Research Area Leader
Professor Oliver Burmeister
Research Area Deputy Leader
Dr Jodie Kleinschafer
The delivery and management of effective health services in regional, rural and remote areas faces a number of ongoing challenges. For example, an ageing population in Australia requires health organisations to increase their capacity for aged care, while managing simultaneous challenges such as workforce shortages. Health services research is a priority funding area for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and promoting and maintaining good health is recognised as a national priority area by the Australian Research Council, highlighting the importance and relevance of this research. Traditionally, health services management has been researched primarily from disciplinary approaches incorporating clinical perspectives, medical education and public health, amongst others. Our research area (RA) combines these approaches with a number of business disciplines such as information technology, economics, marketing and management with a view to providing additional input and suggestions of different ways to approach the challenges of health services management.
Our research aims to provide a cross-disciplinary perspective that will seek to explore problems and challenges that the health industry faces and develop interventions for improving health service delivery at an individual, group and organisational level.
Our research will contribute to both scholarly knowledge and health industry practice in a number of ways. Scholarly knowledge pertaining to health service delivery will be enhanced through a cross-disciplinary research approach through the input of researchers from diverse academic backgrounds. By researching various facets of health service delivery, researchers within the RA are also contributing directly to national research priority areas. From a practice perspective, the RA is able to provide information and advice to industry partners through roles on boards and committees, by communicating results of research, through assisting industry partners with developing capacity to recognise and research their own organisational problems, and through the development of organisationally-specific interventions aimed at enhancing health service delivery.
| Name | Title/Position | School / Employer | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maree Bernoth | Associate Professor | School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences | Wagga Wagga |
| Oliver Burmeister | Professor | School of Computing and Mathematics | Bathurst |
| Arnela Ceric | Senior Lecturer | School of Business | Bathurst |
| Rylee Dionigi | Professor | School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Science | Port Macquarie |
| Greg Dresser | Head of Research and Development | LiveBetter Community Services | Outside Charles Sturt |
| Kenneth Eustace | Adjunct Senior Lecturer | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Wagga Wagga |
| Rachael Fox | Senior Lecturer | School of Psychology | Wagga Wagga |
| Jenni Greig | Research Officer | Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences | Bathurst |
| Nur Mohammad Hassan | Lecturer | School of Dentistry and Health Sciences | Wagga Wagga |
| Catherine Hawke | Associate Professor | School of Rural Health, University of Sydney | Outside Charles Sturt |
| Gene Hodgins | Associate Professor | School of Psychology | Wagga Wagga |
| Md Zahid Islam | Professor | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Bathurst |
| Mir Rabiul Islam | Lecturer | School of Psychology | Bathurst |
| Rashid Khokhar | Adjunct Lecturer | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Wagga Wagga |
| Jodie Kleinschafer | Lecturer | School of Business | Bathurst |
| Alice Munro | Research Manager | Western NSW Local Health District | Outside Charles Sturt |
| Brona Nic Giolla Easpaig | Research Fellow | Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, Australian Institute of Health Innovation | Outside Charles Sturt |
| Manoranjan Paul | Professor | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Bathurst |
| Adam Poulsen | Student | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Bathurst |
| Azizur Rahman | Associate Professor | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Wagga Wagga |
| Sabih Rehman | Senior Lecturer | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Port Macquarie |
| Russell Roberts | Professor | School of Business | Bathurst |
| Rachel Rossiter | Associate Professor | School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences | Orange |
| Felicity Small | Senior Lecturer | School of Business | Bathurst |
| Eevon Stott | Research and Development | LiveBetter Community Services | Outside Charles Sturt |
| Matthew Thomas | Clinical Psychologist, Mental Health Clinician | Marathon Health | Outside Charles Sturt |
| David Tien | Senior Lecturer | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Bathurst |
| Georgia Tziros | Student and Family Reunification Practitioner | Child Protection Department of Health and Human Services | Melbourne |
| Anwaar Ulhaq | Senior Lecturer | School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering | Port Macquarie |
| Shaoyu (Shaun) Wang | Lecturer in Anatomy and Physiology | School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences | Orange |
Only a selection of current and past projects are listed here, indicative of the type of external engagements HSR members participate in.
| Project Name | Brief Description | Funding Body | Investigators |
|---|---|---|---|
Leadership dynamics in implementation of statewide health improvement priorities | The Older People’s Mental Health (OPMH) Physical Health Care Practice Improvement Project aims to promote improvements in the physical health assessment and care of OPMH service consumers. The project will include OPMH community and inpatient services across NSW. The Charles Sturt team will be supporting and upskilling NSW Health staff as they conduct specific projects in different LHDs. An action research project will be simultaneously conducted by the Charles Sturt team to evaluate, and bring together learnings from the overarching project. | NSW Health, Mental Health Branch, $10,000 | R. Roberts, O. Burmeister and J. Greig |
An Evaluation of the Spark a Connection Art and Dementia Program | This project aims to evaluate an art and dementia program in which persons with dementia and their carers take part in gallery tours and art workshops designed to ignite a link between creativity and memory, as well as promote storytelling and stimulate conversation and memory recall. The purpose of this project is to evaluate that program's delivery model, investigating its effectiveness at supporting social engagement, creative opportunities, respite, and education. | Orange City Council | A. Poulsen and O. Burmeister |
The Provision of a Predictive Risk Stratification Tool for the Chronic/Complex Healthcare: Engaging Stakeholders and Services (CHESS) Initiative | Automated and intelligent Decision Support System powered by in house data mining algorithms to analyse and predict patient readmission patterns | Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD), NSW Health $52,677 | Z. Islam and M. Morrison |
Equally Well. | $154,160 National Mental Health Commission 2017-2019 | R. Roberts (lead), M. Mehmet, O. Burmeister, C. Maylea, N. Tahmid, and F. Small. | |
The meaning of sport in lives of older people across the physical activity spectrum: Towards policy implications | This project examines how older people experience and/or relate to (or not) physical activity, leisure and/or sport. It involves interviews with older people (who do and do not play sport) about their health and ageing. It aims to develop recommendations for policy on the benefits (or otherwise) of promoting sport and physical activity to older people. | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant $199,000 >2018 | S. Horton, R. Dionigi, J. Baker, P. Weir and M. Gard |
| Project Name | Brief Description | Funding Body | Investigators |
|---|---|---|---|
Digital health solutions to monitor and diagnose Alzheimer’s and dementia, supporting patients, carer-givers and clinicians to improve patient outcomes, implement interventions and delay institutionalisation | $890,000 | Grey Innovation (lead) and O. Burmeister (Charles Sturt). | |
Social and community links - a driver of healthy and active ageing. | The primary purpose is to evaluate the impact of dedicated personnel, "Linkers", on increasing social and community links between older people and community service organisations on general health. | Department of Social Services (2015-2017) | O. Burmeister (Lead CI), M. Morrison, Z. Islam, M. Bernoth, R. Dionigi, and R. Akhter |
Mapping the Funding and Communication Practices of Aged Care Services in a Regional Australian Community | This project aimed to examine the funding sources and communication links between aged and community care services within a regional centre in Central West NSW. | R. Shaw, J.Greig, Z. Bone and M. Morrison | |
Building Communities of Practice Around the Prevention of Functional Decline in the Community | This research seeks to investigate whether improved training and use of technology by clinicians (support workers) and training of volunteers improves human resource management outcomes among employees and volunteer carers who are involved in reducing the rate of functional decline among seniors. This research involves the use of experiments and pre-post surveys of subjects. | Care West | M. Morrison, O. Burmeister, Z. Islam, R. Bhanugopan and M. Bernoth |
| Topic | Student | Supervisor |
|---|---|---|
Bringing the Oldest-Old into the Digital Age: Overcoming Challenges of Mobility, Literacy and Learning | Gillian Harvie | Principal Supervisor: O Burmeister Co-Supervisor: K Eustace |
The Investigation of a New Care Robot Design Approach for Alleviating LGBT Elderly Loneliness | Adam Poulsen | Principal Supervisor: O Burmeister Co-Supervisors: D Tien A Ul-Haq |
An exploration of Greek Migrant Experiences and Later Life Emotional Well-being | Georgia Tziros | Principal Supervisor: M Bernoth Co-Supervisor: O Burmeister |
For complete list of publications and presentations of team members, please see individual profiles of the team members.
| Publications | Impact |
|---|---|
Fletcher, S. and Islam, M. Z. (2017): Differentially Private Random Decision Forests using Smooth Sensitivity, Expert Systems with Applications (ESWA), Vol. 78, pg. 16-31, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2017.01.034 | ISI Web of Knowledge Rank Q1. |
Islam, M. Z., D'Alessandro, S., Furner, M., Johnson, L., Gray, D. and Carter, L. (2016): Brand Switching Pattern Discovery by Data Mining Techniques for the Telecommunication Industry in Australia, Australasian Journal of Information Systems, pg. 1 - 17, Vol. 20, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v20i0.1420 | ABDC 2016 Rank A |
Beg, A. H., Islam, M. Z., and Estivill-Castro. V. (2016): Genetic Algorithm with Healthy Population and Multiple Streams Sharing Information for Clustering, Knowledge-Based Systems, Vol. 114, pp. 61-78, ISSN 0219-1377, Springer London. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.knosys.2016.09.030 Available athttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950705116303720 | ABDC 2016 Rank A, ISI Web of Knowledge Rank Q1. |
Rahman, M. G., and Islam, M. Z. (2016): Discretization of Continuous Attributes Through Low Frequency Numerical Values and Attribute Interdependency, Expert Systems with Applications (ESWA), Vol. 45, pp. 410-423, DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2015.10.005, 1 March, 2016. | ISI Web of Knowledge Rank Q1. |
Sayers, J.M., Cleary, M., Hunt, G., and Burmeister, O.K. (2017) Service and infrastructure needs to support recovery programs for Indigenous community mental health consumers, International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 26(2), 142–150, DOI: 10.1111/inm.12287. | SCImago Q1 |
Bennett, E., Berry, K., Emeto, T. I., Burmeister, O. K., Young, J., and Shields, L. (2017) Attitudes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents seeking health care for their children in two early parenting services in Australia, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(7-8), 1021–1030. DOI:10.1111/jocn.13595. | SCImago Q1 |
Burmeister, O.K. (2016) The development of assistive dementia technology that accounts for the values of those affected by its use, Ethics and Information Technology, 18(3), 185-198, DOI: 10.1007/s10676-016-9404-2. | SCImago Q2 |
Teipel, S., Babiloni, C., Hoey, J., Kaye, J., Kirste, T. and Burmeister, O.K. (2016) Information and communication technology solutions for outdoor navigation in dementia, Alzheimer's & Dementia, 12(6), 695-707. DOI: 10.1016/j.jalz.2015.11.003. | ISI Web of Knowledge Rank Q1. |
Bernoth, M., Burmeister, O.K., Morrison, M., Islam, M.Z., Onslow, F., and Cleary, M. (2016) The impact of a participatory care model on work satisfaction of care workers and the functionality, connectedness and mental health of community-dwelling older people, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 37(6), 429-435, DOI: 10.3109/01612840.2016.1149260. | SCImago Q2 |
Al-Yateem, N., Rossiter, R. C., Robb, W. F., & Slewa-Younan, S. (2018). Mental health literacy of school nurses in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 12(1), 6. doi: 10.1186/s13033-018-0184-4 | SCImago Q1 |
Everson, N., Levett-Jones, T., Pitt, V., Lapkin, S., Van Der Riet, P., Rossiter, R., . . . Courtney Pratt, H. (2018). Analysis of the Empathic Concern Subscale of the Emotional Response Questionnaire in a Study Evaluating the Impact of a 3D Cultural Simulation. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 15(1). doi: 10.1515/ijnes-2017-0003 | SCImago Q2 |
Rossiter, R. C., Clarke, D. K., & Shields, L. (2018). Supporting Young People’s Emotional Wellbeing During The Transition To Secondary School In Regional Australia. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 28(1), 73 - 85. | |
Sayers, J.M., Cleary, M., Hunt, G., and Burmeister, O.K. (2017) Service and infrastructure needs to support recovery programs for Indigenous community mental health consumers, International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 26(2), 142–150, DOI: 10.1111/inm.12287. | SCImago Q1 |
Bennett, E., Berry, K., Emeto, T. I., Burmeister, O. K., Young, J., and Shields, L. (2017) Attitudes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents seeking health care for their children in two early parenting services in Australia, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(7-8), 1021–1030. DOI:10.1111/jocn.13595. | SCImago Q1 |
Poulsen, A. and Burmeister, O.K. (2018) Overcoming carer shortages with carebots: Dynamic value trade-offs in run-time, Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 22. | ABDC 2016 Rank A |
Islam, M.R., Miah, S.J., Kamal, A.R.M. and Burmeister, O. (2018) A Design Construct Developing Approaches to Measure Mental Health Conditions, Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 22. | ABDC 2016 Rank A |
Burmeister, O.K., Ritchie, D., Devitt, A., Chia, E., Dresser, G., and Roberts, R. (2018) The impact of telehealth technology on user perception of wellbeing and social functioning, and the implications for service providers, Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 22. | ABDC 2016 Rank A |
Burmeister, O.K. and Kreps, D. (2018) Power influences upon technology design for age-related cognitive decline using the VSD framework, Ethics and Information Technology. DOI: 10.1007/s10676-018-9460-x. | SCImago Q1. |
Redshaw, S., Ingham, V., McCutcheon, M., Hicks, J., and Burmeister, O.K. (2018) Assessing the impact of vulnerability on perceptions of social cohesion in the context of community resilience to disaster in the Blue Mountains, Australian Journal of Rural Health, 26(1), 14-19. | SCImago Q2. |
Burmeister, O.K., Bernoth, M., Dietsch, E., and Cleary, M. (2016) Enhancing connectedness through peer training for community dwelling older people: A person centred approach, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 37(6), 406-411, DOI: 10.3109/01612840.2016.1142623. | SCImago Q2. |
Burmeister, O.K., and Marks, E., (2016) Rural and remote communities, technology and mental health recovery, Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society. 14(2), 170-181. DOI: 10.1108/JICES-10-2015-0033. | SCImago Q2. |