negative effects of screen exposure is a challenge for researchers, because the way that screens and digital devices are used in a variety of different settings continues to evolve and change.

In this project, the student will work with the Tamariki Pakari research team to:

• Document existing international regulations and guidance for screen use in children and young people
• Identify and review measures of screen time or digital device use in children.

The student will develop skills in:

• Searching grey and white literature
• Critically appraising and summarising scientific literature
• Understanding psychometric properties of questionnaires and scales.

This project would suit a student who is self-motivated and passionate about child health and wellbeing. They will have the opportunity to contribute to the write-up of findings for a journal article if desired.

Project

PMA Knowledge Hub Summer Research Scholarship

Aim: The aim of this project is to describe families who were received care packages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, to identify families who were originally enrolled with WO and of those who were not, how many enrolled after their interaction through COVID-19.

This will be a descriptive study of families who received care packages, including their engagement with Pasifika Futures and their distributions of MAST scores.

This is a national cross-sectional study using families that received care-packages from Whanau Ora services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The timeframe for the study is March 2020 to December 2023.

The data is collated at a family level and individual participants were members of each family. The analyses will look, across the study period, at numbers of families and individuals broken into demographic strata: mean ages, gender, ethnicity, languages spoken, geographic distribution (and other groups captured).Each family’s registration and the date of first registration with Pasifika Futures is captured in the questionnaire filled in when distributing care packages. These will try to be confirmed with actual registration data held by Pasifika Futures. If a family is registered with WO, the study will include MAST scores: a mean scores over the study period, and a breakdown of the four MAST score domain summaries by demographic factors. Data will be accessed via a VPN link to Penelope and a subset will be extracted for the purposes of these analyses. SurveyMonkey data from the surveys will be downloaded for the study.

All analyses in this study are descriptive and undertaken in MSExcel and graphically presented using R or datawrapper.

Project

PMA Knowledge Hub Summer Research Scholarship

Aim: The aim of this study is to describe the families that have engaged with WO over the past 10 years.

It will be a descriptive study of families in the WO data and include the distribution of MAST scores. This is a national cross-sectional study using 8 years of data from families enrolled with Whanau Ora services for Pacific communities and reported to to Pasifika Futures Limited.

The timeframe for the study is January 2016 to December 2023.

The data is collated at a family level and individual participants were members of each family. The analyses will look, across the study period, at numbers of families and individuals broken into demographic strata: mean ages, gender, ethnicity, languages spoken, geographic distribution (and other groups captured).

The study will include MAST scores: a mean scores captures over the study period, and a breakdown of the Four MAST score domain summaries by demographic factors. Data is accessed via a VPN link to Penelope and a subset will be extracted for the purposes of these analyses.

All analyses in this study are descriptive and undertaken in MSExcel and graphically presented using R or datawrapper.

Project

PMA Knowledge Hub Summer Research Scholarship

Aim: The aim of this study is to show change in MAST scores for families who had access to Whanau Ora services over ten years.

To meet this aim, we will undertake an analysis of the temporal change in MAST scores from the baseline measurement when entering WO. We will aim to model the change in MAST scores, as a summary and as individual items, over time following their first assessment.

This is a national cross-sectional study using 8 years of data from families enrolled with Whanau Ora services for Pacific communities and reported to to Pasifika Futures Limited.

The timeframe for the study is January 2016 to December 2023.

The data is collated at a family level and individual participants were members of each family. The analyses will be adjusted for confounding from demographic strata: age, gender, ethnicity, geographic distribution (and other groups captured, possibly service). The study will include MAST scores: a mean scores captures over the study period, and a breakdown of the Four MAST score domain summaries and individual scores. Data is accessed via a VPN link to Penelope and a subset will be extracted for the purposes of these analyses.

All analyses in this study are analyses will be undertaken in R or SAS an MSExcel and graphically presented using R or datawrapper.

Project

We hypothesise that the composition of the microbiome is associated with S. pyogenes colonisation (differences in diversity and/or abundance of specific bacteria) and may be associated with the development of throat infections in children colonised with S. pyogenes.

Using the Growing Up in New Zealand data we aim to:

• Determine the microbial composition of the throat in healthy children
• Determine the microbial diversity of the throat microbiome and how it differs between children colonised with S. pyogenes and those who are not
• Determine which microbes present in the throat are associated with not experiencing a throat infection in the past year and not being colonised with S. pyogenes.

The summer project aims to:

• Describe the Strep colonisation rates of pre-school children in the cohort
• Further explore the prevalence rates of those children with recent antibiotic use or sore throats
• Do a global literature review of microbiome research in the throat in relation to colonisation of common bacteria
• Look at the NZ context for throat infections, antibiotic use, and subsequent health outcomes.

Skills taught:

• Literature search
• General statistics
• Basic understanding of child health in New Zealand

Outputs: This summer project will contribute directly to the publication of one peer-reviewed manuscript.

Project

Educational scholars Hu & Kuh (2001) define engagement as students (tauira) “… involvement in educationally purposeful activities” (p.3). Kuh and his USA collaborators developed a national survey of student engagement (NSSE) in 2000, and an Australian engagement tool was modelled on that (Leach, 2016). There is no such tool in Aotearoa despite an increasing focus on promoting tauira engagement in the university context.

As effective educators we must be able to ‘gauge, monitor and assess’ tauira engagement as a core element of their overall learning experience. Given this increasing focus the primary aim of the project is to undertake a scoping review of current engagement practices in a higher education environment - through a local lens.

This requires a commitment to exploring engagement practices appropriate for an Aotearoa context, and ones that are strongly influenced by, and aligned with the Universities Vision 2030 and Strategic Plan 2025 Taumata Teitei.

This vision and plan have at their centre three Te Ao Maori Principles, Manaakitanga, Whanaungatanga, and Kaitiakitanga as a demonstration of the university’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

This project will be informed by these principles with the intention that the project outputs - engagement tools, engagement survey questions, and their associated recommendations reflect these principles.

Hu, S & Kuh, G.D. (2002) Being (dis)engaged in educationally purposeful activities: The influences of student and institutional characteristics. In American Educational Research Association Annual Conference.
Linda Leach (2016) Enhancing student engagement in one institution, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 40:1, 23-47.

Project

Many consumers/patients use traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines ('TCAMs', e.g. herbal medicines, and other natural health products). However, these exposures are rarely documented on patients’ electronic health records, largely because these products are not prescribed and can be purchased from multiple outlets for use in self-treatment. As data on patients’/consumers’ exposures to TCAMs are not usually captured in large health datasets, it is important to explore whether other sources, such as longitudinal studies, collect these data.

Longitudinal studies collect data from individuals over (sometimes long) periods of time. In the healthcare context, such studies are used to examine relationships between risk factors and disease development and to examine associations between treatments and health outcomes. Collecting comprehensive data on TCAMs exposures in health-related longitudinal studies could facilitate analyses of patterns of use of these products, and analyses relating to their safety and effectiveness.

This project will identify health-related longitudinal studies in Aotearoa and explore whether these studies capture data on patients’ exposures to TCAMs.

This project involves literature and website searches, data extraction, and writing a descriptive summary of findings. It would suit students interested in big/real-world health data and its future potential for exploring health outcomes associated with TCAMs.

Project

Participation in musical activities at a young age has been linked to various positive child outcomes including positive socio-emotional development, language development and motor control. However, most studies are small-scale and with a limited demographic. The Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study of children’s development has collected data on more than 6000 New Zealand children and their families. Using the Growing Up in New Zealand data we aim to determine if musical involvement or exposure across the lifecourse is associated with greater mental well-being for young people.

The summer project aims to:

• Describe musical exposure and involvement for children in the cohort
• Explore if musical engagement is associated with mental health outcomes for children
• Conduct a global literature review of music research in relation to developmental outcomes specific to mental health and/or behaviour.

Skills: Literature search, general statistics, basic understanding of development, music, or child mental health and behaviour in New Zealand.

Outputs: This summer project will contribute directly to the publication of one peer-reviewed manuscript.

Project

Positive social relationships during adolescence enhance wellbeing and provide a foundation for healthy transitions to adulthood. Furthermore, there are many cognitive, physical, and social changes taking place during adolescence which means that the depth and breadth of relationships is changing. Relationships with special adults - adults who are not a young person’s parents or primary caregivers, with whom they have a close relationship and can rely on for support – have not previously been examined in New Zealand in this age group. The Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study of children’s development has collected data on more than 6000 New Zealand children and their families.

This project will describe the special adult relationships for young rangatahi in New Zealand using the Growing Up in New Zealand data, and explore the literature on links between positive adult relationships and the health and wellbeing of young people.

Skills that the student will achieve:

• Performing a literature review and creating an annotated bibliography
• Experience understanding longitudinal data collection and analyses
• Working with researchers from varied backgrounds (psychology, education, family wellbeing).
  

Project

The growing awareness of transdiagnostic processes that underlie neurodevelopmental conditions highlights a critical transition towards the holistic characterisation and understanding of neurodiversity.

Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that includes several brain-based differences, including ADHD, ASD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, processing disorders, and other conditions. It is estimated that 1 in 5 young people in New Zealand are neurodiverse. However, there is a lack of information in this area, with many young people not being identified as neurodiverse. Neurodiverse conditions can significantly impact health, well-being, and educational outcomes, which can be exacerbated if young people do not receive the required support. Very often, neurodiversity is an invisible disability, with many young people - particularly girls and minority communities - masking their symptoms in order to fit in.

This literature review aims to explore the impact of neurodiverse conditions on health, well-being, and educational outcomes, investigate the under-identification of neurodiversity, and identify key areas for systematic change to improve outcomes for neurodiverse individuals in New Zealand.

This review will contribute to a holistic understanding of neurodiversity and help inform strategies, policies, and interventions to support and empower the neurodiverse population – this may be used in subsequent publications.

Project

This project involves a systematic review and meta-analysis on diabetes and heart disease comorbidity and mortality among ethnic groups identifying as Peoples of Fiji. The student researcher will use Rayyan for screening and data collection, following Prisma guidelines and Prospero protocol. Relevant data will be extracted for meta-regression analysis in R software.

Skills required: The student researcher should have a basic understanding of Pacific health research methodologies and proficiency in library database searches. Some experience with R Studio is preferred, but training will be provided.

Research impact: This analysis will inform risk assessment and healthcare delivery for Peoples of Fiji, an understudied population representing 2% of New Zealand's population.

Responsiveness to Māori: While the focus is on the Peoples of Fiji, the research will seek cultural appropriateness and aims to contribute to equitable health outcomes and respect the diverse indigenous populations in New Zealand.

Project

Education scholars Hoskins and Jones (2022) invite us to reject ‘indigenous inclusion,’ as the most common approach to Māori engagement in higher education (HE) in Aotearoa – but rather to take up the challenge of indigenising the university. They suggest that indigenisation is sometimes understood as ‘decolonisation,’ but they reject the term on the basis that it risks turning attention to the coloniser, rather than focusing on what might be possible.

While rich resources are known to exist to guide tauiwi HE teachers to take up our duty as responsible and active Tiriti partners, Hoskins and Jones (2022) describe the need to move universities from a stuck place towards “…finding ways where Māori knowledge, ways of being, thinking and doing can thrive” (p. 317). To take up that challenge, this project will gather and analyse key resources with the overall aim of supporting more active and focused participation as tangata te tiriti in a HE context. The resulting output will include a series of suggested;
1. Key readings
2. Reflective questions
3. Recommended processes

To more fully explore what might be possible when tauiwi critically examine our obligations in relation to Te Tiriti of Waitangi, specifically as these obligations relate to indigenising the university.

Hoskins, T.K. & Jones, A. (2022). Indigenous Inclusion and Indigenising the University. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies. DOI:10.1007/s40841-022-00264-1: 1-16