Guest 1: Anna Price, PhD scholar at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Research topic: long-term outcomes and impacts of infant sleep intervention.
Almost half of Australian mothers report a problem with their baby’s sleep in the second six months of life. In the preschool years, sleep problems are associated with maternal sleep deprivation, and in turn, with maternal depression. More recently, sleep has also been linked with obesity. New research suggests that the amount children sleep in early childhood can predict whether they are overweight or obese in later childhood.
My PhD project follows up children involved in an earlier study which showed that a program designed to help parents manage their babies’ sleep in the second six months of life was effective, cost-effective, acceptable to parents and feasible to run in the community. Despite the program’s success, there is concern in the community that early sleep programs can damage children’s later emotional health. In 2009, the children from the original study turn 6. By following them up, we are ideally placed to address 2 key aims: whether (1) the sleep program has long-term effects on children’s later mental health (the focus for my PhD) and (2) treating sleep problems in infancy reduces overweight/obesity later in childhood.
Guest 2: Emily Ridgewell, PhD scholar at Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
Research topic: cerebral palsy.
Many children who have cerebral palsy wear ankle-foot orthoses (ankle braces) to control abnormal movements and to improve their ability to perform everyday activities. These ankle braces are custom made for each child and are made out of rigid plastic, extending over the calf, ankle and foot, and are worn inside shoes. The precise alignment of the ankle brace is known to affect some aspects of walking and has been suggested to be crucial to achieving optimal functional outcomes.
My PhD project is investigating whether ankle brace alignment can be optimised to improve walking function and balance abilities in these children. This will further our understanding of how ankle brace alignment can affect the biomechanics of the body and may lead to implementation of improved treatment regimes. Most importantly it will ensure that these children are receiving the best possible outcomes according to evidence based practice.
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Direct podcast download: Einstein-A-Go-Go-20090927.mp3
Tags: cerebral palsy, infant sleep
