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Current Research Projects

Research at Forensicare may include all three directorates or be limited to one of:

  • Community Forensic Mental Health Service
  • Prisons
  • Thomas Embling Hospital
InvestigatorsMajor AimExternal Collaborators
Prof Stephane Shepherd
Dr Cieran Harries
Dist Prof James Ogloff
Prof Michele Pathé
The aims of the study are to 1) identify risk factors for youth extremist behaviour, 2) identify mental health concerns of youth at risk for extremist behaviour, and 3) identify risk profiles that differentiate between youth with different levels of extremist behaviour.Department of Justice & Community Safety
Victoria Police
Amirtha Lakshman
Prof Michael Daffern
Dist Prof James Ogloff
To compare the similarities and differences between in-person and tele-service pre-sentence report prepared for the County Court of Victoria and to examine the impact and reliability of tele-service pre-sentence reports on sentencing.County Court of Victoria
Alissa Lever
Prof Michael Daffern
Dr Kylie Thomson
Dr Caleb Lloyd
To explore the perspectives of psychologists in relation to aspects of the therapeutic relationship.
Dr Caroline Lambert
Dr Shelley Turner
To better understand the impact and utility on students and staff, of a co-created student, staff and consumer learning space, and an innovative digital product, known as ‘Digital Bytes’Tandem Carers
Dr Susan Darzins,
Lorrae Mynard
Danielle Ashley
Dr Anna Urbanowicz
Shannon Scott
Sarah Talbot
To investigate the lived experiences of forensic mental health consumers in accessing and utilising everyday digital technology when transitioning to the community.Australian Catholic University
Dr Trentham Furness
A/Prof Rachael Fullam
Charlotte Boyce
Dist Prof James Ogloff
Dr Nikola Djurkovic,
Prof Anne Bardoel
To identify the extent to which Forensicare initiatives into cultural reform have affected staff relative to bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination.Swinburne University (Swinburne Business School)
Prof Ellie Fossey
Lorrae Mynard
A/Prof Louise Farnworth
Brittany McVeagh
To strengthen the occupational therapy practice process and embed a structured approach to occupational formulation and goal setting, to assess the clinical impact of using this approach to occupational formulation and goal setting, and to contribute to the evidence for knowledge-to-practice translation in occupational therapy.Occupational Therapy Australia

 

Monash University

Dr Trentham Furness,
Dist Prof James Ogloff
Maicee Harrison
Daveena Mawre,Dr Tessa MaguireProf Michael DaffernProf Brian McKenna
To describe the current research environment among forensic mental health settings and investigate clinicians’ research attitudes, skills, knowledge and needs.Auckland Regional Forensic Psychiatry

 

Auckland University of Technology

Dr Tess Maguire
Jo Ryan,
Dr Melanie Simmons
Anthea Lemphers
To explore the forensic mental health educational needs of mental health nurses who work in area mental health services, who may be required to work with consumers who have forensic mental health needs.Department of Justice and Community Safety
Dr Trentham Furness
Daveena Mawren
Dr Flora Gilbert
Danielle Ashley
To describe the effect of the Allied Health Graduate and Psychology Registrar (AHG&PR) program on clinicians’ attitudes to recovery, resilience, reflective capacity and stress over the course of the program. To describe turnover intention prior to and after completion of the program. To describe program satisfaction and impact from the perspective of key stakeholders.
Dr Ashlee Curtis
Prof Peter Enticott
Hannah Bereznicki
To identify the neurocognitive functioning related to violent behaviour in persons who use substances by utilising extensive neurocognitive testing. To determine if people who both use substances and who behave violently have a distinct pattern of neurocognitive impairment, beyond that of those who use substances only or who are violent only.Deakin University
Dr Zainab Al-Attar
Nadine Salmon
Prof Stacie Conchie
Dr Jennifer McCarthy
To examine how neurodiverse facets and symptoms relate to extremism vulnerability, risk, resilience, and opportunities for risk management, by analysing data from real cases of individuals with autism and extremism concerns.University of Central Lancashire

 

Lancaster University

 

Victoria University

InvestigatorsMajor AimExternal Collaborators
Prof Maja Nedeljkovic
Prof Michael Daffern
Stephanie Fernandez
To explore the phenomenology of aggressive intrusive thoughts and aggressive scripts, in non-clinical, OCD, and forensic samples of individuals. Swinburne

(Centre for Mental Health)

Dr Ashley Dunne
Dr Janet Ruffles
Danielle Ashley
Dr Caroline Lambert
To explore the social, clinical, health, and functional needs of Forensicare community accessing consumers from a consumer perspective, as well as a personal and professional informant perspective, and the experiences of transitioning and reintegrating to the community from TEH.Tandem Carers
Dr Marie Henshaw
Dist Prof James Ogloff
Dr Reneta Slikboer
Prof Jonathan Clough
To enhance the efficacy of intervention approaches to child exploitation material offending by developing and piloting an empirically-informed psychoeducation and skills-based group program for child exploitation material-only offenders.Australian Institute of Criminology
Dr Meredith Gray
Dr Jennifer McCarthy
Prof Michele Pathé
To gain an in depth understanding of the cohort of young people on the autistic spectrum who are referred to FTAC, to identify interventions that have resulted in a reduced concern level for this cohort, and to identify trends in the ideology and exposure to radicalisation and whether this differs between those referred with autism and those without.
Dr Margaret Nixon
A/Prof Rachael Fullam
Rose Tingate
To investigate factors associated with successful community reintegration among this group in order to add to the small pool of existing research in addition to providing support and evidence for building appropriate and effective support services and pathways out of prison.
Lorrae Mynard
Dr Nastaran Doroud
To further develop and facilitate the Picturing My Recovery (PMR) at the Community Forensic Mental Health Service (CFMHS) and evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the program.Swinburne (School of Health Science)
InvestigatorsMajor AimExternal Collaborators
Dr Margaret Nixon
A/Prof Stuart Lee
Dr Laura Anderson
Dr Niki Loft
Prof Susan Rossell
Han-Mari Cronje
A retrospective audit of patients at the Thomas Embling Hospital to 1) explore the use of cognitive assessments, 2) characterise inpatients’ cognitive impairments, and 3) understand the relationship between cognitive functioning and the risk of aggression and functional skill capacity.Swinburne University (Centre for Mental Health)
Dr Margaret Nixon
Han-Marie Cronje
Dr Niki Loft
Investigate the efficacy in improving cognition, quality of life and functional capacity, determine whether treatment outcomes can be predicted by baseline cognitive function, and explore the subjective experiences of inpatients partaking in Thinking Minds.
Dr Tess Maguire,
Jo Ryan,
A/Prof Michael Olasoji,
A/Prof Loretta Garvey
Prof Georgina Willetts
To explore the Nursing Process and the Clinical Reasoning Cycle to determine which one might be the most suitable as a systemic guide for the provision of patient centred care in a forensic mental health setting.RMIT University

 

Federation University

 

Swinburne School of Health Sciences

Prof Michael Daffern
Dr Niki Loft
Dr Ashley Dunne
Monique Sondhu
To explore patient change on measures of violence and aggression after participating in the LMV-E program at THE and to understand if the program is helpful and any barriers and enablers in implementation.
Dr Tess Maguire
Jo Ryan
Maicee Harrison
Prof Brian McKenna
To finalise the Safewards Secure model by engaging with forensic mental health experts to determine appropriate staff and consumer modifiers and finalise the additions to the interventions.Auckland University of Technology
Dr Tess Maguire,
Prof Michael Daffern
Dr Melanie Simmons
To determine the best way to calculate the average score of the DASA, to identify individuals who have a ‘high DASA average score’, and to examine the influence of intervention on individuals with high DASA average scores when they are in a low risk state.Department of Justice and Community Safety
Dr Tess Maguire
Jo Ryan,
Daveena Mawren
A/Prof Michael Olasoji
To explore the Nurse Unit Manager role within Thomas Embling Hospital to better understand the role, and to elucidate what is needed to support development of this important role.RMIT University
Alison Hansen,
Prof Kerry Inder
To identify factors associated with the frequency and duration of seclusion events for women in forensic mental health settings using retrospective and prospective approaches and to explore the experiences and perspectives of women who are subjected to seclusion in forensic mental health settings.University of Newcastle
Dr Margaret Nixon
A/Prof Rachael Fullam
Dr Niki LofDr Claudia Mulder
To establish the extent of formal personality disorder assessment at the Thomas Embling Hospital, to establish the personality profile of forensic patients, and to examine the inpatient behaviour and violence risk profile of patients in relation to personality pathology.
Dr Margaret Nixon
A/Prof Rachael FullamSarah Fritsche
Dr Claudia Mulder
To explore inpatient perceptions about the personality disorder assessment process and their experiences of receiving a diagnosis.
Lorrae Mynard
Dr Susan Darzins
Gabrielle Pitt
To investigate the utility of the HSNA in Thomas Embling Hospital, a forensic mental health setting.Australian Catholic University
Dr David Lien
Dr Anthony Hew
Dr Jacques Claassen
To investigate the impact of the Seclusion Sprint intervention on seclusion episodes and length of seclusion events in acute inpatient mental health units at the Thomas Embling Hospital.
Dr Shakira Kumar
Dr Jacques Claassen
Dr Abhilash Balakrishnan
Dr Anthony Hew
To identify the prevalence of sedating PRN medication use in a forensic inpatient setting and to explore clinical and demographic factors associated with sedating PRN medication use.
Dr Katherine Moss
Dr Jacques Claassen
To understand how forensic hospitals across Australia currently monitor and manage the physical health and activity of forensic patients. To use expert consensus to determine relevant key performance indicators for assessing the physical health and activity of individuals under inpatient forensic psychiatric care.Queensland Forensic Mental Health Service
Dr Tess Maguire
Prof Michael Daffern
Prof Brian McKenna
To pilot the DASA+APP training and assessment package using EPAs and evaluate the effect on inpatient aggression and restrictive practices and determine if learners confidence to manage aggression increases after training.Auckland University of Technology
Oliver Ardill-Young
Mark Surdut
Dr Scott Teasdale
To evaluate whether the NutriMental tool is feasible and acceptable to mental health clinicians as a means of routine nutrition screening.Mindgardens Neuroscience Network