HDR Scholarship - Endometriosis Psychological Support

Location

Melbourne Burwood Campus

Research topic

Impacting 1 in 10 women, endometriosis is under-recognised. Usual care, comprised of hormone and pain medications, has limited efficacy, is associated with considerable side effects, and discontinued by 40% of patients. Surgery often fails to prevent recurrence of disease. Comprehensive management of chronic pain is urgently needed to address the poor Quality of life of 830,000 Australians with endometriosis. However, Australians living with endometriosis do not routinely receive supportive care.

CoDeEndo (Co-Designing, Evaluating, and Implementing Supportive Care for Endometriosis) is a modular telehealth-based supportive care program for endometriosis co-designed with consumers. CoDeEndo is currently being evaluated and implemented into practice via a randomised controlled trial. Accelerated by our proposed program, people with endometriosis will have routine access to high-quality support services as part of their usual care, positively transforming their health outcomes.

Project aim

The present doctoral project will contribute to introducing integrated care for people with endometriosis. As part of CoDeEndo, several psychological and mind-body programs are developed and evaluated using a variety of measures such as quality of life, pain and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The student will need to propose a research question relevant to the main study, for example by pilot-testing one of the contributing interventions; exploring the participant experience throughout the trial using qualitative methodology; or designing an implementation study.

Important dates

Applications close 5pm, Friday 1 November 2024

Benefits

This scholarship is available over 3 years.

Stipend of $34,400 per annum tax exempt (2024 rate)
Relocation allowance of $500-1500 (for single to family) for students moving from interstate
International students only: Tuition fees offset for the duration of 4 years. Single Overseas Student Health Cover policy for the duration of the student visa.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible you must:

be a domestic or international candidate. Domestic includes candidates with Australian Citizenship, Australian Permanent Residency or New Zealand Citizenship.
meet Deakin's PhD entry requirements
be enrolling full time and hold an honours degree (first class) or an equivalent standard master's degree with a substantial research component.

Please refer to the research degree entry pathways page for further information.

How to apply

Please email a CV and cover letter to Prof Antonina Mikocka-Walus. The CV should highlight your skills, education, publications and relevant work experience. If you are successful you will then be invited to submit a formal application.