Western Australia has the highest proportion (32%) of migrants in Australia and most of the migrants act as informal carers for their loved ones diagnosed with cancer. However, language barrier and lack of access to culturally responsive health services can affect these informal carers’ ability to provide adequate level of care to meet the needs of their loved ones, thus impacting negatively on their own emotional health. The needs and emotional wellbeing of these multicultural carers must also be prioritised to reduce potential adverse impacts on their and their family’s psychosocial wellbeing. This research responds to an international call, both from the clinicians and community perspectives, for culturally responsive supportive intervention to promote emotional health of these carers and survival journey of multicultural cancer patients.
Aim
This project aims to co-create culturally appropriate (digital) resources that help the Asian informal carers to manage their caregiving role and emotional health.
Objectives
- Understand the Asian cancer carers’ needs for emotional wellbeing,
- Co-create new culturally appropriate supporting resources for the Asian carers,
- Share and evaluate the new resources across the cancer community and health services.
Significance
Through facilitating an inclusive and collaborative approach that enables Asian informal carers to safely articulate their culturally specific needs and actively contribute to the design, evaluation and refinement of supportive resources with clinicians, this project has strong potential to enable clinicians to improve access, engagement and emotional health outcomes for the carers and cancer communities.
Ideal Candidate
We are looking for a self-motivated PhD candidate with excellent organisation, problem-solving and project management skills. Candidates with strong quantitative and qualitative skills and experience working with the Asian population, in cancer-related research and community activities, are highly desired for this project. Additionally, the applicants should meet the eligibility criteria for entry into a PhD program at Curtin University.
This project is open to International and Domestic applicants.
Internship
Through this project you may have an internship opportunity with the Cancer Council WA.
Scholarship
This project does not have a scholarship attached. International applicants must be able to demonstrate that they are able to self-fund their studies, including tuition fees and living expenses, for the duration of the course.
If you’re an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen and you’re accepted into a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) program, you are eligible for a tuition fee exemption through the Australian Government’s Research Training Program (RTP). This exemption (known as the RTP Fee Offset) covers tuition fees for the standard duration of your higher degree by research.
Enquires and How to Apply
For enquires about this opportunity contact Associate Professor Jun Chih at H.Chih@curtin.edu.au
To formally apply submit an Expression of Interest to Associate Professor Jun Chih