Our approach
Chronic disease is a major health burden for Australians and is greater for rural and remote Australians than their metropolitan counterparts. As the burden of chronic disease continues to grow, improving their prevention and management is a DRH priority. We develop and evaluate new models of health service delivery for the prevention and management of chronic diseases, with a focus on diabetes, multimorbidity, cardiovascular disease, mental health and dementia.
A selection of our key projects is listed below.
Mothers and gestational diabetes in Australia
MaGDA-2 – Risk prediction and follow-up for prevention of pregnancy complications and type 2 diabetes
Lifestyle intervention prevents gestational weight gain, reduces gestational diabetes (GDM) by 40 percent, reduces pregnancy complications, and reduces type 2 diabetes (T2DM) by up to 58 percent. To optimise resource use, those at highest risk must be identified and targeted. Here we build on prior work and collaboration to develop a risk prediction model for GDM, pregnancy complications, and T2DM. This will underpin a world first population surveillance strategy for targeted prevention interventions.
Period: 2020–2024
Funding type: NHMRC Partnership Projects
DRH team members: Associate Professor Vincent Versace, Professor James Dunbar, Associate Professor Kevin McNamara
Country heart attack prevention project
A four-step model of care and clinical pathway for the translation of cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention guidelines into practice for rural and remote patients
Australians living in rural and remote areas experience more CVD risk factors, higher rates of CVD-related hospitalisation and are more likely to die of CVD than those in metropolitan areas. By implementing Country Heart Attack Prevention (CHAP), an evidence based cardiac rehabilitation program, we will provide consumers living in rural and remote areas access to co-created, high quality specialist care that is patient centred and cost effective for both the consumer and the system.
Period: 2020–2024
Funding type: NHMRC Partnership Projects
DRH team members: Associate Professor Vincent Versace
Implementation action to prevent diabetes from Bump 2 Baby (IMPACT DIABETES B2B)
A low-resource system of care intervention for appropriate gestational weight gain and improved postnatal outcomes
The overarching objective of the IMPACT DIABETES B2B (IDB2B) intervention is to contribute to the early prevention of maternal and child diabetes, overweight and obesity. This will be achieved through implementation research on a novel, evidence-based, effective, low-resource intervention that will be delivered ‘at scale’ across antenatal settings in three European countries and Australia.
Period: 2020–2024
Funding type: 2019 European Commission Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (H2020)
DRH team members: Associate Professor Vincent Versace
Holistic approach in primary care for preventing memory impairment and dementia
Dementia is the second leading cause of burden for older Australians, and the second leading cause of death for all Australians. There is increasing evidence that issues such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic and psychiatric factors, diet, lifestyle, medications and education all contribute to the likelihood of someone developing dementia. In this study a general practice-based dementia risk assessment and an individualised health promotion programme comprising self-management training, practical behaviour change techniques and GP-coordinated interdisciplinary management of risk factors will be compared against usual care. It will be carried out in 40 general practice clinics across NSW and Victoria targeting 45–65 year olds at risk of developing cognitive impairment. Change in risk factors for dementia at 3 years is the main outcome.
Period: 2019–2024
Funding type: NHMRC Boosting Dementia Research Grants
DRH team members: Associate Professor Kevin Mc Namara, Associate Professor Vincent Versace, Dr Andrea Hernan
Establishing and implementing pre-diabetes screening and prevention program in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the highest rates of T2DM in the world – 17.3% in 2017 – and these rates are rising quicker than neighbouring countries. This is alarming when recent UAE data is considered showing the majority of UAE patients with T2DM are undiagnosed. This project aims to evaluate the impact of a novel diabetes screening and prevention program to 1) identify people with undiagnosed prediabetes or T2DM; 2) refer individuals at high risk of developing diabetes for further diagnostic testing; 3) support individuals with prediabetes to reduce their T2DM risk through a unique lifestyle intervention program. This is part of an ongoing program of collaborative prevention research involving Deakin Rural Health, University of Sharjah and other collaborators, supporting greater insights into the effect of local health systems and contexts by exploring health issues in a variety of settings.
Period: 2020–2021
Funding: University of Sharjah
DRH team members: Associate Professor Kevin Mc Namara, Associate Professor Vincent Versace
Engaging and supporting women with previous gestational diabetes to screen for and prevent type 2 diabetes
To explore new models and messaging to effectively engage women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in follow-up screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Period: 2019–2022
Funding type: Australian Government Department of Health
DRH team members: Associate Professor Vincent Versace and Professor James Dunbar
Meeting national targets and indicators to reduce mortality from chronic illness in general practice
This is a longitudinal study in general practice of changes to practice performance in the area of cardiovascular disease risk screening before, during and after the implementation of a patient-centred quality improvement initiative. While monitoring the performance, we're undertaking qualitative evaluation to understand the processes and intervention components that promote patient-centeredness and sustainability of performance.
Unique features of this intervention will be its co-design approach to intervention, a focus on sustainable health service interventions, and in-depth service mapping at baseline to explore current screening processes.
Period: 2017–2022
Funding type: Internally funded by Deakin University and Kardinia Health
DRH team members: Ms Mary Malakellis, Associate Professor Kevin Mc Namara, Associate Professor Vincent Versace, Dr Andrea Hernan, Ms Meg Murray
Let’s have a yarn about chronic disease
A collaborative multi-disciplinary participatory action research approach to addressing Aboriginal health issues most prevalent in south-west Victoria
This project aimed to develop community-driven strategies to improve the management of chronic disease in Gunditjmara country and, subsequently, improve health outcomes. The project built upon a partnership between Dhauwurd Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service (DWECHS) and Deakin Rural Health for the purpose of establishing community-driven methods to increase the uptake of structured care planning and chronic condition management for Aboriginal people in south-west Victoria (Gunditjmara country). Building local research and clinical capacity were central objectives of this project.
Period: 2018–2019
Funding type: Western Alliance
DRH team members: Mrs Hannah Beks, Associate Professor Vincent Versace
Pharmacy diabetes screening trial
This cluster randomised controlled trial involved over 300 pharmacies and 14,000 participants, and compared the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of three screening models for type 2 diabetes in community pharmacies. Funded under the Commonwealth-funded Pharmacy Trial Program (PTP), part of the multi-billion dollar Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement that sets out funding for the community pharmacy sector, it is one of the largest trials run globally in the community pharmacy setting. It has immediate potential for translation to practice and policy, as the PTP is expressly designed to generate the evidence needed for future decisions around government funding of an ongoing screening programs.
Period: 2016–2018
Funding type: Commonwealth Department of Health
DRH team members: Associate Professor Kevin Mc Namara, Associate Professor Vincent Versace, Ms Peta Trinder
Mothers after gestational diabetes in Australia
MaGDA-1 – Preventing diabetes in pregnancy from progressing to type 2 diabetes: macrolevel system change in South Australia and Victoria
This unique study involved stakeholders working together to build an improved policy for prevention of diabetes in this high-risk group of women. The project comprised four studies:
- Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) screening, recall register and recall system – the world’s first GDM register
- Randomised controlled trial of post-natal Diabetes Prevention Program for women with a history of GDM
- Economic assessments of screening, GDM registers and recall system, and MAGDA DPP
- Moving from research and policy to operational health services.
From the outset, the goal was to influence both policy and practice through the sharing of evidence, learnings and experience across academia, government and health services providers.
Period: 2011–2015
Funding type: NHMRC
DRH team members: Associate Professor Vincent Versace, Professor James Dunbar
Contact us
For more information about this research, please contact theme lead Associate Professor Kevin Mc Namara.
Kevin Mc Namara
Deputy Director, Research
Faculty of Health
Email A/Prof Mc Namara