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Research to improve mental health practice wins ACU 3MT final

Adjusting the way community treatment orders are decided and issued will improve mental healthcare for people with severe mental illness, according to the winner of ACU’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) final.

Madeleine Harvery, a PhD candidate with the School of Allied Health, was named overall winner at ACU's 3MT final, claiming a $3000 prize.

She will represent ACU at the 3MT virtual Asia-Pacific Semi-Final showcase in September.

As part of her research, Ms Harvery, is looking at approaches to and experiences of decision-making in issuing community treatment orders in New South Wales.

A community treatment order sets out legal conditions requiring a person experiencing mental illness to receive treatment and medication while living in the community.

Research has shown many people with mental health issues find community treatment orders coercive and distressing.

"A small but increasing number of people with severe and complex mental illness are subject to community treatment orders which are controversial due to concerns about personal freedom, duty of care, and the impact on relationship between consumers and mental health services,” she said.

“Research suggests that using a procedural justice approach — focusing on respect, voice, trust, and neutrality — may help address these challenges.”

Ms Harvery hopes her research will provide clinically relevant information regarding approaches to decision-making in community treatment orders use.

“I hope the outcomes will impact people with lived experience and mental health professionals by guiding research into decision-making standards in mental healthcare, and influencing changes in mental health education, practice and policy.”

Emily Fero-Kovassy, a PhD candidate with the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, was named runner up of ACU's 3MT Final, winning a $2000 prize.

Ms Fero-Kovassy has spent the past three years sifting through literary and archaeological evidence from ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism to try to make sense of the stories in the Gospel of Matthew in its Jewish context.

“When we learn about traditions and those of our neighbours we can dismantle stereotypes and prejudice and significantly improve how we view and treat each other,” Ms Fero-Kovassy said.

Marianna Quinones-Valera, a PhD candidate at the Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, won the People's Choice Award and $1000 for her 3MT entry explaining her research into attentional bias in cannabis addiction.

ACU Dean of Graduate Research and International Professor Andrew O'Neil congratulated all who took part.

“The extremely high standard of ACU’s 3MT entries this year confirms that we have a very talented higher degree research cohort who are undertaking impactful research of direct relevance to the communities we serve,” Professor O’Neil said.

“The judging panel, which I chaired, had the tough task of ranking the entries and while it was difficult to separate them, we were delighted by the world class quality of what we saw.

“The 3MT lays down the challenge to higher degree research candidates of ‘bottling’ the thrust of their project in concise terms that are accessible for a non-academic audience.

“In a period when universities are stepping up to the challenge of making our research more relevant to serving our communities, 3MT remains as important as ever.”

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland.