Research Projects
Filters for Projects
Research Units
Strengthening the resilience of ICU nurses: Co-designing an online education intervention.
ICU nurses are at increased risk of burnout, compassion fatigue, depression, and PTSD. Numerous studies have suggested that strengthening resilience in ICU nurses can decrease these negative psychological impacts. Research indicates that education and interventions to build resilience can positively influence resilience and well-being in ICU nurses. However, there is a paucity of research that explores the potential of accessible online education interventions to influence nurse resilience. Accordingly, this project will use focus groups of ICU nurses with varied experience to inform the co-design of online education to build resilience in ICU nurses.
Am I Talking to a Real Person? Experimental Investigations into Human Perceptions of Therapeutic Chatbots.
Therapeutic chatbots could enhance the accessibility of psychological treatments, reducing wait times and costs; yet questions remain about user acceptance. Millet et al. (2023) highlight biases against AI-generated art, suggesting a similar bias may exist for perceptions of therapeutic chatbots. This program of experimental research will investigate whether therapeutic communications are perceived as less empathetic when attributed to therapeutic chatbots, as opposed to humans, across three populations: the general community; therapists/counsellors; and mental health app users. This research will inform future integration of chatbots into digital interventions, including their suitability across different contexts, and highlight targets for improved user experience.
Experiences of men who have sex with men (MSM) on dating apps.
Dating app preferences among men who have sex with men (MSM) privileges partner profiles that depict norms of masculinity and particular ethnicities. Concerningly, preoccupation to appear masculine and internalisation of race-based sexual stereotypes are linked with health disparities. This study will attempt to elucidate the role of bias in partner preferences among MSM within the Australian context. Specifically, the study will explore the impact of masculinity and ethnicity in partner preferences on dating apps. It will also explore how self-esteem, body image and social identity influence MSM’s dating preferences.
A community-driven approach to health care partnerships and sustainable health outcomes with Indigenous communities in North Queensland.
Western approaches to healthcare are often deficit-focused, top-down structures characterised by professionals’ identification of health problems and development and implementation of policies/promotions. Such approaches overlook an important prerequisite for improved health outcomes, which is to build genuine culturally safe partnerships between healthcare systems and Indigenous communities. These processes must be informed by Indigenous voices. This project is unique, targeting a community driven approach to (a) gain Indigenous perspectives on health and research, identify priorities among Indigenous communities in North Queensland, and (b) active relationship-building with healthcare providers/researchers, and building of health care options with Indigenous communities in North Queensland.
SMART MARK - A pilot trial exploring the marking of assessments using Artificial Intelligence
This project will explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) system as a marking aid for the Graduate Diploma in Psychology (Bridging) Program. Marking assessments and providing feedback to students are essential steps in pedagogy that keep track of student progress and contribute to learning outcomes. Leveraging customised and user-controlled AI models to assess large numbers of student assessments in a systematic, consistent, and efficient way can bring cost savings, help educators to manage tight turnaround times, improve quality of teaching and keep students engaged in their course of study.
GatherTown: Transforming the 4th Year Mini-Conference Experience in Psychology
Annually, 4th year psychology students meet with staff to discuss potential research projects and present their completed research at a mini-conference. Driven by growth in external enrollments, these events have typically been conducted via Zoom. However, Zoom provides limited opportunity for staff-student interaction. To enhance the student experience, a more interactive virtual platform,GatherTown, was trialled.
High frequency analysis of financial stress index of ASEAN-5
This study aims to construct financial stress index (FSI) for ASEAN-5 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand), taking into consideration time-varying correlations across different financial market segments. The expected outcome of this study is to obtain a reliable set of daily financial stress index which would enable us to quantify financial stresses facing the region in the COVID-19 period. Given the fast-evolving situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to develop a high-frequency dataset that can monitor the potential frailty of the regional financial markets in a real-time manner.
Determinants of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) Spillovers and Spillbacks
We propose a research study of EPU with three key objectives. First, this research aims to investigate the cross-country connectedness of EPU based on Diebold and Yilmaz's (2012) methodology. Second, we will estimate both EPU spillovers (risks transmitted to other countries) and EPU spillbacks (risks received from other countries) for each country in the sample. This may provide insight into asymmetric EPU propagation between emerging and advanced economies. Third, this study aims to examine the determinants of EPU spillovers and spillbacks using the panel data regression technique.