Maroondah Hospital Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

Research and Evaluation Program

The Research and Evaluation program is linked with the Developmental Psychiatry Centre at Monash University. Research is an integral part of the Maroondah Hospital Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. The vision of our research program is to integrate research with clinical practice with the aim of improving the quality of care provided for the children, adolescents and their families. In the past 4 years, we have completed a number of projects and achieved the promotion of a culture for research and development in our service. We are very encouraged by the number of people involved in research activities and the number of different projects we are working on.

Our research activities can be divided into four groups:

1.Clinical research

Its focus is on children and adolescents referred to our service, especially those who have diagnostic difficulties or are not responding well to treatment. Research is built into the Specialist Clinical Programs. Contents of research range from descriptive studies, intervention studies, to studying the nature of the underlying mechanisms.

2.Service Evaluation

It includes outcome evaluation and linking with the key performance indicators. All service provisions and the processes involved are to be examined. The evaluation process is closely linked with the CQI activities.

3.Interface with the external environment

Several key external agencies have collaborated with us, such as schools, Maroondah Hospital Adult Mental Health Service, General Practitioners, Protective Services, Juvenile Justice, and Youth Services.

4.Others

Including epidemiological studies, organisation research and education and training research

Currently, the core group of the Research and Evaluation Unit consists of Ernest Luk, Associate Professor, Head; Peter Brann, Lecturer; Peter Birleson, Professor; Helen Mildred, Lecturer; Katie Wood, Senior Psychologist; Vicky Flory, Psychologist; Jan Costin, Senior Psychologist; Berni Cook, Academic Secretary; Vicki Cowling, Mental Health Promotion Officer, Project Officer.

Meetings are held once a month to monitor on-going activities and initiate new projects.

We are committed to involving as many clinicians in research activities as possible. A number of clinicians have taken up the role of Research Coordinator and they coordinate an area of research that is usually linked with a Specialist Clinical Program.