Queensland Sexual Health Research Fund

The Queensland Sexual Health Research Fund provides seed funding for translational research to assist in improving the delivery of sexual health services, and support implementation of the Queensland Sexual Health Framework (Framework)and its associated action plans.

ASHM is pleased to administer this Fund on behalf of the Department of Health.

Funding amounts

Over $500, 000 is available for disbursement through the Fund for Round Four. Consideration will be given to grants of up to $100,000 (including GST) as well as smaller-scale grants.

Applications

Applications for Round Four closed on Friday 15 April 2022.

Translational research proposals must demonstrate partnership arrangements with relevant service providers in a range of sectors including health, education, and social services.

Preference will be given to innovative proposals which add to the body of knowledge and have direct relevance to enhancing service delivery in Queensland.

Novel research proposals which do not meet the priorities but do align with the Framework are encouraged and eligible for submission. Submissions from early career researchers are welcomed and may receive priority consideration.

Strategies and Priorities

The Sexual Health Ministerial Advisory Committee Research Sub-Committee set round priorities and assess and recommend applications for translational research which align with the priority actions of the Framework and underpinning action plans. Round Five priorities will be published here when the new round opens.

Round Four priorities

- Research on barriers to sexual health prevention measures, screening activities, and early interventions in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly in North Queensland.
- Feasibility and/or acceptability research into periodic presumptive population-based treatment of asymptomatic and symptomatic STIs among young sexually active people as a model of prevention and treatment service delivery.
- - Research is to focus on communities where there may be poor access to healthcare and/or there is acknowledged to be high risk and high probability of infection.
  - Proposals should clearly identify and address key components of this model of care, such as potential service provider partnerships and risk mitigation strategies.
- Research exploring drivers around blood-borne virus and STI disease burden experienced by older people, with particular foci on Hep B, Hep C, HIV and infectious syphilis.
  - Research may investigate sector knowledge levels, sexual health literacy levels, engagement with testing/treatment, and knowledge and utilisation of prevention measures, with a view to informing prevention approaches and improvements to models of care.
- Underpinning research exploring determinants of health and behavioural norms which may be contributing to the presence and spread of the current syphilis epidemic, to further inform prevention approaches.
- Research in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse populations with separate foci on refugee populations and migrant populations more generally. Research may target the following areas:
- - Country of birth-specific epidemiological data on STIs to inform sexual health promotion/prevention programs
  - Effective sexual health service models
  - Qualitative research and further analysis of existing data
  - Effective approaches to reduce stigma around sexual health within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities, including peer-led and/or community-led interventions

Click here for grant guidelines

Click here to download application form

Click here to download Frequently Asked Questions

Successful applications

The Sexual Health Ministerial Advisory Committee and the Department of Health are pleased to support the research efforts of the grant recipients from Rounds One, Two and Three:

Project title: Increasing capacity and capability of GPs to provide hepatitis B testing and follow-up management for Chinese and Vietnamese community members.
Lead investigator: Amy Mullens
Project description: This project aims to assess current practices, clinical pathways, and resources available for hepatitis B testing and follow-up; as well as develop frameworks for a culturally responsive pilot program to ensure that patients and doctors are aware of, and uptake, these best practices.
Project timeline: March 2019 - November 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 17/01/2022]: Findings from Qualitative Interviews These interviews reviewed beliefs/attitudes of affected community members in Australia; and knowledge/attitudes/practices of GPs/nurses and bilingual cultural workers regarding Hepatitis B. Results Three key themes (and sub-themes) emerged regarding future needs to enhance health promotion/outcomes within primary care: · Improve education of community members and health professionals (awareness, access, management). · Address patient barriers to care/service (language barriers, access to care, preference to stay within local area for follow up, desire to avoid hospital, costs of vaccinations); and · Develop innovative health promotion to optimise reach among community members and key patient supports (community-focused workshops, peer-support, engaging people living with Hepatitis B, engaging family members). Findings support differences and preferences across participants (age and cultural background) regarding education/awareness/willingness to access services, and distinct needs within both the Chinese and Vietnamese communities.

Project title: Syphilis in pregnant women and their newborn infants in South-East Queensland 2016-2021: a retrospective audit of management and outcomes and assessment of barriers to care
Lead investigator: Clare Nourse
Project description: This project aims to identify gaps and potential barriers to optimise management of syphilis and will use this information to make recommendations to improve practice and optimise prevention of congenital syphilis.
Project timeline: March 2019 – December 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 24/01/2022]: Key finding from Phase 1: · Congenital syphilis is on the rise in Australia and can occur even if there has been a negative maternal amental screening [1]. · General Practitioners are often the first point of care, therefore it is imperative that efforts are made to improve General Practitioners awareness and adherence to guidelines of detection and management of syphilis in pregnancy [2]. · Based on an audit of public health notifications and clinical records based between 2016-2018 in South East Queensland, 22 (73%) of women with syphilis in pregnancy received care consistent with guidelines [3]. · Within this timeframe one infant met criteria for congenital syphilis and five total received penicillin therapy. Only seven (27%) of infants had serological monitoring after discharge [3]. · Management of syphilis in pregnancy can be optimised in a variety of ways, including timely testing and treatment of mothers and their partners, strict adherence to penicillin dosing regimes for latent syphilis, and thorough maternal and infant testing following initial treatment and delivery of the child.[3] · Important to consider in the context of clinical practice is that if maternal treatment was inadequate in pregnancy, there is a heightened need to monitor, evaluate, and provide treatment for infants [3]. [1] Wu, Mandy, Seel, Mandy, Britton, Sumudu, Dean, Judith A., Lazarou, Mattea, Safa, Huda, Griffin, Paul, and Nourse, Clare (2021). Addressing the crisis of congenital syphilis: Key findings from an evaluation of the management of syphilis in pregnancy and the newborn in South‐East Queensland. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology ajo.13424 . https://doi.org/10.1111/ajo.1342400 [2] Wu, Mandy, Dean, Judith A., Seel, Mandy, Britton, Sumudu, and Nourse, Clare (2021). Management of syphilis in pregnancy: What is the role of general practice?. Australian Journal of General Practice 50 (7) 439-440. [3] Wu, Mandy, Seel, Mandy, Britton, Sumudu, Dean, Judith A., Lazarou, Mattea, Safa, Huda, Griffin, Paul, and Nourse, Clare (2021). Addressing the crisis of congenital syphilis: Key findings from an evaluation of the management of syphilis in pregnancy and the newborn in South‐East Queensland. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology ajo.13424 . https://doi.org/10.1111/ajo.13424

Project title: Investigating sexual health trajectories of gender variant/sexually diverse young people to inform and enhance clinical pathways and care.
Lead investigator: Lisa Fitzgerald
Project description: This project aims to assess current practices, clinical pathways, and resources available for hepatitis B testing and follow-up; as well as develop frameworks for a culturally responsive pilot program to ensure that patients and doctors are aware of, and uptake, these best practices. This project investigates the sexual health experiences and needs of gender variant, sexually diverse young people (GVSDYP) as well as their health trajectories to examine the role of personal communities in GVSDYP's health and wellbeing.
Project timeline: August 2019 – December 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 24/01/2022]: Data collection is still in progress, and preliminary analysis of interview data and the identification of project findings is ongoing.

Project title: Reducing disparities for Australian culturally and linguistically diverse overseas-born people in relation to sexual health and blood-borne viruses: Queensland sub-study.
Lead investigator: Joanne Durham
Project description: This project aims to develop recommendations for health promotion and public health initiatives that seek to improve STI and BBV outcomes for Queensland CaLD overseas-born people.
Project timeline: August 2019 – October 2021
IP generated as part of project: IP was generated in this project – the survey instrument – this might need to be updated with details
[Current] project findings [pending Final Project report]: N/A

Project title: Precision public health for enhanced syphilis management in Queensland.
Lead investigator: David Whiley
Project description: This project aims to understand social and sexual networks driving infections, allowing for optimisation of precision and timeliness of interventions.
Project timeline: August 2019 – June 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 17/01/2022]: This project is using genomic tools to better understand transmission of syphilis in Queensland. These genomic tools are like those being used to track SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) variants, and the similarities do not stop there. The data indicates that (like SARS-Cov-2) a small number of Treponema pallidum (Syphilis) strains account for most Syphilis infections in Queensland. This therefore begs the question as to whether targeted public health interventions could be used to limit syphilis transmission in Queensland, particularly among at-risk groups including females of reproductive age.

Project title: Enhancing pathways, workforce and capacity for HAND (HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders) assessment for people living with HIV (PLHIV) throughout Qld-including regional.
Lead investigator: Amy Mullens (formerly Adina Piovesana)
Project description: This project aims to develop and improve referral pathways (including through the development of workforce development resources) and capacity for HAND-screening assessments.
Project timeline: September 2021 – August 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 17/01/2022]: Changes to funding and structure at university clinics have resulted in this referral pathway not being a viable long-term solution for HAND assessments Difficulties accessing university clinic locations was a barrier for some PLHIV accessing a HAND screening assessment. Consideration should be given to resourcing existing community-based support providers to be able to offer HAND assessments at more easily accessible locations. New international connections to develop patient focused improved health care pathways and interventions as an outcome

Project title: GoLoCypro: Titrating lowest effective dose of cyproterone acetate for treatment of transgender and gender diverse people who request feminising hormones.
Lead investigator: Judith Dean
Project description: This project aims to determine minimum effective dose (and identify a dose response gradient) to suppress testosterone production, leading to reduced side effects for people transitioning using androgen blockers.
Project timeline: August 2019 – December 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 24/01/2022]: Currently there are no published findings from this study.

Project title: Exploring the relationship between HIV literacy, risks, and networks of newly arrived Asian-born gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM).
Lead investigator: Lisa Fitzgerald
Project description: This project seeks to outline the role that social and sexual networks play in the development of sexual health literacy among newly arrived Asian-born gay and bisexual men in QLD, and how community-based providers can navigate these networks to develop interventions to improve HIV literacy and reduce HIV risks.
Project timeline: January 2021 – October 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 24/01/2022]: Data collection is still in progress, and preliminary analysis of interview data and the Identification of project findings is ongoing.

Project title: Sexual and Reproductive Health Literacy of Young Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Queenslanders.
Lead investigator: Judith Dean
Project description: This project explores sexual health and reproductive health literacy (SRHL), attitudes, beliefs, and practices of culturally and linguistically diverse young people (CALDYP) with the aim to use findings to develop a health promotion strategy to improve and promote healthy sex-positive sexual and reproductive health conversations.
Project timeline: December 2020 – December 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 24/01/2022]: Nil findings available to date.

Project title: Enhancing harm reduction services (BBV and STI) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who inject drugs through improved engagement.
Lead investigator: Andrew Smirnov
Project description: This project seeks to support development of accessible, culturally appropriate and responsive harm reduction services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who inject drugs (PWID), to reduce HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and syphilis infection and transmission in these population groups.
Project timeline: January 2021 – December 2022
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 24/01/2022]: The research appears to have been effective in increasing engagement between needle and syringe programs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who inject drugs at the sites in Brisbane and Cairns. This is largely due to the provision of incentives, including unconditional prepaid incentives for peer recruitment, and interagency collaboration supporting the rapid testing and data collection activities. Relatively high numbers of people were tested (for hepatitis C, syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis B), especially in Cairns, and some referrals for confirmatory testing and treatment were made. The research demonstrated the feasibility of rapid testing for multiple conditions in a harm reduction setting. The subsequent phases of the project need to be completed before the full results and implications of the research are known.

Project title: Co-design of a Health Literacy Framework (CALD): Supporting sexual health providers to meet the needs of CALD young people.
Lead investigator: Joanne Durham
Project description: Seeks to establish the first baseline of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) young peoples’ sexual health literacy and co-design an acceptable Health Literacy Framework to implement across Queensland to strengthen engagement with CALD youth, support their health literacy, e-health literacy, and sexual health literacy, and enable them to have sex-positive conversations.
Project timeline: March 2022 – February 2023
IP generated as part of project: No IP currently generated as part of project.
[Current] project findings [updated 17/01/2022]: Young people (16-24 years) of Asia-Pacific backgrounds have reasonable general health literacy and but have lower levels of health literacy and access to mental and sexual health services due to stigma related to these health issues. Young people (16-24 years) of Asia-Pacific backgrounds have limited experience of using electronic sources to seek, find, understand, appraise health information, and apply the knowledge gained to address or solve a health problem.