Dementia Research & Training Centre
The Dementia Centre exists to improve the lives of people with dementia and their families, by:
- Undertaking, disseminating and promoting research related to people with dementia, their families, consumers and industry.
- Developing and providing education and training.
- Working collaboratively with key stakeholders, and
- Translating research into practice and policy.
Current Projects/Funding/Grants
General Enquiries
Dementia Centre
N Block, Level 6
148 Victoria Park Road
Kelvin Grove Q 4059
Ph: + 61 7 3138 3847
Fax: + 61 7 3138 5941
Email: dementia.crc-csr@qut.edu.au
Staff Bios
Prof Jenny Abbey |
RN, PhD, FRCNA |
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Professor Jenny Abbey is the Director of the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre for Consumers, Carers and Social Research, established at QUT. She is also Director of the Eastern Australia Dementia Training Study Centre, Qld branch, led by Wollongong University. Professor Abbey was Queensland’s first Professor of Nursing (Aged Care) a joint appointment between three partners, Queensland University of Technology’s School of Nursing, The Prince Charles Hospital Health Service District and the Kedron-Wavell Services Club. Jenny has had an eclectic career, with ‘time out’ of academe’, working in the ‘real world’ of consumers and carers, leaving her with an understanding of, and passion for, their causes. She has been a hands-on-nurse practitioner, a union organiser, Assistant Dean, Research, at Flinders University, a health-care consultant and a quality-and-compliance auditor with the Department of Veteran Affairs. The needs of people with dementia has been an interest of hers for at least two decades. She is the author of the Abbey Pain Scale, a scale designed to be used by all staff of Residential Care Facilities to assist in assessment of pain in people with dementia who cannot speak to make their needs known. Her present research interests are the provision of palliative for people with end-stage-dementia, the impact of aged care clinical placements on undergraduate students
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| DR Sandy Sacre |
RN, Reg Psych, B Soc Sc (Psych), B Psych (Hons), PhD, MAPS, MASA |
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Sandy Sacre is a Registered Nurse and Registered Psychologist who has extensive experience in community health, mental health, and clinical psychology.
Sandy graduated from the Holy Spirit Hospital School of Nursing in 1981, and worked for several years in paediatrics and intensive care in Australia and the UK. She then worked in remote Indigenous communities for four years, where she was responsible for primary health care. She entered the mental health field in 1990 and completed an Honours degree in Psychology in 2000 and a PhD in Psychology in early 2007 at QUT. Her research has focussed on the areas of sleep health, dream function, and more recently, human behaviour and communication in disaster and pandemic situations.
In 2006, Sandy managed a DoHA funded project in the School of Nursing at QUT to produce the Working With Older People website, a self-contained online educational resource for undergraduate nurses. Sandy has most recently worked in a Lecturer position in the Faculty of Health Office of the Dean, where she has worked on faculty-wide teaching and learning strategic initiatives and managed several teaching and learning projects, which have involved staff development, curriculum design, and the design of teaching websites.
Sandy has lectured in the School of Psychology and Counselling at QUT, in the areas of consciousness, abnormal behaviour, health psychology, mental health assessment, cross-cultural psychology, and interventions for addictive behaviours.
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| Mr Peter Rankin |
BBus, CPA, MBA |
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Peter graduated from then QIT now Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Business. He then worked for several years for the disability services division of Health and Community Services Victoria. He worked in database development and finance support for the Commonwealth State Disability Agreement between the Federal Government and Victoria.
In 1994 Peter started with the Faculty of Law QUT as the Faculty Finance and Budget Officer. Since then Peter has completed his Certified Practicing Accountant qualifications and a Master of Business Administration from University of New England. He is also the general staff representative from QUT on the Unisuper consultative committee.
Peter lives in Greenslopes, Brisbane with wife, Elizabeth, daughter Emily 13 and son Alan 12. His personal interests include Army reserves and supporting scouting activities for his children.
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Mr Gordon Newell |
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Gordon completed a tertiary certificate in Business Administration with Mt Gravatt College of TAFE. He then worked for Queensland Health for 8 years, providing Administrative support to the various Community Health Service Centres in South East Queensland. The majority of his duties concentrated on the support for providing Community Home Care for referred clients requiring various levels of care which was assessed and means tested by the health professionals.
He then moved to Sydney and worked in the Human Resources Department as a Recruitment Officer for the University of New South Wales. The majority of Gordon’s work involved recruitment of Senior Appointments for the university. He then returned to Brisbane in 2000 and has been working in Finance and Administration roles with the Queensland University of Technology.
Gordon lives in New Farm, Brisbane with his partner Brendan and his two beloved miniature daschounds – Brunnhilde and Daphne. His personal interests involve opera in particular the works of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
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| Ms Tracey Dutton |
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Ms Jenneke Foottit
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HonsB.SocSc(Nursing), M.Soc.Sc (past. counselling). Registered Nurse with Mental Health endorsement. |
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Jenneke Foottit has wide experience and a passion for working with people with dementia. A Nursing Honours student with a Masters of Social Science and currently completing her PhD. Jenneke has delivered workshops and seminars about people with dementia. She is highly qualified to present about pain after working closely with Prof. Jenny Abbey, the author of the Abbey Pain Scale.
Jenneke has lived in northwest Queensland rural community and worked as a registered nurse in both hospital and domiciliary settings. She has also worked for several years in an assessment unit for people with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
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Mrs Patricia Shuter |
DipHEd NTC (S. Africa), MHlthSc(HlthProm), MAppSc(PubHlth)QUT |
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Trish Shuter was recently successful in receiving a three year Joint Alzheimer’s Australia Research Limited (AAR) and the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre (DCRC) Scholarship in Social Research and Dementia to undertake a PhD at Queensland University of Technology(QUT). She will be examining the effect of palliative care of people in the end stage of a dementing illness on the health outcomes of their carers. Trish made the transition from the education sector to the health sector via aged and more specifically dementia care, with a focus on the social and lifestyle aspect. More recently she has completed a Master of Research in Public Health and has been working for the past four years on a project examining community care models of leg ulcer management in the aged population. Trish has published and been involved in several publications related to areas in which she has worked and studied. She will be located with the staff from the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre and Eastern Australia Dementia Training Study Centre at the School of Nursing at QUT Trish made the transition from the education sector to the health sector via aged and more specifically dementia care, with a focus on the social and lifestyle aspect. More recently she has completed a Master of Research in Public Health and has been working for the past four years on a project examining community care models of leg ulcer management in the aged population. Trish has published and been involved in several publications related to areas in which she has worked and studied. She will be located with the staff from the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre and Eastern Australia Dementia Training Study Centre at the School of Nursing at QUT.
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Ms Elizabeth Palk
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BA Grad Dip Ed |
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Elizabeth Palk has a Bachelor of Arts (UQ) and a Graduate Diploma of Education (Griffith U.). Her professional background began in the field of family support through resourcing families and facilitating parenting education sessions.
After moving to Central Queensland in 1996, she undertook Community Development work with family carers in the Central and Central West areas for a period of five years, and then as a co-ordinator of HACC services across Livingstone Shire. Upon returning to Brisbane in 2002 she undertook Case Management in an inner-city HACC funded project for a further two years and joined a Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre until 2008, initially developing carer focused innovative respite projects and later overseeing services for Carers.
Now working with the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre, based in the School of Nursing, Kelvin Grove campus as Senior Research Assistant she is currently focused on the development of dementia pathways and on exploring an innovative intervention model of community care.
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Mrs Judy McCrow |
RN, RM, BHlthSC(Nursing), GradDip Clinical Nursing (Acute Care) |
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Judy has worked as a Clinical Registered Nurse In both Queensland Health and the Private Sector, mainly in Intensive Care and Haemodialysis.
Projects she has been involved in include:
- Development of Phase 1 cardiac rehabilitation programs
- Development of policy and procedures for nursing & medical practice
- Clinical education & formulation of learning packages
- Advanced Life Support program development and implementation
- Quality management
- Management of both Intensive Care Units & Haemodialysis units.
At present Judy is working in the role of Project Officer in the Delirium Study based at The Prince Charles Hospital.
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Ms Susi Wise |
B Psych (Hons)
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Susi completed her Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) at QUT and has since held numerous research positions in the School of Psychology and most recently the Faculty of Health. Susi has assisted on a range of projects including Pandemic Preparedness Training, Disaster and Emergency Training, and Teaching and Learning initiatives.
Susi is particularly interested in qualitative research and has been involved with research across a number of areas including attitudes and opinions of medical and nursing staff, and acculturation issues for Sudanese immigrants.
Susi lives in Aspley with her husband, Shane and their two spaniels. Susi personal interests include reading and gardening and continuing to renovate their Queenslander home.
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| Mr Brian Abbey |
BA, MA-Ed Admin |
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Brian is a casually-employed part-time research assistant in QUT’s DCRC. He taught Politics and Public Policy and held academic and administrative positions at Monash, The University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of New England.
In addition, Brian has also worked in a senior management role for a public sector trade union; managed university residential colleges; carried out consulting and training assignments for governments, private and public sector enterprises; and held numerous high level committee and board appointments, including as Chair of the Executive Committee of The University of Adelaide and Board Member of SA’s public housing authority.
He has published in refereed and other journals as well as in edited collections, individually or collaboratively, on a wide range of subjects, including social theory, technology and society, aged care policy, business and politics, higher education policy and practice, nursing recruitment, unemployment in Australia, and the causes of inequality. Recent work has focused on clinical placements in nurse education, pain management and future prospects and funding policy for residential care. He is also writing a commissioned biography. |
Project Descriptions
Dementia Symbol Project
Appropriateness of a symbol for people with dementia.
The DCRC has been contracted to conduct a systematic review to investigate the appropriateness of introducing a national symbol for dementia. Alzheimer’s Australia will hold focus groups with people involved in service delivery (e.g. health professionals, public transport drivers, emergency workers, domiciliary staff of health care facilities etc), and distribute surveys to people with dementia and their carers. The project, which is overseen by a Steering Committee, arose out of a suggestion made at the National Consumer Summit on Dementia held in Canberra, October 2005 that a national symbol for dementia is needed, so people with dementia are treated appropriately, particularly in the delivery of service.
For more information contact: Ms Jacinda Wilson, Senior Research Officer (DCRC), p 07 3138
3852, e jacinda.wilson@qut.edu.au
Delirium Research Project
“Understanding the barrier to recognition and management of delirium in the acute post-surgical setting.”
Research project based at major tertiary referral hospital in Brisbane.
Delirium in acute hospitals patients is often under recognised but can have significant impacts on morbidity and mortality in patients aged over 65 years. Results from a study of 96 chart audits at the health care facility found 19 (20%) of the patients with symptoms could been indicative of delirium but only 4 of these patients had symptoms documented by nursing staff.
Aims of the study: The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of current practices in relation to recognition and recording of delirium in a major tertiary hospital in Queensland Australia.
Hypothesis: Nursing and medical staff do not recognise delirium in the post-surgical patient.
For more information contact: Mrs Judy McCrow, Senior Research Officer (Delirium), p 07 3139 4595, e j.mccrow@health.qld.gov.au
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