Research in the field of nutritional psychiatry is underway at Southern Cross University and postdoctoral research fellow, Dr Jessica Bayes, is looking for participants for a survey to help with the findings.
Dr Bayes is recruiting for the national 15 minute online survey – exploring diet quality, food intake, mental health and wellbeing outcomes in Autistic adults.
The survey, which needs a minimum of 385 participants and has full ethical approval from SCU’s Human Research Ethics Committee, will be open for up to a year.
Baseline health, nutrition, mental wellbeing and lifestyle
Dr Bayes says investigating baseline health, nutrition, mental wellbeing and lifestyle habits is crucial to identify and establish future required research in this field in order to support Autistic adults in a holistic, well-rounded way and complete way.
‘Therefore, this research aims to contribute to the emerging field of adult autism research in Australia, with the view to inform clinical practice, policy development, and support services tailored to this demographic,’ she said
Dr Bayes says there are currently no studies exploring diet in relation to impacts on mental health and wellbeing. ‘Significant previous research in non-autistic adults has shown that diet and mental health are highly correlated, and that diet and lifestyle modifications (lifestyle psychiatry) can improve mental health outcomes, however, it is not known whether these findings would translate to Autistic adults,’ she said.
Helping autistic adults to thrive
‘We hope to investigate and highlight the voices, experiences, preferences and challenges regarding diet, lifestyle factors and mental wellbeing of autistic adults across Australia. This is important for understanding what additional supports, services and accommodations are needed to help autistic adults to thrive.’
Dr Bayes hopes that this research will lead to similar studies with other area. ‘We are hoping that this project will steamroll the research in this field so we can make specific recommendations personalised to different conditions and illnesses.’
If you would like to participate in the survey, visit: bit.ly/3M0GuRi.
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