AMS student presenting her research at a conference
Epidemiology AMS student at work
Advanced Medical Science (AMS)
Past SPH AMS Research Topics
More than 150 students have successfully completed their AMS year at the Melbourne School of Population Health since 2001. Many have obtained H1 results; some have presented their work at academic conferences, or published in international journals. Refer to the list below for a sample of topics researched by past students.
Medical Humanities
- Is the National Drugs Campaign 2005 an effective means to discourage Australia's youth from using illicit drugs?
- Does being a female general practitioner in the twentieth century, affect the dynamics of the doctor-patient relationship with young male patients?
- Changing attitudes to death, from ancient times to medieval Europe, and how these influence us today
- Paediatric Ethics
- The use and effects of dietary supplements in enhancing performance of athletes
- The perception of burden and satisfaction associated with the role of female caregiver
- Analysing the philosophy of Pinel and Tuke, and critically appraising it against the theoretical writings of Michel Foucault in his seminal book, Madness and Civilisation
- What are the ethical issues surrounding the decision to discontinue the artificial nutrition and hydration of patients in a permanent vegetative state?
- What evidence is there for the 'slippery slope' argument against euthanasia?
- What is the ethical conflict between doctors and patients when treatment is refused for religious reasons
- What is the perceived effect of pharmaceutical company promotion on the medical profession?
- What are the ethical considerations involved in the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport?
- Female sexual dysfunction
- Why Australian doctors go to war
Social Health
- Identify the fundamental forces driving Medicare policy and analyse the stakeholders' perspectives; What are their conflicting agendas and how do they shape Medicare?
- How is happiness conceptualised within a public health framework?
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- How do Complementary and Alternative practitioners perceive their role in Palliative Care?
- How do western biomedical doctors and complementary medical practitioners manage insomnia and what are the philosophical bases behind these practices?
Public Health Perspectives in Women's Health
- The role of female sex workers regarding HIV transmission in the Southeast Asia region.
- What are the social determinants of teenage pregnancy?
- Understanding the experience of living with endometriosis from a women's perspective.
- What is the nature of intimate partner relationships in mothers admitted to mother-baby units, and how does it correlate with the development of common mental disorders in these mothers?
- What are the relationship between mental illness and young people pathways into and out of homelessness?
- Social and cultural attitudes towards body weight and their relation to obesity and eating disorders.
- Why are caesarean section rates increasing?
- What is the prevalence of diagnosable mental disorders in women admitted to a MBU?
- What is the relationship, if any, between psychological stress and breast cancer?
- Does mammographic density vary by country of birth and language spoken at home?
- Barriers towards cervical cancer screening in Malaysia.
- Disability and Sexuality in Women
- The pregnant body in the public mind: Representations of pregnant women in Australian women's magazines.
- Developing a satisfaction survey for the Breastfeeding Education and Support Services (BESS) at The Royal Women’s Hospital.
International mental health
- The perceptions of needs among patients and clinical staffs in the community psychiatric service in Kuala Lumpur: are these needs better met through the community psychiatric service or the old hospital-based service
Mental health of immigrants and refugees
- Actors within the system: psychiatrists and public mental health research in Asia
- What are the dynamics that operate within mental health services (inpatient care), and how do these impact capacity for responsiveness to diversity?
- What is the approach of the Mobile Support and Treatment Services in responding to issues of cultural diversity
- How do complex systems such as the mental health system function as an organization and how is it responsive to cultural diversity
- How responsive and flexible is a CAT Team in its mental health service provision to diversity in its client population? What opportunities are there for organisational reform?
For future possible research topics refer to individual Unit Home Pages or Unit descriptions