Charles Sturt University will play a critical role in driving research and innovation to deliver solutions for post-COVID-19 recovery rebuilding and regrowth in our region.
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Last month, the University announced it would release $200,000 to fund research focused on understanding the impacts of COVID-19 and to support studies on the impacts on the health, wellbeing, business performance, communities and economy.
The projects will focus on generating new knowledge on the impact of the virus in our communities and will provide a voice for rural and regional people about their experience and perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on them.
Eleven research projects involving a collaboration of 50 Charles Sturt staff have now been awarded funding. One of these projects aims to understand the perspectives of people within western NSW about COVID-19, and is expected to be completed by October this year.
A team of six researchers, led by Bathurst-based School of Management and Marketing Dr Jodie Kleinschafer, will interview 1000 people aged 18 years and over from across the region.
The information is important to allow the Local Health District to support rural, regional, remote and Aboriginal communities in the Charles Sturt regional footprint.
It is expected the research findings will lead to the development of targeted and tailored communication campaigns and the refinement of the health sectors' emergency response plan, which can assist in current and future pandemic outbreaks.
"We are interested how residents of western NSW responded to COVID-19, their perceptions of risk, the efficacy of compliance, and their engagement in preventive health behaviour, as well as the information sources informing those perceptions," Dr Kleinschafer said.
"For example, what was their perception of risk, did they feel they could comply with the measures the government imposed, what were the behaviours they engaged in?
"We are also interested in how actively people sought information, what sources of information they used, and which sources they found most helpful and they relied on."
The researchers include Dr Kleinschafer, Professor Oliver Burmeister, and Gail Fuller from Charles Sturt University; Teesta Saksena and Dr Alice Munro from the Western NSW Local Health District; Dr Mark Lock from the Western Health Research Network; and Dr Julaine Allan from the University of Wollongong.
The research title is 'Understanding risk perceptions, knowledge and preventive health behaviour of Australians in rural, regional remote western NSW during the COVID-19 pandemic'.
Cut-price certificates
CHARLES Sturt University has slashed fees on 15 courses to help workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The 14 graduate certificate courses and one university certificate course will soon be on offer to eligible workers.
They are available for online study only in fields spanning information technology, personal services and education studies.
Discounts range from 25 per cent to 88 per cent off the normal course fees and are available as part of the Australian Government's Higher Education Relief Package.
Only workers affected by COVID-19 are eligible to apply and must complete their course by December 2020.