Queensland COVID-19 research

This page of Queensland’s research related to the COVID-19 pandemic is compiled from information provided by Queensland universities and research institutes.

While many of our researchers are working on potential vaccines, treatments and other medical interventions, other researchers are applying their expertise to other impacts of the pandemic upon our economy and other aspects of society. The data includes immediate research activity, recent relevant work, proposed research (subject to available funds) and other responses using the resources and expertise of our research organisations.

Listing all of 16 matching responses out of 149 total responses.

  • A national online survey examining the beliefs, misconceptions and sources of information of Australians on the COVID-19 pandemic September 2021

    Public cooperation to practise preventive health behaviours is essential to manage the transmission of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. This study investigated the beliefs about COVID-19 diagnosis, transmission and prevention of Australians that have the potential to impact the uptake of recommended public health strategies. This national online survey targeted a resentative sample of 1500 Australian adults to identify the proportion of participants with correct/incorrect knowledge of COVID-19 preventive behaviours and reasons for any misconceptions. Most participants correctly identified washing your hands regularly with soap and water and staying at least 1.5m away from others could help prevent COVID-19. Over 40% incorrectly considered wearing gloves outside of the home would prevent them from contracting COVID-19. Views about face masks were divided. Only 66% of participants correctly identified that regular use of antibiotics would NOT prevent COVID-19. Most participants (90%) identified fever, fatigue and cough as indicators of COVID-19. However, of concern, 42% of participants incorrectly thought that being unable to hold your breath for 10 seconds without coughing was an indicator of having the virus. The most frequently reported sources of COVID-19 information were commercial television channels (56%), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (43%) and the Australian Government COVID-19 information app (31%). The report concluded that public messaging about hand hygiene and physical distancing to prevent transmission appears to have been effective. However, there are clear, identified barriers for many individuals that have the potential to impede uptake or maintenance of these behaviours in the long term. The researcher advocated the need to develop public health messages that harness these barriers to improve future cooperation. Ensuring adherence to these interventions is critical.

    #Social sciences#Public health#Community perceptions

    Centre

    Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare
    Bond University

    Contact details
    Ass Prof Rae Thomas
    Associate Professor
    rthomas@bond.edu.au
    +617 5595 5521
    Collaborations

  • A national online survey on the concerns and misconceptions about the Australian Government’s COVIDSafe App September 2021

    Timely and effective contact tracing is an essential public health role to curb the transmission of COVID-19. App-based contact tracing has the potential to optimise the resources of overstretched public health departments. However, it’s efficiency is dependent on wide-spread adoption. Using a national online survey resercher from the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare targeted a representative sample of 1500 Australians the study sought to identify the proportion of people who had downloaded the Australian Government COVIDSafe app and examine the reasons why some did not. The survey showed that 37% had downloaded the COVIDSafe app, 19% intended to, 28% refused, and 16% were undecided. Equally proportioned reasons for not downloading the app included privacy (25%) and technical concerns (24%). Other reasons included a belief that social distancing was sufficient and the app is unnecessary (16%), distrust in the Government (11%), and apathy (11%). In addition, COVIDSafe knowledge varied, with confusion about its purpose and capabilities. The study concluded that for the COVIDSafe app to be accepted by the public and used correctly, public health messages need to address the concerns of its citizens, specifically privacy, data storage, and technical capabilities. Understanding the specific barriers preventing the uptake of tracing apps provides the opportunity to design targeted communication strategies aimed at strengthening public health initiatives such as download and correct use.

    #Social sciences#Public health#Community perceptions

    Centre

    Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare
    Bond University

    Contact details
    Ass Prof Rae Thomas
    Associate Professor
    rthomas@bond.edu.au
    +617 5595 5521
    Collaborations

  • Understanding the effectiveness of government community engagement strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic September 2021

    Ms Maggie Muurmans, a PhD candidate with the Griffith Coastal and Marine Research Centre, is developing a working model for community engagement effectiveness. By identifying the rate and choice of engagement strategies (i.e. participation levels, activities or pathways) one could predict or formulate the expected level of effectiveness. This research aims to assist understanding the effectiveness of government community engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify its reception at grass root level and how the community could be more responsive depending on a different strategy. This will help towards future community engagement strategies led by the government particularly during emergency situations.

    #Social sciences

    Centre

    Griffith Coastal and Marine Research Centre
    Griffith University

    Contact details
    Ms Maggie Muurmans
    Manager, Coastal Community Engagement Program
    m.muurmans@griffith.edu.au
    +61 7 5552 8823

  • Improving Advanced Life Support training for frontline healthcare workers under novel conditions September 2021

    Treating patients with a highly infectious disease, such as COVID-19, requires effective procedures to prevent in-hospital transmission and deliver critical care. This Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship project led by Dr Yoriko Kikkawa from the Griffith Institute for Educational Research will deliver a new simulator and online training program that integrates infection control protocols into Advanced Life Support. This program will protect frontline workers from contracting infectious diseases and improve pandemic readiness for Queensland healthcare workers.

    #Social sciences#Education

    Centre

    Griffith Institute for Educational Research
    Griffith University

    Contact details
    Dr Yoriko Kikkawa
    Research Fellow
    y.kikkawa@griffith.edu.au
    +617 3735 3472
    Collaborations
    Mater Education

  • Disadvantages of digital divide highlighted by COVID-19 pandemic September 2021

    Not all people have an equal experience in accessing to digital platforms and technologies in Australia. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the digital divide that exists in Australia, especially with the temporary closure of schools and universities forcing student that are able to switch to online learning. An Australian Research Council funding project - ‘Advancing digital inclusion in low income Australian families’, led by QUT researchers from the Digital Media Research Centre, will focus on families in six diverse communities from Far North Queensland to Tasmania, in urban, regional and rural locations. Digital participation has been shown to substantially increase opportunities for, and pathways to, civic engagement, financial stability and wellbeing. The aims to address the growing gap experienced by as many as three million Australians living below the poverty line and will focus on the digital inclusion implications of children’s home and school learning experiences, school leavers’ transitions into work, and parenting in digital times.

    #Social sciences#Education

    Centre

    Digital Media Research Centre
    Queensland University of Technology

    Contact details
    Prof Michael Dezuanni
    Program Leader, Digital Media Research Centre
    m.dezuanni@qut.edu.au
    +61 7 3138 5978 
    Collaborations
    • The Smith Family
    • Infoxchange
    • yourtown
    • LEEP NGO
    • Good Things Foundation

  • Working from home during the pandemic: from resistance to revolution August 2021

    In a survey of Australian public servants on experiences of working from home during a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, CQUniversity work and employment researcher, A/Prof Linda Colley and collaborators, have found that working from home can be beneficial for individuals, families and organisations. According to A/Prof Colley, the survey highlighted a significant shift in managers mindsets with dramatic reductions in resistance to working from home. “This is a major finding and indicates a revolution in the way managers think about working from home - in comparison to our 2018 research that found extensive managerial resistance across four state public services.”

    #Social sciences#Humanities

    Centre

    School of Business and Law
    CQUniversity

    Contact details
    a/Professor Linda Colley
    Work and Employment Research Group Leader
    l.colley@cqu.edu.au
    +614 0888 2897
    Collaborations
    Community and Public Sector Union

  • Does high public trust amplify compliance with stringent COVID-19 government health guidelines? A multi-country analysis using data from 102,627 individuals January 2021

    The purpose of this research was to examine how public trust mediates the people’s adherence to levels of stringent government health policies and to establish if these effects vary across the political regimes. The study used data from two large-scale surveys: the global behaviors and perceptions at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Linear regression models were used to estimate the effects of public trust and strictness of restriction measures on people’s compliance level. The model accounted for individual and daily variations in country-level stringency of preventative measures. Differences in the dynamics between public trust, the stringent level of government health guidelines and policy compliance were also examined among countries based on political regimes. The study found strong evidence of the increase in compliance due to the imposition of stricter government restrictions. The examination of heterogeneous effects suggests that high public trust in government and the perception of its truthfulness double the impact of policy restrictions on public compliance. Among political regimes, higher levels of public trust significantly increase the predicted compliance as stringency level rises in authoritarian and democratic countries. This study highlights the importance of public trust in government and its institutions during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The results are relevant and help understand why governments need to address the risks of non-compliance among low trusting individuals to achieve the success of the containment policies.

    #Business and economics#Social sciences#Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Anton Pak
    Research Fellow
    anton.pak@jcu.edu.au
    +617 4781 5834
    Collaborations
    • Collaborators:
    • Prof Emma S McBryde Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University
    • Dr Oyelola A Adegboye College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University

  • Economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak: the need for epidemic preparedness May 2020

    COVID-19 is not only a global pandemic and public health crisis; it has also severely affected the global economy and financial markets. Significant reductions in income, a rise in unemployment, and disruptions in the transportation, service, and manufacturing industries are among the consequences of the disease mitigation measures that have been implemented in many countries. It has become clear that most governments in the world underestimated the risks of rapid COVID-19 spread and were mostly reactive in their crisis response. As disease outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future, proactive international actions are required to not only save lives but also protect economic prosperity. Read the full article Public Health Policy - Frontiers in Public Health. As the disease outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future, proactive international actions are required to not only save lives but also protect economic prosperity. Researchers at AITHM, JCU are writing important timely analyses of COVID-19, with an Australian perspective. The reports may be very valuable at time of publishing, but may have less value a month later, once peer review is completed. AITHM are therefore making all their preprint reports publically available.

    #Business and economics#Social sciences#Epidemiology

    Centre

    Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
    James Cook University

    Contact details
    Dr Anton Pak
    Research Fellow
    anton.pak@jcu.edu.au
    +61 7 478 15834
    Collaborations

  • Pivoting to online teaching during crisis using an engagement framework April 2021

    The COVID-19 crisis has required many universities to pivot from face-to-face to online teaching. The rapidity of this transition is challenging academics unfamiliar with online teaching. This USQ project will evaluate an existing, user-friendly capacity-building tool, the Online Engagement Framework through conducting interviews with novice online educators from across the globe. Data will contribute to existing research on developing educators’ online teaching capabilities, in addition to informing conceptual, theoretical and practical knowledge of online engagement.

    #Social sciences

    Centre

    Institute for Resilient Regions
    University of Southern Queensland

    Contact details
    Dr Alice Brown
    Senior Lecturer
    Alice.Brown@usq.edu.au
    +61 7 3470 4120
    Collaborations
    • Associate Prof Petrea Redmond (USQ)
    • Prof Jill Lawrence (USQ)
    • Dr M Foote (Gardner Institute, North Carolina, USA)
    • Associate Prof Cathy Stone (University of Newcastle)

  • Motivating ‘buy in’ to engage in social distancing April 2021

    This USQ project forms part of an international research collaboration to understand how individuals engage with social distancing messaging related to COVID-19. Data has been collaboratively generated and pooled via 30 individual teams across 19 countries to contribute to a large open-source dataset. The overall aim of the project is to understand the most effective means through which messaging reflecting social distancing regulations is crafted. It is being coordinated by the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA.

    #Social sciences

    Centre

    Centre for Health Research
    University of Southern Queensland

    Contact details
    Ass Prof Charlotte Brownlow
    Ass Dean Graduate Research School
    Charlotte.Brownlow@usq.edu.au
    +61 7 4631 2982
    Collaborations

  • Understanding driver safety within the COVID-19 pandemic environment May 2020

    Professor Jeremy Davey of the USC-MAIC Road Safety Collaboration Unit is undertaking a study of driver safety within the COVID-19 pandemic environment involving a suspension of random breath testing and diminished numbers of drivers on our roads. The USC Road Safety Research Collaboration was established as a strategic collaboration between the Queensland Government, the Motor Accident Insurance Commission and USC in 2018 to undertake research that will positively impact the lives and safety of Queenslanders.

    #Social sciences

    Centre

    USC-MAIC Road Safety Collaboration Unit
    University of Sunshine Coast

    Contact details
    Prof Jeremy Davey
    jdavey4@usc.edu.au
    Collaborations
    Motor Accident Insurance Commission

  • Preparation, anxiety and COVID-19 narratives for Children July 2020

    Previous work from researchers in this team has examined the effect of parental anxiety on the way parents prepare – or fail to prepare – their children for trauma or disaster. This USQ project will apply that understanding in the context of COVID-19 in Australia. By analysing public narratives of COVID-19 directed towards children, including television programs, advertisements, and stories, the project will consider the experience of trauma and its production of anxiety, growth or resilience in both parents and children. In this way, it seeks to understand appropriate coping narratives for children in a range of traumatic and disaster contexts.

    #Social sciences#Humanities

    Centre

    University of Southern Queensland

    Contact details
    Ass Prof Jessica Gildersleeve
    Ass Prof of English Literature
    Jessica.Gildersleeve@usq.edu.au
    +61 7 4631 1043
    Collaborations
    • India Bryce
    • Amy Mullens
    • Beata Batorowicz
    • Kirstie Daken
    • Barbara Ryan

  • Understanding social support and mental health and wellbeing impacts of COVID-19 June 2020

    This USQ study explores social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the focus is on predictors of social media use, including personality traits, empathy, loneliness, copying styles, depression, stress, and anxiety, need to belong, and fear of COVID-19. The purpose of this project is to extend on previous studies that have examined factors linked to social media use, and exploring these individual differences in the current pandemic environment. Specifically, we are exploring frequency of social media use and how individuals use social media (e.g., antisocial or prosocial purposes).

    #Social sciences

    Centre

    Centre for Health Research
    University of Southern Queensland

    Contact details
    Dr Jessica Marrington
    Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Counselling
    Jessica.marrington@usq.edu.au
    +61 7 3812 6150
    Collaborations

  • Uncovering the early years literacy and numeracy learning experiences of children and their families during COVID-19 July 2020

    Members of the USQ Early Childhood Education team are undertaking a study to uncover learning experiences of children and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the survey of Australian parents and children from prior to school and up to Year 2, will acknowledge the voices of both children and families and help to re-examine perceptions and thinking practices for future formal and informal home learning opportunities.

    #Social sciences#Education

    Centre

    School of Education
    University of Southern Queensland

    Contact details
    Michele Wright
    Lecturer
    Michele.Wright@usq.edu.au
    +61 7 3470 4231
    Collaborations

  • Co-parenting and care arrangements during Covid-19 July 2020

    Extending the research from the ‘The Experiences of Separated Parents with the Schooling System’, this project led by Dr Renee Desmarchelier at USQ, aims to understand the impact of Covid-19 restrictions and concerns on co-parenting arrangements of separated and divorced parents within the Australian Education system in order to inform policy and develop best practices.

    #Social sciences#Education

    Centre

    Institute for Resilient Regions
    University of Southern Queensland

    Contact details
    Dr Renee Desmarchelier
    Ass Dean Learning, Teaching and Student Success
    Renee.Desmarchelier@usq.edu.au
    +61 7 4631 2591
    Collaborations

  • Banks have key role in preventing elder financial abuse as relatives experience COVID-19 economic stress July 2020

    Social isolation of vulnerable older people, financial pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic and “inheritance entitlement” have created a perfect storm for increased incidences of elder financial abuse says QUT Law researchers Associate Professor Tina Cockburn and Dr Kelly Purser. Elder financial abuse is often enabled by abuses of an enduring power of attorney document (EPA). An EPA enables someone to make financial decisions on behalf another person who has lost capacity. Cockburn and Purser’s recent research helped define and quantify elder financial abuse under an EPA and noted that under the Australian Banking Code of Practice, banks have committed to training staff to act with sensitivity, respect and compassion towards vulnerable people. COVID-19 has also highlighted the need to be able to access valid will-making when traditional wills formalities have required a physical gathering of the will-maker and witnesses. Emergency interim changes to the law have facilitated will-making and the execution of enduring documents through the use of real-time virtual technologies in Queensland. Purser and Cockburn’s research explores the consequences of this as well as whether these emergency responses have a place in the ‘new normal’ post COVID-19.

    #Social sciences#Law

    Centre

    Australian Centre for Health Law Research
    Queensland University of Technology

    Contact details
    A/Prof Tina Cockburn
    Co-director Australian Centre for Health Law Research
    t.cockburn@qut.edu.au
    +61 7 3138 2003
    Collaborations

Other Queensland COVID-19 initiatives

Queensland Government
Coronavirus (COVID-19) business assistance finder
Life Sciences Queensland
Life Sciences Queensland joins the data-powered alliance to stop COVID-19

Key Australian COVID-19 initiatives

Australian Academy of Science
Rapid Research Information Forum (RRIF)
COVID-19 Expert Database

Key international COVID-19 initiatives

CORD-19 (COVID-19 Open Research Dataset)
Free database of 130,000 plus COVID-19 open research papers