Research Supervisor Connect
Our group are offering PhD and Masters student opportunities within a broader research programme that will investigate the health outcomes, health service use and true cost of obesity and what can be done about it. Our real-world research focuses on (1) the multi-dimensional cost of obesity to the individual, community and to health services and; (2) the aims, functions, enablers and holistic outcomes for individual and health services of a tertiary obesity service across the lifespan.
We will apply a mixed-methods approach, with a focus on both implementation and effectiveness measures, guided by established frameworks. Activities will include use of big data, a detailed study of an established public lifespan tertiary obesity service, The Nepean Blue Mountains Family Metabolic Health Service (FMHS) and/or an exploration of solutions, with a focus on virtual and integrated care.
Camperdown - Charles Perkins Centre
Obesity is prevalent in Australia, however access to evidence-based multidisciplinary services for its management is extremely low. The need to invest in health services for timely management of obesity to prevent multi-morbidity, improve health outcomes and reduce excess use of acute care services, and the cost of obesity to the individual, community and health system, are not yet appreciated by health service planners and governments. Reasons for this include the inadequate profiling of the characteristics and needs of individuals who are seeking treatment for obesity and the limited body of evidence linking obesity interventions to factors other than weight-based and clinical outcomes.
The Nepean Blue Mountains Family Metabolic Health Service (FMHS) in New South Wales (NSW), is a public, specialist obesity service in Greater Western Sydney established in 2017. It is based in the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, an area with a prevalence of obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) of 28.5% in 2020. It has four streams: i) paediatrics, ii) adolescents and young adults, iii) non-pregnant adults, and iv) pregnancy and postnatal. The service provides multidisciplinary care and offers blended face-to-face and telehealth appointments. The entry criteria into the FMHS are highly restrictive due to the high demand for services and limited capacity of the unit and there is an over one-year waiting time to receive care for the majority. Over the last five years, the FMHS has seen over 700 patients, however, there has been limited evaluation of patient and obesity services characteristics, acceptability and outcomes.
Big Data analysis will help to understand the health outcomes and health service use of people with obesity in NSW across the lifespan, including in pregnancy, and whether these can be altered by attending a public obesity service and/or having metabolic and obesity surgery. It will also help us to understand the status of reporting (and thus recognition) of obesity in NSW in routine data sets and how this has changed over time and varies by region, age group and setting, and to understand the implications of this.
A detailed study of the FMHS, Australia’s first public tertiary lifespan service, will enable us to better understand who is attending public obesity services, what happens while waiting to attend these services and what impacts can the services have on individuals in relation to health outcomes and health service use (including acute admissions and ED presentations). We will also seek to understand the broader outcomes of an obesity service, including on patient activation/health literacy, connectedness to community clinicians, social connectedness, internal stigma, quality of life and food insecurity, in addition to standard clinical measures. Further, we will study what makes up the FMHS program and better understand the implications of these approaches for patients, clinicians and the service as a whole and the barriers and enablers to care.
Finally, as part of the overall project, we will perform a limited exploration of solutions for obesity, including in primary care, pre-natal clinics and while patients are on the waitlist for adult services.
Opportunities exist to examine obesity across the lifespan or within sub-streams of the FMHS, which includes clinics for children, adolescents and young adults, adults and women in the perinatal period. The FMHS is a flagship of the Charles Perkins Centre and research activity occurs through the Lifespan obesity node and the Boden Initiative (Charles Perkins Centre).
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 3134