HDR Scholarship on Health at Deakin University in Australia 2020

This project and scholarship are offered as part of a collaborative joint PhD program with the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The successful candidate will be jointly supervised by a team of leading researchers from Deakin University and the University of Copenhagen and will graduate with a joint PhD from both institutions. It is anticipated that the PhD candidate spends at least six months during the program at the University of Copenhagen.

Worldwide, multimorbidity is highly prevalent and increasing and is more common among people from disadvantaged groups, such as those from non-English speaking or lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Although individual diseases dominate health-care delivery people with multimorbidity need a broader approach. Shared decision making involves health professionals working together with patients and families to ensure the patient’s values, goals and concerns are addressed. Active inclusion of patients and families in decision making enables both communication about benefits, risks and uncertainties of treatment. It also enhances incorporation of patient preferences and priorities into clinical decisions and goal of care. The process towards empowerment begins with participation of the individual, which leads to ownership with the ultimate goal of giving the individual control over their own health conditions.

The increasing digitalisation of both information and services and have added to the challenges of multimorbidity both for community members and providers. The digitalisation of health services has profound impact on the communication between patients (end users) and health providers. Health technology has the potential to support those who have the resources and competence to take advantage of increasing market of health services. It also has the potential to engage and empower those who are disadvantaged or underserved, if barriers such as low health literacy can be overcome. Understanding the complexities of shared decision making in patients with multimorbidities can help to identify the challenges and solutions in the underlying use of technology when facilitating patient participation in their health care, and of how opportunities for shared decision making can be enabled.