We have a considerable body of work examining the physical health of people using mental health services in New Zealand. We are part of the Equally Well collaboration and have played an important role in providing New Zealand evidence to support the collaboration's goal of “reducing physical health disparities between people who experience mental health and addiction problems, and people who don't”.
We are currently developing work with a focus on the relationship between ethnicity, mental illness and physical health.
Current major research
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Managing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in people with mental illness
This project, funded by the National Heart Foundation, examines cardiovascular risk factors, risk prediction, and outcomes, among people with a history of severe mental illness. It is a collaboration with the VIEW research team at the University of Auckland. -
Premature mortality and severe mental illness
This project, in collaboration with the Key Performance Indicator project and the Northern Regional Alliance, seeks to develop an indicator of premature mortality among people using mental health services in New Zealand, as a service quality outcome measure to be used by District Health Boards. - Tupuānuku – Nourishing the physical health of tangata whaiora
Funded by the Health Research Council for 2021–2023, this project will address the factors contributing to inequities in physical health outcomes for people with experience of mental illness or addiction in Aotearoa.
Tupuānuku – Nourishing the Physical Health of Tangata Whaiora
Previous major research and publications
- Cardiovascular disease risk and management in people who experience serious mental illness: an evidence review – supporting the priorities of Equally Well, working to improve the physical health of people with mental health and/or addiction problems. Retrieved from https://www.tepou.co.nz/resources/cardiovascular-disease-risk-and-management-in-people-who-experience-serious-mental-illness-an-evidence-review/741
- Cancer in the Context of Severe Mental Illness in New Zealand. Retrieved from https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/handle/10523/6574
- Mental health service users and the experience of breast cancer
- Premature mortality and severe mental illness. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/34658/content.pdf