2024-25 HOPE summer students
These scholarships are awarded to support high achieving University students to do an ageing focused research project over the 10-week summer break. The aim is not only to achieve high quality worthwhile research, but also to enable these students to gain valuable skills, by working with experienced researchers, who supervise these projects. This year we have awarded two Summer Scholarships.
Aziza Shawudun - University of Auckland
Supervisor: Dr Joanna Hikaka
How do clinicians use assessment data to inform clinical practice when working with older people?
In Aotearoa, interRai assessments are required to access publicly funded home care and aged residential care. Over 1 million assessments have currently been completed, yet there is little research describing the utility of data at person, facility and organisation level in New Zealand. Anecdotally, clinicians report difficulty in accessing and interpreting interRAI assessments which are presented in raw formats thus there is minimal use of interRAI assessments to inform care planning.
This project aims to describe how clinicians currently utilise interRAI data and identify clinicians’ ideas for how interRAI data could be better presented to inform care planning.
Here is a link to the the study and the survey in detail – please read it here: Clinical Utility of InterRAI Data - The University of Auckland
If you are interested in completing the survey, please click here: https://auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/INDIVIDUAL_WHĀNAUsurvey
Emma Larsen - University of Auckland
Supervisor: Professor Andrew Jull
Deprivation in people with venous leg ulceration
Venous leg ulcers are chronic relapsing and remitting wounds on the lower leg associated with chronic venous insufficiency. Prevalence increases with age, however, similar to arterial disease, the mean age of Māori and Pasifika peoples with venous leg ulcers is about 10 to 15 years younger than in non-Māori and non-Pasifika peoples.
People with venous leg ulcers have lower health-related quality of life compared to age- and sex- standardised population norms and the condition is associated with increased pain, poorer sleep, isolation, withdrawal, and feelings of hopelessness.
You can also help by
- Spreading the word about what we do / share this newsletter
- Donating your time to the Friends Supporters to help with fundraising and committee work
- Encouraging your children and grandchildren to invest in their futures by donating time and money (a baby girl born today has a 1 in 3 chance of living to 100 , a boy 1 in 4 and is likely to be fitter and healthier–think about the implications of that)
- Consider a bequest