School of Public Health and Interdisciplinary Studies

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https://hdl.handle.net/10292/10764
The School of Public Health and Interdisciplinary Studies research institutes and centres play an important role in specialist teaching and research conducted by academic staff and postgraduate students. This places AUT students at the forefront of much of the ground-breaking research undertaken in New Zealand in the field of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Public Health.

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Browsing School of Public Health and Interdisciplinary Studies by Subject "1103 Clinical Sciences"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Codesign of a Digital Health Tool for Suicide Prevention: Protocol for a Scoping Review
    (BMJ Publishing Group, ) Wepa, Dianne; Neal, Martin; Abo-Gazala, Waseem; Cusworth, Sally; Hargan, Jae; Mistry, Manoj; Vaughan, Jimmy; Giles, Stephen; Khan, Mehnaz; Power, Lucy
    Introduction The role of digital health in providing psychological treatment and support for the prevention of suicide is well documented. Particular emphasis has been placed on digital health technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing psychological support reduces the burden of mental health conditions. The challenge is to provide support in the context of patient isolation, which highlights the role of digital technology (video conferencing, smartphone apps and social media). There is, however, a dearth of literature where experts by experience have been involved in the end-to-end process of developing digital health tools for suicide prevention. Methods and analysis This study aims to codesign a digital health tool for suicide prevention focusing on the enablers and barriers. The scoping review protocol is phase I within a three-phase study. The protocol will inform the second phase of the study which is the scoping review. The results of the review will inform a funding application to National Institute for Health and Care Research to codesign a digital health tool for suicide prevention (the third phase). The search strategy will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewer’s Manual for Scoping Reviews and incorporates the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist to ensure reporting standards are maintained. The methodology will be supplemented by frameworks by Arksey and O’Malley and Levac et al. The search strategy dates for screening are from November 2022 to March 2023. Five databases will be searched: Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, PsycInfo and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Grey literature searches include government and non-government health websites, Google and Google Scholar. The data will be extracted and organised into relevant categories. The results will be synthesised into themes and inform phase II of the study. Ethics and dissemination Ethics granted by the University of Bradford on 15 August 2022, reference E995. The project team will design a digital health tool, results will be published in a peer-review journal and disseminated through conferences. Study registration number Safety (Mental Health) Innovation Challenge Fund 2022–2023 Protocol RM0223/42079 Ver 0.1.
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    Comparison of Tube and Column Agglutination Technique for the Quantification of Blood Group Antibody Anti-D by Titration
    (Institute Press Ltd, Auckland, ) Loschmann, Teatuanui M; Garrett, Nicholas; Patel, Minaxi; Perry, Holly E
    Objectives: Laboratory titration of blood group antibody anti-D is used to monitor immunized pregnancies. A titre of 32 is commonly used to trigger clinical procedures to investigate whether a fetus is suffering complications of haemolytic disease of the fetus and new-born. This so called “trigger titre” is based on historical tube methods. Column agglutination technology (CAT) has largely superseded tube for routine blood group investigations and is used by some laboratories for antibody titration. However, sensitivity differences exist between the two testing platforms and no trigger titre for clinical intervention has been established for column. Furthermore, titres suffer from a lack of reproducibility, produced by many factors including variation in equipment, consumables and techniques of different laboratory scientists. As a consequence, results of studies reporting sensitivity differences between tube and column titres vary widely. In this study, variations were minimised by having one scientist perform titration on the same samples at the same time, in tube and column. The work aims to add to the body of data available on sensitivity differences between CAT and tube for titration of anti-D, with a view to informing a trigger titre for CAT. Methods: Twenty plasmapheresis donations containing anti-D were titrated under standardised conditions by one individual by indirect antiglobulin technique in tubes and columns. Reproducibility was assessed by titrating a reagent anti-D with each batch of plasmapheresis donations tested. Results: Column titres of anti-D in plasmapheresis donations were on average 0.8 dilutions higher than tube, showing that column is more sensitive than tube. Reproducibility was high for both techniques, with titre varying ±1 dilution from the mode titre in both tube and column. Conclusions: Consideration should be given to raising the trigger titre by one dilution when performed by CAT for titration of anti-D. However, it is key that laboratories communicate with clinicians to further evaluate whether the laboratory platform and the trigger titre are appropriate in their local setting.
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    Imprisonment Following Discharge From Mental Health Units: A Developing Trend in New Zealand
    (Frontiers Media SA, 2023-01-26) Skipworth, Jeremy; Garrett, Nick; Pillai, Krishna; Tapsell, Rees; McKenna, Brian
    INTRODUCTION: Contemporary models of care for people with mental disorders continue to shift to community-based care, requiring fewer inpatient mental health beds, shorter inpatient lengths of stay, and less use of coercion. It has been suggested that some mentally unwell people, whose behavior can no longer be safely contained in overstretched mental health units where seclusion and restraint are discouraged, are now left to the criminal justice system to manage. It is unclear whether the risk of imprisonment following discharge from a mental health unit has increased over recent years. METHODS: A quantitative, retrospective cohort study design was used to investigate any association between an acute inpatient mental health service admission in Aotearoa (New Zealand), and referral to a prison mental health team within 28 days of hospital discharge, from 2012 to 2020. Data were extracted from the national mental health dataset managed by the Ministry of Health. RESULTS: Risk of imprisonment within 28 days of inpatient discharge increased over the study period. People experiencing this outcome were more likely to be younger, male, of Mâori or Pacific ethnicity, presenting with substance use and psychotic disorders who were aggressive or overactive, and were subject to coercive interventions such as seclusion and compulsory treatment during their admission. DISCUSSION: We concluded that contemporary models of less coercive predominantly community based mental health care may be increasingly reliant on the criminal justice system to manage aggressive and violent behavior driven by mental illness. It is argued from a human rights perspective that mental health inpatient units should retain the capacity to safely manage this type of clinical presentation.
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    National Cross-Sectional Study of the Sociodemographic Characteristics of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Regulated Health Workforce Pre-Registration Students: A Mirror on Society?
    (BMJ, 2023-03-13) Crampton, P; Bagg, W; Bristowe, Z; Brunton, P; Curtis, E; Hendry, C; Kool, B; Scarf, D; Shaw, S; Tukuitonga, C; Williman, J; Wilson, D
    Objectives To provide a sociodemographic profile of students enrolled in their first year of a health professional pre-registration programme offered within New Zealand (NZ) tertiary institutions. Design Observational, cross-sectional study. Data were sought from NZ tertiary education institutions for all eligible students accepted into the first ar of a health professional programme for the 5-year period 2016-2020 inclusive. Variables of interest: gender, citizenship, ethnicity, rural classification, socioeconomic deprivation, school type and school socioeconomic scores. Analyses were carried out using the R statistics software. Setting Aotearoa NZ. Participants All students (domestic and international) accepted into the first ar of a health professional programme leading to registration under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003. Results NZ's health workforce pre-registration students do not reflect the diverse communities they will serve in several important dimensions. There is a systematic under-representation of students who identify as Māori and Pacific, and students who come from low socioeconomic and rural backgrounds. The enrolment rate for Māori students is about 99 per 100 000 eligible population and for some Pacific ethnic groups is lower still, compared with 152 per 100 000 for NZ European students. The unadjusted rate ratio for enrolment for both Māori students and Pacific students versus Other' students is approximately 0.7. Conclusions We recommend that: (1) there should be a nationally coordinated system for collecting and reporting on the sociodemographic characteristics of the health workforce pre-registration; (2) mechanisms be developed to allow the agencies that fund tertiary education to base their funding decisions directly on the projected health workforce needs of the health system and (3) tertiary education funding decisions be based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the foundational constitutional agreement between the Indigenous people, Māori and the British Crown signed in 1840) and have a strong pro-equity focus.
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    Relationship Between Perceived and Measured Body Size Among Pacific 14-Year-Olds in Aotearoa | New Zealand: Findings from the Pacific Islands Families Study
    (Wiley, 2023-05-25) Lousich, Katrina L; Tautolo, El-Shadan; Schluter, Philip J
    AIM: Pacific people carry a disproportionate burden of socio-cultural and economic determinants of health in Aotearoa | New Zealand (NZ), and 61.7% of Pacific children aged 0-14 years are overweight or obese. Yet Pacific children's self-perception of their body size is unknown. This population-based study aimed to investigate the concordance between measured and perceived body size in a cohort of Pacific 14-year-olds in NZ, and to assess how this relationship is influenced by their cultural orientation, socio-economic deprivation and degree of recreational internet use. METHODS: The Pacific Islands Families Study tracks a cohort of Pacific infants born in the year 2000 at Middlemore Hospital, South Auckland. This study is a nested cross-section of participants at the 14-year postpartum measurement wave. Following strict measurement protocols, body mass index was measured and categorised according to the World Health Organization classifications. Agreement and logistic regression analysis methods were employed. RESULTS: Of 834 participants with valid measures, 3 (0.4%) were measured as being underweight, 183 (21.9%) as normal, 235 (28.2%) as overweight and 413 (49.5%) as obese. Overall, 499 (59.8%) perceived their body size to have a lower classification than that when measured. Neither cultural orientation nor deprivation was significantly related to weight misconception but recreational internet use was, with higher use associated with increased misconception. CONCLUSIONS: Improving body size awareness together with the risk of higher recreational internet use is likely to be an important component in any population-based healthy weight intervention formulation for Pacific adolescents.
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