Hill, Nicole
PhD candidate
Supervisors
A/Prof Lynette Joubert, A/Prof Carol Harvey, A/Prof Graeme Hawthorne
Area of research
Suicide Prevention in the Emergency Department (SPED) is an ARC Linkage funded project that aims to provide evidence relating to the efficacy of a brief psychotherapeutic and community linkage intervention for those who present to a hospital emergency department (ED) having experienced self-harm, suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt.
It is my intention to provide as an original contribution to the field of social work practice:
- An exploration of the risk factors and maladaptive attributes, as well as the protective and resiliency factors that contribute to the progression and/or recovery from behaviours such as deliberate self-harm, suicide attempt or ideation
- The scoring of an eco-systemic framework detailing how to assess and effectively respond to the psychosocial issues of people presenting to EDs with deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation.
Motivation
My desire to further my education in social work and mental health commenced with the recent completion of my Master of Social Work (Mental Health) in 2006. I wanted to continue my education in the clinical area of mental health, in the environment I enjoy and currently work - an acute hospital emergency department.
The psychosocial aims of this research project complement those that my master's portfolio began to explore - ultimately how best to support vulnerable patients at risk presenting to hospital emergency departments.
Goals and achievements
It is intended that this intervention will be a cost-effective method for responding to the multiple and complex behavioural and social issues that precipitate deliberate self-harm, but which are currently inadequately addressed in service provision and literature.
This research will contribute significantly to current knowledge in the areas of:
- preventative health care
- mental illness (specifically relating to depression and suicide)
- holistic management of deliberate self-harm
- assertive community linkage
- brief client-centred psychotherapeutic interventions.
This project is integral to further development of services for people presenting with deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation to hospital emergency departments.
Why Melbourne?
I was fortunate that the completion of my masters with the School of Nursing and Social Work coincided with the offer of this scholarship opportunity.