College of Healthcare Sciences

Lisa Shaw

Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
lisa.shaw@jcu.edu.au

Stephen Yu

Senior Lecturer, Nursing and Midwifery
stephen.yu@jcu.edu.au

Karen Smith

Lecturer, Nursing and Midwifery
karen.smith6@jcu.edu.au

Chae Rose

Lecturer, Psychology
chae.rose@jcu.edu.au

Helen Petsky

Head, Nursing and Midwifery
helen.petsky@jcu.edu.au

Lucy Bird

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
lucy.bird@jcu.edu.au

Alyssia Merrick

Doctor of Philosophy (Health)
alyssia.merrick@jcu.edu.au

Sandra Dash

Lecturer
sandra.dash@jcu.edu.au

Beyond the bump: Leveraging social media to build positive perinatal mental health in regional, rural and remote North Queensland women

Sam Teague - Psychology

13 Jan 2025 - 30 Jun 2027

This project aims to codesign, develop, and evaluate a preventative intervention to address mental health among perinatal women in regional, rural, and remote (RRR) areas. Co-designed with RRR perinatal parents and mental health professionals, the intervention will deliver a established psychotherapeutic techniques that are effective for preventing perinatal depression and anxiety (psychoeducation and behavior change on health literacy, interpersonal therapy) at-scale, tailored to the unique needs of the RRR maternity and mental health system. The evaluation will assess the feasibility, reach, engagement, and acceptability of the intervention, enabling a future larger-scale efficacy and implementation trial.

Professionally Psyched: A podcast to build professional identity, career clarity, and belongingness.

Amanda Krause - Psychology

Advancing data analysis skills through a Digital Resource Library.

Amanda Krause - Psychology

Developing a psychology resource library.

Amanda Krause - Psychology

We have gathered student and staff feedback (see Appendix for quotes), which will inform further library developments. Overall, the feedback received has been largely positive; participants have praised the library as an open-access "one-stop-shop" for statistics-related content. All interviewees have stated they would use this resource, though intended uses varied depending on degree stage (e.g., to understand basic concepts v. thesis writing) and role (staff noted they could use it to learn jamovi themselves and as a teaching aid). Highlighted features include the glossary, colour-coded write-up details, and table of contents page as a navigational tool. Participants wanted interactive definitions within individual resources and helpful visuals (e.g., images and tables). The fact that staff and students also suggested additional topics to be included in the library suggests that it will be a resource that can assist the Department in delivering better research methods education in online and flex delivery modes.

“Bonus chats”: A podcast series to build professional identity.

Amanda Krause - Psychology

We successfully delivered 10 podcast episodes that involved Honours, HDR and ECR students and staff as interviewees. Anecdotal feedback from participants via email was very positive, with more students than required indicating interest in participating in subsequent seasons. The podcast series, Professionally Psyched, has been well received by students (as of Dec, 2024, there had been 179 plays of episodes and 50 Spotify followers). However, most engagement seems to have been from Honours students – likely due to their involvement as podcast interviewers. The impact on professional identity is too early to identify, however preliminary data from the baseline assessment survey has found that there is a significant positive moderate-strong correlation between professional identity and a sense of belonging at JCU (r(54)=.590, p<.001). This finding is promising in increasing professional identity may further build a sense of belonging and therefore have implications towards retention for JCU Psychology students.

Examining how focused and immersive music listening events can support well-being.

Amanda Krause - Psychology

Stigma prevents many people from seeking well-being support; however, positive music listening experiences can buffer the impact of stigma on help-seeking. Recent research suggests that community-based, focused music listening experiences have real potential for improving individual well-being, but research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms. This project uses a case study to examine people’s experiences of participating in communal, high-fidelity, and immersive music listening sessions. Expected outcomes include solidifying a research partnership with a community organisation and disseminating evidence relating to substantiating the mechanisms underpinning the well-being benefits of focused and immersive music listening. JCU College of Healthcare Sciences 2024 Research Seed Grant

Explore the level of mental health wellbeing and substance use among under graduate nursing students in Australia

Peter Hartin - Nursing & Midwifery

The purpose of this study is to explore the level of mental health well-being and substance use in undergraduate nursing students at three universities in Australia (RMIT, ECU and JCU). It is also to identify the current support services available, and any psychological and service facilitators and barriers students experience whilst studying at these three universities.

Enhancing students’ digital capabilities to improve preparedness for clinical practice

Peter Hartin - Nursing & Midwifery

The increased use of technology across healthcare systems accentuates the need for nurses and midwives to be confident and competent users of technology, therefore the need for an academic health record is now an essential part of nursing and midwifery education. Consequently, the aim of this research is to: Evaluate the preparedness of first year nursing and midwifery students who have used the AEHR in classroom-based simulation activities, pre, during and post WIL clinical placement.

Deepfake detection and biases

Klaire Somoray - Psychology

Deepfakes are computer-generated synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is manipulated to have another person's likeness. The public is generally poor at detecting deepfakes, performing only marginally better than chance (Somoray & Miller, 2023). A series of studies will expand on our previous work examining factors that influence deepfake detection as well as investigating the public's biases associated with deepfakes.

GenAI in the classroom

Klaire Somoray - Psychology

Our project will examine both the student and educator perspectives, aiming for high-impact outcomes: 1) Phase 1-2 will assess AI's impact on students’ learning and assessment, informing AI literacy frameworks, assessment reforms and development of OER guides for ethical and critical use of AI and 2) Phase 3 will focus on educator’s perspectives, guiding future professional development programs.