Deborah Brooks

Dr. Deborah Brooks is a Research Fellow at the Dementia & Neuro Mental Health Research Unit (DNMHRU), part of the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR) under the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences. Her work focuses on improving mental health and quality of life for older Australians with dementia or Parkinson's disease and their caregivers through mixed-methods research and implementation science.

• PhD in Psychology from Queensland University of Technology (2020), funded by a Dementia Australia Research Foundation Consumer Priority Scholarship.
• Recipient of $3,825,000 in research grants as Chief Investigator from DARF and NHMRC MRFF schemes.

Her research spans three core areas:

• Residential Aged Care: Co-designing the Mental Health Care Indicator (MHICare) Tool to improve mental health practices and studying models of care for Indigenous populations.
• Telehealth Psychotherapy: Developing and evaluating technology-assisted CBT (Tech-CBT) for dementia and Parkinson's patients, including pre- and post-residential care transition counseling.
• Parkinson's Disease: Addressing barriers to cognitive assessment and implementing the PDCogniCare program for early dementia diagnosis.

Recent publications highlight her work on non-pharmacological interventions for dementia, Delphi consensus studies for aged care indicators, and systematic reviews on cognitive decline in Parkinson's. She actively collaborates with consumer groups and chairs the UQCCR Consumer and Community Involvement Sub-Committee. Her projects include supervising PhD candidates on mental health tools for residential care and co-designing digital platforms for remote psychotherapy.