Spotlight on 2023 EMCR Awardees

There were 28 recipients in 2023 WHRTN EMCR Funded Awards. Here we spotlight the following three awardees and their projects, A/Prof Carolyn Ee, Dr Levita D/Souza and Dr Sarah Lang.

A/Professor Carolyn Ee

Maridulu Budyari Gumal (SPHERE)
Principal Research Fellow at NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Supportive Care and& Integrative Oncology Specialist GP at Chris O’ Brien LIfehouse Cancer Centre

Working with 9 years of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, following women diagnosed with breast cancer over time to understand what predisposes some women to gain more weight than others.

 “This project positions me as a research leader in weight management after breast cancer therefore increasing my influence and impact to make a difference in the lives of women with breast cancer.” 

Research Summary

Two thirds of women diagnosed with breast cancer gain weight after treatment (at an average of 9kg). This causes distress and puts women at higher chance of developing other problems such as diabetes and heart disease, and may mean a higher chance of return of cancer. It is imperative that healthcare professionals understand the reasons why this happens, and what puts women diagnosed with breast cancer at risk of weight gain, so that we can provide the assistance needed to help women diagnosed with breast cancer avoid or reduce this weight gain.

I will look at 9 years of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, following women diagnosed with breast cancer over time to understand what predisposes some women to gain more weight than others. I will examine factors such as lifestyle, where women live, and medications that have been prescribed, to understand if these are linked to a higher chance of weight gain. I will use this information to design an intervention to assist women to prevent or limit weight gain after breast cancer treatment. 

Dr Levita D’Souza

Affiliated with Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre, Dr D’Souza is a registered Counselling Psychologist and Lecturer within the Faculty of Education at Monash University.

A father’s transition to fatherhood, father’s engagement in night-time infant care, and factors influencing parenting choices in relation to night-time infant care and uptake of safe sleep messages.

“The insights gained from this pilot project will be translated to co-create and evaluate a resource adapting current safe-sleep clinical guidelines to include culturally sensitive and inclusive recommendations to enhance infant safety in shared sleep environments.”

Research summary

Current Victorian safe infant sleep guidelines align with that of the American Association of Paediatrics (AAP). Room-sharing is recommended for the first 6 months and bed-sharing is discouraged. However, research is showing consistent bed-sharing rates in Australian families despite these recommendations. Previous research also shows that women frequently experience stigma and criticism from health professionals and family members when bed-sharing with their infant. This leads to withholding information or disengagement from health services providers. Engagement with health service providers in the perinatal period is vital for the provision of services including early screening and detection of perinatal anxiety and depression in order to offer timely assistance and support for maternal mental health. Further, engagement with service providers during the perinatal period can help mitigate risks associated with unsafe surface-sharing practices such as use of soft bedding in the adult bed, or sharing a surface not designed for sleep such as feeding chairs. Within this context, it is therefore imperative to understand how women who share sleep with their infant are engaging with and implementing safe-sleep education and its impact on mental health in the perinatal period. This new knowledge will help perinatal health service providers tailor current infant safe-sleep education to make it culturally sensitive and inclusive. 

Dr Sarah Lang

Affiliated with Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre
Early career researcher and an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

Optimising nutrition and healthy eating behaviours amongst children, adolescents and women, focusing on promoting healthy eating behaviours during and following pregnancy. The research focuses on reducing the risk of long-term chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

“This grant will allow me to consolidate my project management experience for application to future larger grants and will help build research collaborations. I am grateful for the opportunity and am looking forward to the experiences and skills this grant will provide.“

Research summary

Co-parenting refers to how parents and parental figures relate to each other as parents. Family Foundations program is a 10-session co-parenting program that aims to strengthen communication and the relationship between parents during the transition to parenthood. This program was developed in the United States. While Family Foundations does not focus on lifestyle change, women in the United States had improved weight after completing the program. This may be because women have more time to look after their health when communicating effectively and sharing household responsibilities with their partner and family. There is an opportunity to explore whether advice on eating healthy and staying active can be included in co-parenting programs, such as Family Foundations, to maximise the benefits for women. There is the potential to investigate whether an adapted co-program with lifestyle advice could be implemented in an Australian setting. As such, this study explores; 1) the acceptability of adapting Family Foundations or co-parenting programs to include lifestyle advice, and 2) considerations for implementing an adapted co-parenting program in an Australian setting. Interviews will be conducted with Australian women, their families, healthcare professionals and health services to explore how the program can be tailored to promote a healthy family lifestyle and maximise the benefits for women.