Current Research Studies

The QUality of life Evaluation STudy (QUEST Initiative), conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney, aims to be the world’s largest longitudinal clinical study investigating the quality of life and health economic impact of medicinal cannabis on patients with chronic disease.

Patients accessing medicinal cannabis generally have a range of conditions and symptoms that impact their quality of life. This clinical study sets out to better understand and measure how these conditions and symptoms affect patients’ quality of life over time while they are accessing medicinal cannabis as a treatment option.

The QUEST Initiative has commenced recruitment of eligible patients.

The QUEST Initiative will measure quality of life through a series of online questionnaires. Participants complete questionnaires before starting medicinal cannabis treatment, 2 weeks after starting treatment, then every 1 – 2 months for up to 1 year. Each questionnaire takes about 30 minutes and can be completed from home, or anywhere with internet connection. As part of standard care, patients will need to consult their doctor periodically to discuss their results, receive additional scripts, and to ensure continuity of care.

Understanding some patients may have mobility issues, there are options for patient telehealth consultations with their doctor. Furthermore, medications will be couriered directly to all patients who participate in the study.

To read more about this study: www.thequestinitiative.com

The University of Sydney is currently conducting a research study called ‘TANGO’. The study aims to develop leaflets to help older people with musculoskeletal pain reduce their use of opioid medications. We are looking for participants to provide their feedback on the design and content of the two leaflets.

We are looking for people aged 65+ who currently experience low back pain, or hip or knee osteoarthritis, and have current internet access.

We are also looking for people who provide unpaid (non-professional) care for someone who meets the criteria above. For example, family members, friends, neighbours etc.

For further information about the study please visit the study website: https://ibjr.sydney.edu.au/volunteer/tango/

If you’re interested in participating, or would like more information, please contact: [email protected] 

Researchers from The University of Queensland are looking for people with and without osteoarthritis in the hip, knee, ankle or foot to participate in an online survey, an online interview or both.

Online survey: We would like to invite people with and without osteoarthritis in the hip, knee, ankle or foot to complete an online survey about how their health affects them at work.

Online interview: We would like to talk to individuals with osteoarthritis of the hip, knee, ankle or foot to discuss their experiences working with joint pain. This will take about 30 minutes.

You may be eligible if you are:

• Aged between 18 and 75 years.
• Employed in paid work or self-employed.

If you would like to participate in this project, please visit the following link to assess your eligibility and register your interest:

https://uniofqueensland.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2gz3DvPYiDk2GyN

For more information about this study please email [email protected]

Parenting stress is an important issue to family functioning and wellbeing.

It is especially important to this community where parenting stress is found to impact significantly on symptom severity, disability and quality of life.

Research shows that targeting parenting stress in this population can have wide-ranging benefits. However, the research has some significant gaps and we don’t yet know exactly what works and why. For understanding and treatment of parenting stress, it is essential to first establish effective measures to capture it. The most popular measures currently do not have enough evidence to support them.

By filling out this quick 15-20 minute survey you can help us better understand parenting stress in this community, to improve measurement and treatment.

If you can spare the time it would be greatly appreciated : https://murdochuni.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_exF8fhdFuEKKnkN

You can decide at any time to withdraw your consent to participate in this research.

The Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine – CHESM at UniMelb is seeking volunteers around Victoria and Queensland with knee pain to participate in a new study comparing two different ways of delivering physiotherapy! Eligible volunteers will be provided with 5 free physio consultations, educational resources, exercise programs and an activity tracker!

Apply at www.peakstudy.com.au.

You can email [email protected] for more information.

The Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine – CHESM at UniMelb is seeking volunteers to test the effects of different types of shoes on knee pain symptoms. Volunteers will be provided with a good quality pair of walking shoes to wear for six months, for free! Participants must be 50 or over, have had knee pain on most days of the past month and be able to attend an assessment in Carlton, VIC. Volunteers must not be currently wearing custom orthotics or insoles prescribed by a health professional.

Apply at www.folkstudy.com.au.

You can email [email protected] for more information.

Have you been diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) within the last 3 months?

If so, you may be eligible to participate in a study at Austin Health (Victoria). This study aims to assess the changes that occur, especially to muscle and bone health, in the first ~12 months after diagnosis with PMR.

Participants will have assessments performed including questionnaires, physical examination, blood tests, imaging tests, and tests of physical function in a dedicated exercise laboratory. The total time commitment is around 10 hours, divided into 6 visits over one year.

If you’re interested in participating, or would like more information, please contact:

Dr Jessica Leung, Rheumatologist and PhD candidate

Phone: (03) 9496 4045

Email: [email protected]

The WalkBack trial is a large-scale research study funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and conducted in Sydney Australia.  Researchers at Macquarie University want to determine if an home-based walking program prescribed by a physiotherapist can prevent the recurrence of low back pain.

To be eligible, you must:

–          Be aged 18 or over and live in Sydney

–          Have had an episode of low back pain in the last 6 months

For more information and to register your interest, please contact us through:

website: https://www.walkbacktrial.com/

email: [email protected]

mobile: 0434 833 542

This study is approved by the Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee No. 5201949218164.

Health researchers at the University of Sydney want to determine if an exercise-based intervention by an experienced physiotherapist can reduce non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and increase physical activity levels amongst people with knee osteoarthritis. The therapy will be delivered online using an app called Physitrack, and will include 6 video-conference style sessions over 12 weeks.
You can have a physiotherapist session in the comfort of your own home!

To be eligible, you must:

• Be aged 45 years or older
• Have pain in your knee that is related to activity
• Have no morning stiffness or morning stiffness that lasts LESS than 30 minutes
• Regularly use medication (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to relieve or manage your knee pain (these may include ibuprofen, voltaren, celebrex)
• Have internet access

If you would like more information on this study or to see if you are eligible, please follow this link: https://redcap.sydney.edu.au/surveys/?s=HXKXLY4MLN

Do you have low back pain? Are you 18+ years? Please help researchers at Cabrini to better understand low back pain.

The aim of the project is to investigate how low back pain affects the wellbeing and day-to-day living of people who have the condition. If you choose to take part in this project, please complete the survey by clicking on this link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/backpainquest . Please answer all the questions. We anticipate that this will take up to 20 minutes.

Participation in this research is voluntary. Should you wish to withdraw at any stage, or to withdraw any unprocessed data you have supplied, you are free to do so without prejudice. If you have questions about this please contact Melanie Hawkins on [email protected], or leave a message with Cathy at 03 9508 3499 and Melanie will call you back. Thank you for taking the time to help us with this important research.

The ethical aspects of this study have been reviewed by the Cabrini Human Research Ethics Committee (CHREC 02-21-08-17) and the study complies with the NHMRC’s National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research.