Ronel
2022
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Why did you choose to do a PhD?
My interest in research was ignited during my undergraduate honours year at NUS Nursing. The thought-provoking process of conducting a primary research and the thrill of uncovering novel findings from my dataset back then, made me yearn for more. My years of experience as a clinical nurse, further ascertained my passion in research; as I got to witness its transformational role in nursing practice- every nursing procedures and interventions are backed by rigorous and sound evidence-based inquiry! It dawned upon me that only through evidence-based practice, the status quo of nursing science can be challenged and scaled to greater heights. Eventually, all these translates to improved patient outcomes- the ultimate goal of every healthcare research. Hence, I believe that the PhD programme will not only equip me with the essential skills and knowledge to be a competent Nurse Researcher, but also open doors of opportunities for me to advance nursing practice on an international level.
Why did you choose to do graduate education at NUS? If you received offers from other universities, why did you pick NUS?
I chose NUS because it is a world-renowned university with world-class Nurse Researchers and academics at the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies. Hence, I can be confident that I am receiving the best education and research mentorship for my PhD journey. Moreover, I like the fact that I have the freedom to choose cross-faculty elective modules- this further enriched my PhD experience as I got to discern different realms of research (eg. social sciences, medicine); and not only confined to the nursing fraternity.
Briefly share about your research or thesis (i.e. dissertation topic for Masters by Coursework students).
My research is centred on community-based interventions for community-dwelling adults with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). MDD is the most common and debilitating subtype of depressive disorders globally, characterised by persistent feeling of sadness, loss of interests, insomnia and feelings of worthlessness, amongst other symptoms. Adults with MDD suffer from severe yet preventable outcomes in the bio-psycho-social aspects of health. Additionally, evidence reveals that adults with MDD have a 20-fold higher risk for suicide than the general population. The psychological impact of the recent Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has inevitably worsened the global prevalence of MDD and heightened the mental healthcare demands of adults with MDD. Yet, most mental health services globally were being disrupted amid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to a renewed interest in existing community-based mental health interventions to ameliorate the disruption. However, literatures have presented gaps in existing community mental health interventions (CMHIs) such as the lack of culturally-appropriate person-centred care (refer to published paper: DOI: 10.1111/inm.13029). Thus, this led me to my main research question- How adequate are the existing CMHIs in meeting the inevitable rise in mental healthcare demands of adults with MDD caused by the COVID-19 pandemic?
What impact do you hope to have with your research?
I hope that the unique and robust mental health programme that I will be testing, would bolster existing community mental health interventions to meet the heightened mental healthcare demands of community-dwelling adults with MDD. Through the programme, I hope to enhance the self-management skills, self-efficacy to manage MDD and the quality of life of adults with MDD in Singapore.