Co
ngratulations to the Rio Tinto Children’s Diabetes Centre’s Dr Keely Bebbington on being awarded a JDRF Rebecca Davies Clinical Research Fellowship for her research that aims to prevent the onset of anxiety in children with T1D and their families.
For this three-year fellowship, Dr Bebbington hopes to better understand and improve mental health and psychosocial functioning in young people with T1D and their families, with a particular interest in helping them adjust to living with T1D.
Dr Bebbington, a Clinical Psychologist who leads the mental health and wellbeing research at the Rio Tinto Children’s Diabetes Centre (a JDRF Global Centre of Excellence), says the funding will enable her to investigate if supporting caregivers to strengthen their relationships with their children can help to prevent the onset of anxiety in children with the condition.
"This is a largely unmet need for the T1D community, with the burden of the chronic condition and ongoing management contributing to poorer mental health outcomes, including heightened anxiety levels in a disproportionate number of people with T1D and their parents," Dr Bebbington said.
"Anxiety is a significant problem for young people living with T1D and is associated with a range of negative mental and physical health outcomes later in life."
Dr Bebbington, who has a PhD from the University of Western Australia, says she plans to work with caregivers of children living with T1D to develop a program that aims to support them to raise healthy, confident children and reduce the burden of living with this condition.”
The funding for the Rebecca Davies Clinical Research Fellowship is made possible through The JDRF Australian Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network (T1DCRN), which provides a national framework to support the most promising T1D research and clinical trials in Australia.
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*Dr Keely Bebbington (R) with students Olivia and Natasha from the diabetes mental health team.