Lecturer
Dr Sara Farnbach
PhD, MPHTM, RN
Medicine & Health
National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre
Sara is Program Lead, RISE Team (Research, Innovate, Strengthen, Embed) at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), UNSW. She has passion for improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable communities through evidence-based and tailored health service delivery. Her program is focused on preventing harms from alcohol and other drugs in rural and regional NSW and working collaboratively with communities to tailor health services to their setting. Her PhD research focused on facilitators to conducting high-quality and culturally-appropriate research focused on strengthening wellbeing with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. She has research experience working on qualitative designs, embedding evaluations into service delivery and RCTs.
Her current research is focused improving health service delivery to meet the needs of people with alcohol and other drug use problems. She has an interest in novel approaches to service evaluation, using routinely collected data and pragmatic trial designs.
Sara is a Registered Nurse with clinical experience in renal dialysis units in far north Queensland. She has a Masters of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and has worked in the Philippines and the Pacific on several programs including communicable disease control and maternal and child health. She has also worked on health promotion programs in Australia.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
2022 CIA - South West Sydney Primary Health Network Tender "Evaluation of Psychoeducation Modules for Drug and Alcohol Support Service Summary"
2019 CIA - NDARC Seed Funding Application "Early intervention for unhealthy alcohol use among older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: using the Grog Survey App"
2019 CID - NDARC Seed Funding Application Optimising retention in Opioid Agonist Therapy: A retrospective evaluation
2018 CID - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program Seed Funding The George Institute
2016 Fellowship - John Chalmers Program Grant Scholarship by The George Institute for Global Health
2016 CIA - Cross Cultural Public Health Research Award The University of Sydney
2008 Awarded the Order of Australia Association Foundation Scholarship
Economidis, G., Farnbach, S., Falster, K., Eades, A.M. and Shakeshaft, A., 2023. Identifying enablers and barriers to the implementation of Functional Family Therapy–Child Welfare (FFT-CW®) into the routine delivery of child protection services in New South Wales, Australia. Children and Youth Services Review, p.106927. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106927
Farnbach S, Henderson A, Allan J, Wallace R, Shakeshaft A. A Cluster-Randomised Stepped-Wedge Impact Evaluation of a Pragmatic Implementation Process for Improving the Cultural Responsiveness of Non-Aboriginal Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services: A Pilot Study Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4223; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054223
Farnbach S, Fernando J, Coyte J, Simms M, Hackett ML. “I tried to get help about my addiction but he just gave me tablets:” male Aboriginal drug and alcohol rehabilitation clients’ experiences and preferences speaking about substance use in primary care. BMC Primary Care. 2023 Dec;24(1):1-0.
Hopkins RE, Degenhardt L, Campbell G, Farnbach S, Gisev N. “Frustrated with the whole system”: a qualitative framework analysis of the issues faced by people accessing health services for chronic pain. BMC Health Services Research. 2022 Dec 31;22(1):1603.
Talbot, B., Farnbach, S., Tong, A., Chadban, S., Sen, S., Garvey, V., . . . Knight, J. (2022). Patient and Clinician Perspectives on the use of Remote Patient Monitoring in Peritoneal Dialysis. Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease, 9. doi:10.1177/20543581221084499
Trudgett, S., Griffiths, K., Farnbach, S., & Shakeshaft, A. (2022). A framework for operationalising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data sovereignty in Australia: Results of a systematic literature review of published studies. eClinicalMedicine, 45. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101302
Farnbach S, Allan J, Wallace R, Shakeshaft A. Formative process evaluation of a guideline-driven process for improving the cultural responsiveness of alcohol and drug treatment services. BMC Health Services Research. 2021, 21 352 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06367-7
Farnbach S, Fernando J, Coyte J, Simms M, Hackett ML. “It's hard for me to tell my story” The experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male clients at a residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre using primary health care. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. 2020 Dec 28. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.452
Farnbach S, Gee G, Eades AM et al. Process evaluation of the Getting it Right study and acceptability and feasibility of screening for depression with the aPHQ-9. BMC Public Health. 2019 19(1): 1270. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7569-4
The Getting it Right Collaborative Group Getting it Right: validating a culturally specific screening tool for depression (aPHQ-9) in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Medical Journal of Australia 211, no. 1 (2019): 24-30 https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50212
Carcel C, Farnbach S, Essue B.M, Li Q, Glozier N, Jan S, Lindley R, Hackett M.L. Returning to Unpaid Work after Stroke: The Psychosocial Outcomes in Stroke Cohort Study. Cerebrovasc Dis 2019;47:1–7 https://doi.org/10.1159/000496399
Farnbach S, Gee G, Eades AM et al. 'We're here to listen and help them as well': A qualitative study of staff and patient perceptions about participating in social and emotional wellbeing research at primary healthcare services. BMC Psychiatry 2019 19:294. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2263-8
Farnbach S, Gee G, Eades AM et al. What are the resourcing requirements for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care research project? Public Health Res Pract. 2019; Online early publication. https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp29341912
Farnbach S Evans J, Eades AM, et al. Process evaluation of a primary healthcare validation study of a culturally-adapted depression screening tool for use by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Study protocol BMJ Open http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/11/e017612
Whalan S, Farnbach S, Volk L, et al. What do we know about the diets of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia? A systematic literature review. ANZ Jnl of Public Health http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12721
Farnbach S, Eades AM, Hackett ML. et al. The conduct of Indigenous primary health care research focused on social and emotional wellbeing involving collaborations: A systematic review. Public Health Res Pract. https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp27451704
Farnbach S, Eades AM, Hackett ML. et al. The quality of Australian Indigenous primary health care research focusing on social and emotional wellbeing: a systematic review. Public Health Res Pract. https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp27341700
Hackett ML, Farnbach S, Hackett ML, et al. Getting it Right: study protocol to determine the diagnostic accuracy of a culturally-specific measure to screen for depression in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. BMJ open. 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015009
Farnbach S, Eades AM, Hackett M. Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-focused primary healthcare social and emotional wellbeing research: A systematic review protocol. Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-015-0180-6