Associate Professor Rafat Hussain - research interests
My research interests span a number of research topics including:
- population health including sexual health;
- women's health;
- health promotion;
- health services research; and
- developmental disabilities.
I have considerable work and research experience with analysing issues relating to the utilisation of health policies and health services in both mainstream and disadvantaged population sub-groups such as people with disabilities.
I have published extensively in international and national journals. My research to date includes several books chapters, refereed journal articles, refereed conference proceedings and other scholarly works. See the publication section for more details.
I have reviewed grants for NHMRC and the Queensland Health and continue to be a regular and frequent reviewer for several international journals including key journals on disability research and public health. In 2007, I was selected as one of the academic representatives for the Public Health discipline for the Research Quality Framework [RQF, the predecessor of ERA] and was part of the deliberations across the university sector, the Australian Public Health Association and the Commonwealth government.
Research projects
‘Vulnerability and resilience of families with a child with developmental disabilities in rural NSW’. Funded by the Apex Foundation for Research into Intellectual Disabilities, this project has had active in-kind support from DADHC [Department of Disability & Home Care, NSW], and several community-based disability support organisations. The project utilises mix-methods approach including a survey of parents of children with disabilities and in-depth interviews with a sub-set of parents to elicit detailed information on their lived experiences of issues in having a child / children with disabilities and its impact on family and social networks, issues in schooling, health and community support services.
‘Health and survival patterns of people with disabilities in Western Australia’. This project has been sequentially funded by a number of grants including WA Population Health Consortium, the Disability Services Commission of WA, Population Health Genetics grant from Edith Cowan University and in-kind support from Data Linkage Unit at University of Western Australia and the Telethon Institute of Child Health. Although using data linkage for research using national and state-level databases and registers is now been considered for a number of projects, the above research is one of the few research projects that have made effective and innovative use of data-linkage opportunities for researching health and health services issues for adults with developmental disabilities. For example, we linked data on individuals with intellectual disabilities registered with WA Disability Services Commission (which covers 97% of people with intellectual disabilities in WA) and linked it to the WA Birth Defects Register, the WA Deaths Registry, the WA Cancer Registry and also the National Death Index managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
‘Health experiences of rural undergraduate university students’. This research is funded by an internal university grant. Using on-line survey and focus group discussions the study explores risk factors for poor physical / mental health and disability and perceptions of barriers to use of rurally-based health services amongst adolescents and young adults.
‘Experience of violence and reproductive health’. This research was based on secondary analysis of longitudinal data [1996-2004] from the mid-aged cohort of Women’s Health Australia study; in collaboration with Research Centre on Gender, Health & Aging, University of Newcastle.
‘Ageing and developmental disabilities: challenges for adult individuals and their families in rural NSW’. This project was funded by an internal university grant and substantial in-kind support from local disability organizations. The start up phase of this project led to undertaking extensive dialogue with relevant not-for profit disability agencies in the region as well as local and state-level disability agencies. Preliminary findings of the project have been presented at various regional and national seminars and conferences. One aspect of the study results on perceptions of carers of individuals with intellectual disabilities has been has been published recently in the refereed conference proceedings of the National Rural Health Conference. Other publications based on the study findings are in submission and/or review stage.
‘An exploration of experience of abuse by older Australians and its impact on their health and quality of life’. Supported by University Research Grant with in kind support from Melbourne City Council. The project focussed on issues in ageing, disability, quality of life and experience of abuse by elderly Australian men and women. Data collection methods included survey questionnaire and focus groups. Manuscripts based on the study findings are being revised for submission to journals.
‘Screening for iron deficiency anaemia’. The project was conducted in collaboration with medical staff at UNE Medical Centre and Hunter New England Area Health Services. It was funded by a grant from the Research Division of the Meat & Livestock Association. Findings presented at several national conferences and are also being processed as manuscripts for scholarly journals.
‘Body image, self esteem, experience of domestic violence and cosmetic surgery use’. (A sub-study on mid-aged cohort of Women’s Health Australia study and supported by University Research Grant, University of New England. This project arose from the study on domestic violence and explored the inter-connections between body image, self esteem, mental health, inter-personal violence, health services utilization and use of cosmetic surgery using a population-based cohort. The findings were published in the Medical Journal of Australia as well as the International Journal of Health Psychology.