Overview
Karitane has a longstanding research relationship with the UNSW Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health. This partnership aims to develop a perinatal infant and child mental health research program at Karitane, provide leadership in developing perinatal infant and child mental health services within Karitane, and contribute to UNSW undergraduate training, postgraduate training and Higher Degree Research student supervision.
Research Team
The team has experienced significant successes this past year, including 10 publications in peer-reviewed journals and seven national or international conference presentations. Team members have partnered with other researchers on numerous funded projects, valued at $2.56 million in new partnered research funding. Across the year, we were part of ongoing projects with a total of $6.50 million in funding
In 2023–24, the Karitane research group comprised:
- Associate Professor Jane Kohlhoff (group leader)
- Sophia Harris (Research Officer)
- Jess Brandt (Research Assistant)
- PhD students: Vivian Chau, Praveena Rajaswaran, Angelique Roth, Sa Ma and Helen Gu
- undergraduate research students: Amir Nadeem, Jack Vorgias, Jerrica Kuan, Kevin Li and Yanqiu Zhang
- research volunteers: Holly Dragvik and Niloufar Imanirad.
Toddler Research
The toddler years can be an exciting-but-challenging time for many families, and toddler development and interventions have been strong research focuses for Karitane. In 2023–24, this has included five major projects:
- Follow-up assessments with the 90 families who participated in a Randomised Controlled Trial to test outcomes of PCIT-T and Circle of Security – Parenting
- Pilot trials of the My Toddler and Me PCIT-T group programs at the Karitane Carramar and Wolli Creek Hubs,
- A new Randomised Controlled Trial of the My Toddler and Me PCIT-T program at the Carramar and Wolli Creek Hubs, Village Family Connect, and Randwick Parenting Centre
- A mixed-method study to evaluate a new education series for parents of toddlers called the My Toddler and Me video series
- An evaluation of a brief three-session PCIT-T group delivered as part of the Karitane Residential Unit program.
Results from these studies were presented at the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Conference at the Gold Coast in March 2024, and at the Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference and the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies Conference in June 2024.
Karitane Families Study
The Karitane Families Study was completed at the Carramar Residential Unit this year. We used study results to inform the development of a new suite of parent-reported outcomes tools that we implemented at the Karitane Residential Unit in 2024 (including the Karitane Family Outcomes Tool (KFOT)). The study explored client satisfaction and tested outcomes of the in-person and virtual residential unit programs.
Results showed high levels of consumer satisfaction and significant gains for families who accessed both programs in domains that include infant sleep, parenting self-efficacy, and parenting empathy/emotion. Results from this study were published in Journal of Clinical Nursing in November 2023 and BMJ Open in February 2024.
Evaluation results were published in Community Mental Health Journal in November 2023, and were also presented at the Australasian Marcé Society Conference in Adelaide in September 2023, and the Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference in Melbourne in June 2024.
ForWhen Evaluation
Throughout 2022–23 the UNSW–Karitane research team continued to work on evaluating the ForWhen program: the federally funded perinatal mental health navigation program led by Karitane and delivered by a consortium of the AAPCH, the Parenting Research Centre, UNSW and a range of delivery partners. This evaluation will play an important role in assessing ForWhen’s clinical and implementation outcomes and economic return on investment, and informing ongoing service development and delivery.
Research Partnerships
Karitane has continued to be a partner on several major research initiatives throughout 2023–24, including the Early Life Determinants of Health clinical academic group within
the Sydney Partnership for Health Education. We are also delighted to be an active partner on the National Medical Health and Research Council (NHMRC) STARS-CRE, and on several translational research grants, including:
- An NSW Health Translational Research Grant Scheme grant
- An NHMRC Partnership Project (2019–23)
- An Australian Research Council funded partnership project entitled ‘Integrated Kids Hubs – Ensuring Equity of Access for Children’, in partnership with UNSW, Mission Australia FSC Inc., Mission Australia, and Australian Research Alliance of Children and Youth.
We have also partnered with several health, community and university-based organisations throughout 2023–24 to conduct specific translational research projects. Partners include:
Training our Child and Family Health Workforce of the Future
Karitane has been collaborating with Western Sydney University to develop 2 key initiatives to address the ageing workforce in child and family health. This includes an undergraduate rotation at Karitane whilst in the second year of nursing and the development of a comprehensive program for new graduates in the speciality of CFH. This is the first time in NSW a new graduate program has been offered in this speciality. During this 12-month rotation, new graduates are supported and mentored by certified CFH nurses to gain skills in supporting vulnerable parents and their children as well as completing 2 units from the WSU Graduate Certificate of Child and Family Health.
