Research Roundup

Welcome to Turning Point’s first edition of the Research Roundup newsletter. Each month, we'll bring you the latest insights from Turning Point research into addiction and related harms.

To kick things off, we've got an exciting new grant program, more development work on an innovative brain training app, and some groundbreaking research into how nightmares affect daily functioning.

$1.3m MRFF grant announced for award-winning health promotion program

The grant will fund further development of MAKINGtheLINK, a program that empowers adolescents to develop the skills they need to seek help early for mental health concerns.

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Can a “brain training” app help you quit alcohol?

Researchers in our Clinical and Social Research team are?investigating a new smartphone app to see if it can help people reduce their alcohol cravings and consumption.

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Sleep, nightmares and wellbeing: A complex interaction

Spectrum and Turning Point are collaborating to examine interactions between nightmares and daily functioning to improve wellbeing among people with borderline personality disorder.

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New publications

Telehealth can promote access to alcohol and other drug care for clients who have technical access and for people in regional areas

• Many clients preferred a hybrid model of telehealth and in-person services; however, the researchers also found that the benefits of telehealth are not evenly distributed.
• Services that employ telehealth should ensure that marginalised groups of people and anyone without access to technology are not disadvantaged by a lack of access.
• Clear information for clients and training for clinicians about hybrid delivery is recommended.

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Ambulances offer a unique opportunity to help people with blood-borne viruses access the care that they need

• The researchers found that patients who have a history of acute alcohol and drug-related?harms and a blood-borne virus (BBV)?were medically and socially complex, with co-occurring mental health and self-harm histories.?
• Patients with any BBV history had an ambulance attend them on average over 2 and a half times each year. The average time spent with patients was an hour and 12 minutes.?
• These repeated attendances of people with a history of BBV may offer a unique opportunity to reach people often missed in testing and treatment for blood-borne viruses.?

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“Brain training” app can ?reduce harmful drinking among middle–older age adults

• Personalised smartphone-delivered brain training is acceptable to middle-to-older Australians drinking at hazardous levels and looking to reduce their alcohol consumption.
• After 4 weeks of the brain training, there was a significant increase in the proportion who reported drinking within government-recommended weekly and daily alcohol consumption guidelines.

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Research Participation Opportunities

The following research studies are currently?open for participants:

• Modif-i Alcohol?is open to people who drink alcohol at least several days per week?to help them trial a new ‘brain-training’ app to reduce alcohol use.?
• Better Responses is seeking Victorians?who have been picked up for a minor drug offence?to help the researchers better understand their experiences.?
• MGAZE is seeking full-licence drivers who currently use meth to help them better understand how it may affect their driving.?
• Researchers are looking to interview people?who have participated in a drug driving behaviour change program to help inform the development of drug driving policies that are fair and appropriate.
• The 'barriers to use' project is looking to interview women who use drugs to hear your thoughts on the medically supervised injecting room (MSIR).

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