Gabriele Bammer

Gabriele Bammer
Australian National University | ANU · Research School of Population Health

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164
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Publications

Publications (164)
Article
Full-text available
A growing number of inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) toolkits provide methods, processes, concepts, heuristics, frameworks, and other resources for designing and implementing ITD research. A brief overview of the currently fragmented toolkits landscape is provided, fleshed out through descriptions of four toolkits. Fragmentation means that resear...
Article
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As part of a curriculum reform process, The Australian National University (ANU) is introducing a universal undergraduate requirement that responds to decades-long calls for universities to take seriously the development of expertise in the transdisciplinary problem solving required to address the major challenges facing society. Described here are...
Article
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For the past decade, collaboration has been the preferred method of devising land and water policy in Aotearoa New Zealand to achieve agreed outcomes. However, the use of collaboration in policymaking is at a crossroads, as some argue it is unrealistic to expect stakeholders and tangata whenua with competing interests to work in partnership on cont...
Article
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Science communication is essential for inter- and trans-disciplinary research on complex societal and environmental problems. Two aspects are explored as examples: 1) helping teams understand the systemic nature of such problems and 2) helping collaborations run effectively. Integration and implementation sciences (i2S) is a new discipline that add...
Article
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Expertise in research integration and implementation is an essential but often overlooked component of tackling complex societal and environmental problems. We focus on expertise relevant to any complex problem, especially contributory expertise, divided into ‘knowing-that’ and ‘knowing-how.’ We also deal with interactional expertise and the fact t...
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Abstract: Ten Australians and one New Zealander provide reflections on the influence of Julie Thompson Klein’s work on and in inter- and trans- disciplinarity. Even taking into account that this article is based on a small number of contributions from only one corner of the world, the reflections demonstrate the influence of a diverse array of Klei...
Research
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This special volume of Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies is the first volume of critical essays on the work of scholar Julie Thompson Klein. Guest edited by Tanya Augsburg
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Leaders of sustainability research organizations need to provide an environment where interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary science flourish. Developing the necessary leadership skills and attributes requires new, targeted training programmes.
Article
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Could we overcome the challenges of embedding interdisciplinarity in the academic mainstream if relevant expertise were defined and recognised as a new discipline? Such expertise includes the ability to combine knowledge from different disciplines, as well as to assess which disciplines and stakeholders have relevant perspectives, figure out how el...
Article
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Could we overcome the challenges of embedding interdisciplinarity in the academic mainstream if relevant expertise were defined and recognised as a new discipline? Such expertise includes the ability to combine knowledge from different disciplines, as well as to assess which disciplines and stakeholders have relevant perspectives, figure out how el...
Article
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Community operational research (COR) would benefit from forming strategic alliances with other areas of scholarly endeavor involved in tackling complex social and environmental problems. Intellectually this would strengthen COR as a community of practice, expanding its repertoire of tools and increasing uptake of COR concepts and methods by researc...
Article
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How can interdisciplinary research proposals be more effectively assessed through peer review? A key issue is to characterize what constitutes appropriate peer review for interdisciplinary research. This is approached by considering four key elements on which evaluations of funding proposals are based: (1) the significance of the topic, (2) the imp...
Research
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Developed at the March 2015 workshop “Working Together for Better Outcomes” by 36 participants from 21 research, funding and end-user organisations. This guide aims to help researchers at any stage of their careers to work more effectively with researchers from other diverse disciplines and/or non-research partners. Interdisciplinary research that...
Research
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Developed at the March 2015 workshop “Working Together for Better Outcomes” by 36 participants from 21 research, funding and end-user organisations.This guide is aimed at research partners from international, national or local government; small or large private or public companies; non-governmental organisations; and the citizenry. It provides guid...
Research
Full-text available
Developed at the March 2015 workshop “Working Together for Better Outcomes” by 36 participants from 21 research, funding and end-user organisations. This guide aims to alert national and international funding agencies to specific funding requirements for interdisciplinary research which involves researchers from diverse disciplines and/or non-resea...
Article
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In inter- and transdisciplinary teams, diverse perspectives on a particular problem must be integrated into shared models of the problem. This process has been identified as a core challenge for socio-environmental synthesis research and education. There is little understanding of how to facilitate knowledge integration across perspectives. We gene...
Article
Imagine that you lead a team working on a complex environmental issue, that you are frustrated by the inability to easily obtain an overview of available resources, that you specifically require tools to manage the boundaries relevant to your project, and that you confront the challenge of figuring out how best to teach what you know to others. Thi...
Article
In this opinion editorial, New Water Policy and Practice International Advisory Board member Prof Gabriele Bammer (National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Australia) draws inspiration from her work in developing Integration and Implementation Sciences, a new discipline providing concepts and methods f...
Article
Agent-based simulation models can be used to explore the impact of policy and practice on drug use and related consequences. In a linked paper (Perez et al., 2011), we described SimAmph, an agent-based simulation model for exploring the use of psychostimulants and related harm amongst young Australians. In this paper, we use the model to simulate t...
Article
Computer simulations provide a useful tool for bringing together diverse sources of information in order to increase understanding of the complex aetiology of drug use and related harm, and to inform the development of effective policies. In this paper, we describe SimAmph, an agent-based simulation model for exploring how individual perceptions, p...
Article
Researchers are often frustrated by their inability to influence policy. We describe models of policy-making to provide new insights and a more realistic assessment of research impacts on policy. We describe five prominent models of policy-making and illustrate them with examples from the alcohol and drugs field, before drawing lessons for research...
Article
To show how the inclusion of agent-based modelling improved the integration of ethno-epidemiological data in a study of psychostimulant use and related harms among young Australians. Agent-based modelling, ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews and epidemiological surveys. Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, Australia. Club drug users in Melbourne, r...
Article
Low response rates to postal surveys potentially bias study results. We used three approaches to determine why 46 per cent of a sample were non-responders, and to analyse any potential bias. Labour force data, telephone interviews with a number of non-responders and trend examination showed that our study sample was no different to the known nursin...
Article
Hepatitis C is among Australia's most common notifiable infectious diseases and the majority of those affected develop chronic illness. Management of other chronic illnesses has been shown to be most effective when gender‐specific health education and support is offered. This paper examines gender differences in the health‐seeking behaviour of men...
Article
The aim of this study was to measure the acceptability to stable methadone maintenance clients seeking termination of methadone treatment of accelerated withdrawal using a standardized protocol of naltrexone and minimal sedation; and to provide a first assessment of the probable demand for such treatment, characterize the withdrawal experience, and...
Article
As part of a wide-ranging investigation of the feasibility of providing heroin to dependent users, the views of key interest groups were sought. Sixty-six percent of Canberra residents and 31%, 71% and 76% of samples of police, service providers and drug users/ex-users, respectively, supported the notion of a trial of controlled heroin provision. A...
Article
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This study examines the impact of workplace drug and alcohol education on nurses' therapeutic attitude to patients who use illicit drugs. It builds on a study of the generalist nursing workforce in the Australian Capital Territory in 2003, which showed that the interaction of role support with workplace drug and alcohol education facilitated nurses...
Article
We investigated how a randomised controlled trial (RCT) could be designed to incorporate features known or thought likely to enhance the uptake of the new treatment into clinical practice post-trial. Between 1999 and 2001, we trialled buprenorphine treatment for heroin dependence in community settings throughout Victoria, using 28 experienced metha...
Article
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To examine the determinants of generalist nurses' therapeutic attitude to patients who use illicit drugs, and to model workforce development initiatives. Individuals who use illicit drugs rely heavily on healthcare in emergency departments and inpatient hospital wards. Little is known about the determinants of generalist nurses' therapeutic attitud...
Article
This conceptual paper explores three areas of research collaboration: (a) effectively harnessing differences, (b) setting defensible boundaries and (c) gaining legitimate authorization. The focus is on their potential lessons for individuals leading and managing research collaborations, evaluation of research partnerships and areas for further inve...
Chapter
Integration is a core feature of transdisciplinary research. The challenge we address is that there has been no systematic development of integration concepts and methods. Historically, crossing boundaries between disciplines and between research and practice became a particular feature of 20th century research. Three cognitive objectives influence...
Chapter
We are 23 researchers and practitioners who collaborated to accelerate the process of developing a multidimensional approach to ignorance and uncertainty. We focus on the integrative aspects of this partnership, presenting and then employing a framework to systematically describe integration: (1) integration for what and for whom? (2) integration o...
Article
The aim of this paper is to describe a new comprehensive approach to studying illicit drug policy - one that integrates evidence, disciplinary approaches, drug use behaviours and policy making processes. The methods described here include systematic reviews of the evidence, studies of the ways in which policy decision-making actually occurs, and th...
Article
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Over the past few decades, many researchers have concluded that adequately addressing issues in the knowledge society requires a major transformation of research, away from disengaged disciplines toward socially engaged, transdisciplinary approaches. To date, knowledge exchange between transdisciplinarity researchers via academic publications has b...
Article
Concerns are frequently voiced about harms to children of mothers who use drugs. We explored the subjective socio-cultural experiences of childrearing by women using illicit drugs (heroin mainly and amphetamines) and compared them to those of three other groups of women. Two comparison groups mirrored correlates of illicit drug use, namely: women o...
Article
To describe the circumstances surrounding recent heroin overdose among a sample of heroin overdose survivors and the links to their knowledge of overdose risk. A cross-sectional survey of 257 recent non-fatal heroin overdose survivors was undertaken to examine self-reported knowledge of overdose risk reduction strategies, behaviour in the 12 h prio...
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“What does the global research environment look like?” This paper presents a summary look at the results of efforts to address this question using available indicators on global research production. It was surprising how little information is available, how difficult some of it is to access and how flawed the data are. The three most useful data so...
Article
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As part of a broader study on Indigenous illegal drug use, the authors undertook skills training to increase cross-cultural mutual understanding of the often different approaches and methodologies between research and practice, as well as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal understandings of these approaches. The study and the skills transfer training we...
Article
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Developing a new specialisation—Integration and Implementation Sciences—may be an effective way to draw together and significantly strengthen the theory and methods necessary to tackle complex societal issues and problems. It would place complexity science in broader context and link it to a range of complement- ary concepts and skills. This chapte...
Article
We recruited women in two Australian locations to complete a questionnaire on their health and social experiences of living with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Among 462 respondents 9% identified themselves as lesbian and 14% as bisexual. Bisexuals were more disadvantaged than lesbians or heterosexuals on income, work status, home ownership, and leve...
Article
Heroin overdose is a serious consequence of heroin use and one of the leading causes of premature death and illness in Australia. Despite considerable research effort little is known about the effects of transient changes in heroin user behaviour and the links to overdose. This research is the first to use a suitable methodology to allow such ephem...
Article
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[First Paragraph] This special issue of the Journal of Research Practice focuses on integration research, also known as integrated or integrative research. Integration between disciplines and between research and practice is increasingly recognised as essential to tackle complex problems more effectively. But there is little to guide researchers ab...
Article
To ascertain and meet current and anticipated needs for residential care and other services by older Indigenous people in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and region. With advice from a reference group, qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from 98 older (45 years and over) Indigenous people in the ACT and region during 1999/2000. I...
Article
Why are employed women at increased risk for upper limb musculoskeletal disorders and what can this tell us about the way work and family life shape health? Despite increases in women's labour force participation, gender differences in work-related health conditions have received little research attention. This appears be the first study to examine...
Article
Buprenorphine was registered in Australia as a maintenance and detoxification agent for the management of opioid dependence in November, 2000, and became widely available in August, 2001. This paper provides an overview of key developments in the introduction of buprenorphine treatment in Australia, with an emphasis upon the delivery of services in...
Article
To describe the prevalence of contraception among a sample of women with hepatitis C (HCV), compare it with contraceptive use among Australian women generally, and look for associations between contraception and sample characteristics. Women who self-identified as living with HCV were recruited through a wide range of non-clinical and clinical site...
Article
The present study aimed to compare the efficacy of levo-alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM) and methadone, as measured by retention in treatment and heroin use, in a randomized trial conducted under naturalistic conditions. This study is the first randomized trial comparing LAAM with methadone in the primary care setting. Participants were recruited throug...
Article
Following on from last edition's Harm Reduction Digest on drug consumption facilities this Digest investigates what can be learnt from the Swiss and Dutch trials of heroin prescribing about the unintended consequences of this controversial intervention to reduce heroin-related harm. The authors of the paper bring considerable experience in the impl...
Article
To describe methadone injectors and the risk practices associated with injecting methadone in New South Wales, Australia. To assess the impact on injecting drug use and risk behaviour of the withdrawal of methadone injecting equipment from government-funded needle and syringe programs. Cross-sectional survey, conducted in 1999, of 206 people who ha...
Article
Of the estimated 160000 Australians currently infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), over one-third are women and very few have received clinical treatment, with most managing their illness in non-specialist settings. Little is known about the experiences of women living with HCV in the general community. The present study provides the results...
Article
The study aimed to identify the range of buprenorphine doses required to comfortably alleviate symptoms in patients undergoing inpatient heroin withdrawal using a symptom-triggered titration dosing regime, and to identify the patient characteristics that impact upon the buprenorphine dose requirements. The study was conducted in two Australian inpa...
Article
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Practice research engagement (PRE) is increasingly important for producing knowledge and innovations in practice for complex social problem-solving. We pose several questions: Why do PRE? What is required to organize effective PRE? And what is needed for PRE to contribute to democratizing knowledge? We present a framework to encourage researchers t...
Article
Background: Of the estimated 160 000 Australians currently infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), over one-third are women and very few have received clinical treatment, with most managing their illness in non-specialist settings. Little is known about the experiences of women living with HCV in the general community. The present study provides...
Article
Full-text available
Health impact assessment (HIA) and comparative risk assessment (CRA) are important tools with which governments and communities can compare and integrate different sources of information about various health impacts into a single framework for policy-makers and planners. Both tools have strengths that may be combined usefully when conducting compre...
Article
Concern about the health and general well-being of children whose parents use illicit drugs has contributed to an increased interest in intervention programmes, but the number of such services is still limited. We review published papers about residential, home-visiting and non-residential programmes and use these and our experience in studying pla...
Article
To determine whether buprenorphine is more effective than clonidine and other symptomatic medications in managing ambulatory heroin withdrawal. Open label, prospective randomized controlled trial examining withdrawal and 4-week postwithdrawal outcomes on intention-to-treat. Two specialist, out-patient drug treatment centres in inner city Melbourne...
Article
To determine if the timing for requesting signed permission to access personal health services utilization records affects authorization or survey response rates. A screening question about in-principle willingness to permit access to personal health services utilization records was included in a mail-based survey of two Australian female samples (...
Article
To trial two novel methods of recruiting people who experience non-fatal heroin overdose through the ambulance service. Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. In Melbourne potential participants were given numbered contact cards by ambulance paramedics after revival, while in Sydney potential participants were approached after revival by a researcher who...
Article
Australia ranks high internationally in the prevalence of cannabis and other illicit drug use, with the prevalence of all illicit drug use increasing since the 1970s. There are two distinctive features associated with harms from injecting drug use-high rates of death from heroin overdose and low rates of HIV infection. Australia has largely avoided...
Article
To assess the effectiveness of a telephone reminder in increasing responses to postal surveys and to calculate the differential costs per completed questionnaire. Randomised controlled trial. Australian university and rehabilitation medicine practice. The trial was conducted in 1999 among the 143 non-respondents to a questionnaire about work relate...
Article
The aim of this study was to measure the acceptability to stable methadone maintenance clients seeking termination of methadone treatment of accelerated withdrawal using a standardized protocol of naltrexone and minimal sedation; and to provide a first assessment of the probable demand for such treatment, characterize the withdrawal experience, and...
Article
Full-text available
The present paper explores strategies that drug-using women employ to protect their children from drug-related harm. Twenty-two mothers were recruited through word-of-mouth, field recruitment, and flyers. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect mother's views on parenting and heroin use. Analysis was conducted using a standard qualitative s...
Article
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A peer-based support and advocacy group for illicit drug users in collaboration with a community nurse developed an innovative program for the children of users. The program provides well-baby checks, immunization monitoring, parenting advice, monitoring of children's safety, a free lunch and education about nutrition, as well as activities for the...
Article
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To analyse and compare newspaper coverage about heroin during a period spanning two government policy decisions to approve, then prevent, a trial of heroin prescription to dependent users. All articles published about heroin spanning the two policy decisions (1-19 August 1997) were collected from seven major Australian newspapers. Analyses included...
Article
Outlines the areas for evaluation of supervised injecting rooms, the limitations of any evaluation and how the evaluation results can be buttressed against misuse. Argues that forceful advocacy for the role of evaluation in political decision-making is needed.
Article
Although rapid expansion of methadone programs has occurred in many countries, there are few studies of the impact on treatment success. The one public methadone maintenance program in Canberra was expanded from 85 places in 1991 to 350 places in late 1992. While this responded to a real need, it also led to a temporary increase in drop-outs. Reten...
Article
1. To determine whether naltrexone-accelerated detoxification with minimal sedation is an acceptable and effective form of induction onto naltrexone. 2. To monitor outcomes of detoxified patients. Observational study. Medical ward of a general hospital (for detoxification) and a community clinic (for follow-up) in Sydney, NSW, 1998. 15 heroin users...
Article
People dependent on heroin who do not respond to other treatments have been treated by a combination of heroin and methadone. In this Policy Forum, Bammer et al. argue that the debate about the merits of this treatment could be substantially informed by clinical trials that meet rigorous scientific standards. Because of the complexities of workin...
Article
Existing evidence for the efficacy of diamorphine treatment of heroin dependence is presented, focusing first on ‘gold standard’ randomised controlled trials and then on other forms of evidence. The evidence strongly suggests that diamorphine treatment may be of some value and that further trials are warranted. Nevertheless, there are a range of ri...

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