Sonder was proud to host its inaugural research symposium on Friday 21 October 2022 at the Healthy Living Precinct, Welland
Led by Sonder’s Innovation & Excellence team, this event brought together researchers in the field of primary and mental health care to showcase research and evaluation that has or will translate into better care and better health.
Inspired by responsive solutions to community needs, the symposium was centred around the theme ‘Improving Health Care and Clinical Practice and the Systems that Support Good Care.’
Whilst appropriate care, good infrastructure and sufficient funding are crucial, these elements alone do not always lead to the provision of best quality health care.
Research and program evaluation in the primary health care sector is necessary to ensure care is of the highest quality and provides a means of monitoring cost efficiency and social impact.
Professor Nicholas Procter
Research Symposium summary
A selection of thought-leaders presented at the symposium, representing a range of disciplines, research institutions and organisations, providing the perfect opportunity to forge collaborations with researchers who share a passion for improving the health outcomes of our communities.
Sarah Fraser, Executive Manager, Innovation and Excellence at Sonder opened the symposium and invited Sageran Naidoo, CEO of Sonder to discuss the important role of community services organisations in research and evaluation for better health outcomes.
A highlight of this symposium was keynote speaker, Professor Nicholas Procter, Chair of the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research and Education Group from Clinical and Health Sciences at the University of South Australia.
Researchers and experts highlighted key findings and facilitated thought-provoking discussions on the importance of research and evaluation in improving health care and clinical practices. Presentations focused on mental health and wellbeing, Aboriginal research methodology, evidence translation and appropriateness of PREMs (Patient-Reported Experience Measures) for culturally and linguistically diverse populations as well as health promotion in rural settings.
List of speakers and topics
Professor Nicholas Procter, Chair: Mental Health Nursing and Director of the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research and Education Group, UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences
- Trauma-informed mental health and suicide prevention.
Prof. Reg Nixon, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University and Co-Deputy Director of the Flinders Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Flinders University
- Optimising the delivery of trauma therapy for children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Fiona Glover, Senior Clinical Supervisor and Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University and Dr Courtney Ryder, ECR injury epidemiologist, Aboriginal academic and Discipline Lead for Injury Studies, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University
- Healing Minds social and emotional wellbeing program evaluation.
Wendy Keech, CEO, Health Translation SA
- The role of research translation centres in bringing together primary care research projects and health services.
Dr Sadia Hossain, Public Health Teaching Specialist Lecturer and Research Fellow, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University and Dr Courtney Ryder, ECR injury epidemiologist, Aboriginal academic and Discipline Lead for Injury Studies, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University
- Adelaide PHN: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s Needs Assessment. Findings from data and contextualising with yarning sessions.
A/Professor K. Oliver Schubert, Head of Unit, Continuing Care and Youth, Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN) Mental Health, headspace Adelaide Early Psychosis Clinical Director, Sonder, Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide
- The Northern Adelaide Multiagency Integrated Youth Mental Health Service and the YSEP-D study.
Samantha Lai, PhD Candidate & Academic Tutor, Adelaide Business School
- Relational coordination: A solution for the grand challenge of youth mental health.
Apoorva Kulkarni, Public Health Project Officer, SA Health
- Reliability and appropriateness of the Sonder Client Experience Survey for use among culturally and linguistically diverse consumers.
Anna Mazzacano, Evaluation and Policy Officer, Sonder
- Effectiveness of a lifestyle modification program delivered under real-world conditions in a rural setting.
Event feedback
Overall, most attendees provided positive feedback in the post-event survey. Most respondents indicated that they were ‘Very Satisfied’ or ‘Satisfied’ with the event and 86% rated the event either ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very good’. Approximately 90% of the respondents would like to attend or take part in a similar event in future as well as recommend it to their colleagues.
Sonder would like to sincerely thank all presenters and attendees for taking part in this symposium, the first of many to come.
Research at Sonder
Sonder aims to build and maintain a culture of innovation and critical thinking.
We are dedicated to implementing evidence-based practices as a part of our service delivery and undertaking high-quality research and evaluation activities. Such a culture is underpinned by Sonder’s strategic objectives and consumer needs.
To get involved in research opportunities at Sonder, email info@sonder.net.au or contact our friendly team on (08) 8209 0700.