Brain Tumours Online – Implementing and evaluating a digital platform for people affected by brain cancer

Summary This project offers various opportunities for graduate research students from the fields of health and computer sciences. Our team of researchers, digital health experts, health professionals and brain cancer advocates have co-designed a digital platform for people affected by brain cancer, called Brain Tumours Online. The platform will provide reliable information, a supportive online community and self-care tools for Australians affected by brain tumours. The aim of this project is to implement and evaluate the online platform, including the evaluation of user experiences, implementation and integration processes, the human-computer-interaction and the economic value of the platform. This research has been initiated by Professor Kate Drummond, Head of Neurosurgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Professor of Surgery at the University of Melbourne.

Project Details

In phase 1 of the project a prototype of the platform has been developed by our industry partner Two Bulls , a digital product development company. The development of the platform was b ased on feedback from interviews, workshops and stakeholder meetings with patients, carers, health professionals and digital health experts from the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health . This co-designed platform will directly address the supportive care needs of people affected by brain cancer.

The purpose of phase 2 of the project is to implement and evaluate this newly designed platform to make it a valuable online resource for patients and carers affected by a brain tumour and for the health professionals caring for them. The ultimate goal is to make the platform a one-stop-shop for supportive care needs, available across Australia to people affected by brain tumours.

Research opportunities

There are various research topics that can be tailored to your area of interest and the scale of the project can be adapted to Honours’, Masters’ or PhD level. The student project will be developed in collaboration with relevant team experts in the field:

• Supportive care in brain tumours via an online platform (implementation processes, analysis of user experiences, including culturally and linguistically diverse populations)
• Social media in supportive cancer care – co-creation of social media content and analysis (qualitative or quantitative)
• Evaluation of digital health interventions for patients and carers (qualitative and quantitative data collection/analysis methods/economic evaluation)

Supervisors

Potential supervisors have a range of expertise including digital health, implementation science, evaluation research, supportive care needs in cancer patients and quality of life research. Check supervisor profiles here:

• Kate Drummond, Professor of Surgery and Head of Neurosurgery
• Wendy Chapman, Centre Director Digital Transfomration of Health
• Daniel Capurro, Senior Lecturer Digital Health
• Meinir Krishnasamy, Professor of Cancer Nursing
• Mahima Kalla, Digital Health Transformation Research Fellow -
• Kara Burns, Digital Health Program Manager -
• Verena Schadewaldt, Research Fellow in Neurosurgery