Telehealth
Appointment
Accommodation
Scripts
Events

The Health Lodge - Research Participation

Research Initiatives

The Health Lodge Integrated Medical Centre is guided by a values charter that include the value of Learning: Growing and sharing knowledge within our community of practitioners and patients. We strive to contribute to and draw on the research and evidence in our field so people can make fully informed decisions about their health.

In the spirit of this value The Health Lodge seeks and establishes partnerships with research institutions to contribute to the development of “best practice” health care approaches.
 

At the present time The Health Lodge is engaged in one research initiative:

Southern Cross University: Patient and Practitioner Experiences of Integrative Health Care [PEICE]

Associate Professor Matthew Leach, Southern Cross University, in collaboration with Simon DuBois (The Health Lodge Integrated Medical Centre), Reine DuBois (The Health Lodge Integrated Medical Centre)

What is this research about? 

Integrative Health Care (IHC) is a patient-centred, holistic, evidence-based and individualised approach to health care that brings together the best of conventional medicine, allied health and complementary medicine in order to better address a patient’s health care needs.

Demand for IHC services is increasing across the globe, and we wanted to understand the reasons why people are choosing to use IHC services, and what their experiences are from using them. In addition, we wanted to understand the practitioner experiences in this model of practice and the benefits and challenges that they encounter.

Answers to these questions have helped researchers and clinicians find ways to improve the patient and practitioner health care experience in this model, and it will help shape future models of health care that better serve the needs of patients and the practitioners that work within them.

If you would like more information on these studies please find:

  1. A presentation on the two studies: https://thehealthlodge.com.au/education/is-the-integrative-health-model-healthier-for-us/
  2. Published research paper on the patient experience: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422025000277?via%3Dihub
  3. Copy of research paper on the practitioner experience arriving soon as in publication

Queensland Institute of Medical Research: After the Floods: Evaluating a Stepped Care Model to Treat Chronic Disaster-Related PTSD

Professor James Bennett-Levy, B.A.(Hons), M.Phil (Clin Psych), Ph.D  

(Research trial proposal stage)

What is this research about? 

Regional and rural communities are disproportionately impacted by natural disasters associated with climate change. In their wake, such disasters leave an extremely disabling condition: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This clinical trial’s proposed goal is to reduce inequities in health outcomes caused by climate-related disasters in regional/rural communities: a trial to treat chronic disaster-related PTSD.

The trial will be a world-first clinical trial of a stepped care model in a post-disaster context. It will be conducted by an investigator team with nationally and internationally recognised expertise in this field and long-standing connections with the affected community.

Step 1 of our trial will involve randomisation to either a low intensity intervention designed to build (self-) compassion skills, or to a wait list control group. The benefit of such group-based interventions is that they can be offered at scale in a post-disaster context.

In Step 2 of the trial, non-responders from Step 1 will be randomised to group-based MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) or a wait list control group, subject to eligibility. Both interventions are informed by contemporary evidence and an innovative analysis of the psychological processes likely to make the most difference in a post disaster context.

The Health Lodge will be one of the participating practices providing administrative, practical and care support for clinical and dosing sessions.