Rachel Nolan, Speech Pathologist in Community Therapy Service (CTS) and Northern Health’s Progressive Neurological Diseases (PND) Clinic, has been awarded a FightMND Care Research Seed Grant for her project, Investigating Secretion Management Lived Experience to Improve Care Pathways in a Specialist Multidisciplinary MND Clinic.

The project will investigate one of the most common, yet under-recognised challenges faced by people living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) – the management of secretion symptoms.

Secretion issues can significantly affect comfort, communication, sleep, use of breathing supports, and overall quality of life. Despite their prevalence, relatively little research has explored how people living with MND and their carers experience and manage these symptoms in everyday life.

Through interviews with people living with MND and their primary carers, the study will explore the real-world challenges of secretion management and identify factors that help or hinder effective symptom management. Using a recognised behaviour change framework, the research will examine how people’s knowledge, skills, opportunities, and confidence influence how they manage secretion symptoms and access support.

“Receiving this grant is very meaningful for me. Having never completed a research project before, this grant enables me the opportunity to dip my toe into the research world,” Rachel said.

“As a clinician working in Northern Health’s PND Clinic for five and a half years, I’ve seen firsthand how distressing secretion issues can be for people living with MND and their families.”

“The importance of this research is providing an opportunity to listen directly to our patients and carers, learn from their experiences, and use those insights to improve secretion management.”

“I am really excited to be leading this project.”

FightMND’s Care Research Seed Grants support and encourage clinicians to collaborate with experienced researchers to co-design and undertake MND care research over a 12-month period.

As Rachel’s first research project, the grant has enabled the formation of a multidisciplinary team that includes experts in MND research from La Trobe University, the University of Melbourne, and Northern Health’s PND Clinic, providing mentorship and research expertise to support this important qualitative study.