Projects

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death and disability in children and adolescents worldwide. TBI refers to any damage to the brain acquired as a result of a trauma, i.e., injuries caused by external forces such as falls, contact sports, and accidents. TBI can cause an interruption to a child’s development. It can result in significant impairments such as memory holding information in the mind, and making decisions. Problems in these areas may affect academic skills, setting goals, and completing everyday tasks. Researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, and University of Melbourne are conducting a trial to investigate the impact of computer activities and their effectiveness in improving memory and making decisions in children post TBI. We are looking for children and adolescents aged 7- 15 years old, who have experienced a TBI. Participation in this research will involve completing questionnaires...

About the Study The Group Pregnancy Care study is implementing and evaluating a new approach to antenatal and postnatal care that involves inter-agency collaboration between public maternity hospitals, refugee settlement agencies, and maternal and child health (MCH) services. The aim of the program is to provide multifaceted, culturally appropriate preventive health care, information and support to refugee women during and after pregnancy in a group setting. The program is cost-free; provides care and information that is woman-directed, culturally appropriate and in women’s language; and facilitates links and referrals to services as necessary. Program Principles The organisations and staff involved have agreed to apply these principles: Community consultation and engagement Establish rapport with the woman and when present her family Giving women time and space to ask questions, check understanding and consent for medical tests and other procedures and Inform family of procedures, when appropriate Provide an on-site interpreter for pregnancy...

The newly established Australian Hand Difference Register (AHDR) is a database of children born with a hand difference and/or arm difference. The AHDR is managed by researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, which is located at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. To begin with, the AHDR will focus on children attending the Royal Children’s Hospital, before being extended within Victoria, and then Australia-wide. The AHDR aims to: find out how many children are born with a hand/arm difference in Australia learn more about possible causes and risk factors gain information to help plan services identify possible participants for future research The AHDR is currently funded by Aussie Hands ( The Aussie Hands Foundation Inc. ), a support group for people who have a hand difference and their families, and additional funding has been obtained from the Australasian Foundation for Plastic Surgery . Funding organisations do not have access...

About the project We are recruiting healthy children and adolescents (aged 8 to 18 years) who do not have a medical condition to participate in a project which investigates their experiences of tiredness, sleep, pain, school and how they feel. We would like to compare the experiences of healthy children and adolescents to those of children and adolescents who have chronic fatigue syndrome so that we can understand the differences. What we learn from this project might lead to the development of interventions to help improve the quality of life for children and adolescents with CFS. You will be asked to fill in a survey now and again in six, 12 and 24 months. Participant criteria Children and adolescents aged between 8 and 18 years who are healthy (i.e., do not have a medical condition) Contact details for study If you would like more information, please contact: Ms Kylie Thomas...

What is RSV? Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common virus that can cause serious respiratory illness in infants and young children. It is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia in infants and young children, which can result in hospitalisation. Preterm infants are at particularly high risk of hospitalisation with an RSV infection. There are no vaccines available to prevent RSV infection. Currently there is a medication to prevent RSV, but it is usually reserved for infants who have serious heart or lung disease, and some premature infants born at less than 28 weeks gestation. Purpose of the study This study is being done to evaluate how effective a new medication (called MEDI8897) is at preventing serious respiratory illness caused by RSV in preterm infants. Who can take part? Healthy infants who were born preterm at 29 to 35 weeks...

Take a Breath is a program of research committed to finding the best way to support families whose child has recently been diagnosed with a serious or life threatening illness or injury. Discovering that a child has a serious illness/ injury is distressing for parents. Along with the emotions and worries of having an ill child, spending time at the hospital for treatment also brings many changes to how the family functions day-to-day. Families adjust differently, so it is important for us to be able to work out at an early stage which families may benefit from additional support services, which will help them and their child in the short term and well into the future. Our program of research recruited parents of children admitted across four hospital departments at The Royal Children’s Hospital: Parents of a child who was admitted to the intensive care unit, for a stay longer...

Commencing in 1983, the Australian Temperament Project (ATP) is an ongoing longitudinal study that has followed the development of a large group of Victorian children from infancy to adulthood, and is now following their children.

Food allergies are becoming more and more common in children and babies. This means that a lot of children end up on hospital outpatient waiting lists for specialist allergy advice. As hospital waiting list times are around 18 months, we want to try a new approach to caring for babies and children with possible food allergies. Funding This research is funded by The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Foundation. Aims This research project aims to improve the management of food allergies in babies and children and is designed to see if community paediatricians (children’s doctors) can look after children with possible food allergies in a similar way to The Royal Children’s Hospital allergy specialists. In this study, we will compare two groups of children with possible food allergy: Group 1 “RCH Allergy Clinic Group” - children currently on RCH Hospital Allergy Clinic wait list, who will stay on the wait list...

The Calm Kids project is about anxiety in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A large number of children with ADHD also experience anxiety (25-50%). We know that anxiety in children with ADHD makes daily life harder for children and their families. The Calm Kids study aims to see whether treating anxiety in children with ADHD improves child anxiety, as well as broader child and family functioning. What does the study involve? The intervention we use to treat anxiety involves, over the course of 10 sessions, teaching children and parents what anxiety is, what causes anxiety, and what children and parents can do to lessen anxiety. To know whether the program helps, we need to compare children who receive the program with children who do not. Children are randomly placed in either the ‘Intervention Group’ or the ‘Usual Care Group’. We also visit our participating families to collect information...

Why is this study being run? Fewer than ten percent of Australians eat according the dietary guidelines. This study is study focused on the health effects of women’s diets during pregnancy. We believe that helping pregnant women to eat better may be relevant for improving the health of mothers and their babies. Because of this, we are conducting a study to test an educational dietary program delivered in the third trimester (from week 26) of pregnancy. We would like to see if the program is helpful to mothers, and also assess any benefits it might have on aspects of mothers’ health (both physical and mental), and aspects of their baby’s health after birth, including gut bacteria.