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Access Economics
highly values CRCAH research |
The CRCAH has applied for a five-year
extension under the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres
Program. To help complete the application, the CRCAH commissioned Access
Economics to carry out an economic evaluation of our proposed research
program. This evaluation predicted that the CRCAH's research program would
produce a net benefit of $455 million within the next 15 years, and return
more than $6 for every $1 invested. CRCAH Research and Development Manager
Jenny Brands
worked closely with the Access
Economics team. In this edition's editorial she writes about the
application process and the Access Economics findings.
This year's Cooperative Research Centres
Program funding round is the first since the review of the program under
the Rudd Government. As well as reinstating the "
public good" component of
the Program, under which the CRCAH was originally funded, the Program's
revised requirements also require much greater focus on the potential
impact of the proposed research agenda, and on how that impact will be
brought to fruition.
This
emphasis forces CRCs to consider in very detailed terms what they are
trying to achieve as a result of their research, including placing a dollar
value on potential research outcomes.
The CRCAH
extension application outlines three programs of research:
1.
Healthy Start, Healthy Life: Research focused on reducing the
chronic illness risk across the life-course, and improving early
intervention and chronic illness management.
2.
Healthy Communities and Settings: Research focused on the capacity of
local communities and organisations to work together to develop
interventions that address the determinants of health across a range of
local sectors and settings.
3.
Enabling Policy and Systems: Research enabling the reform of policy
and programs, workforce development, and whole-of-government approaches to
Indigenous health.
We
commissioned Access Economics to carry out a prospective economic
evaluation of our proposed program. Their evaluation looked at what results
could reasonably be expected if the tools and resources produced by each of
the CRCA's proposed programs were put into use. A slightly different
approach was used for each of the three programs.
In
Program 1, for example, one proposed project is to develop a monitoring
framework to look at the effectiveness of the National Indigenous Tobacco
Control programs. This is a good example to illustrate how Access Economics
assessed the potential benefit of the CRCAH's work.
A
monitoring framework for Indigenous tobacco control programs would evaluate
local programs to reduce smoking. It would record the evidence of what
works, bring that evidence together from sites around the country and make
sense of it in order to inform future tobacco control programs.
Clearly,
not all of the benefit from these tobacco interventions could be claimed to
be as a result of the CRCAH's work. In carrying out a similar evaluation of
the impact of research funded by the National Health and Medical Research
Council (NHMRC), Access Economics had previously determined that
approximately 50% of the benefit of an 'invention' or improvement from
research could be attributed to the research, and 50% should be attributed
to its downstream implementation into practice. However, in a case such as
the tobacco control monitoring framework, they found that only 25% of the
benefit should be attributed to the work of the CRCAH, because the CRCAH
would be evaluating pilot work carried out by others. The CRCAH's role
would nonetheless be critical to achieving the results. Access Economics
commented that: "The underlying research into what works would not
be of much use without the CRCAH collating, evaluating and disseminating
the results and drawing strategic lessons for ongoing priorities."
They also looked at what might be a realistic outcome of
improved anti-smoking campaigns within the 15 year time-frame set by the
CRC Program for the measurement of outcomes. While the prevalence of
smoking amongst the broader Australian population has dropped by 43% over
15 years, Indigenous smoking rates have not dropped. Access Economics cited
evidence from the Department of Health and Ageing that estimated that 10%
of the decline in national smoking prevalence (or a 4.3% drop) has been due
to prevention campaigns such as QUIT, which raise awareness of the dangers
of smoking, and thereby persuade people to stop smoking.
"For this modeling, it is assumed that a well researched
and culturally effective campaign would have similar results for smoking levels
in the Indigenous population," states their report for the CRCAH.
"If national smoking levels have fallen by 4.3% in 14
years due to Quit campaigns, then the National Indigenous Tobacco Control
Program should be able to produce a 4.6% (reduction in Indigenous
smoking) over the 15-year benefit timeframe."
Access Economics then used a number of economic concepts
to calculate the dollar value of the health gains from a 4.6% reduction in
Indigenous smoking over 15 years. These economic concepts are called
Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), developed by the World Health
Organisation, and the Value of a Statistical Life Year (VSLY) , recommended
for use by the Australian Government. They can be used to work out the cost
of an injury or fatality or the value of preventive health care in dollar
terms. These measures put a value of $151,000 on a single year of healthy
life.
From this basis Access Economics estimated that a 4.3%
drop in Indigenous smoking rates would result in $532.5 million in health
gain alone, with a further $80.4 million in savings from productivity gains
and other resources saved. Twenty-five per cent of this gain, or $153.2
million, could be attributed to the CRCAH's role in evaluating,
synthesizing and disseminating the evidence.
As Access
Economics commented, the benefits identified from the CRCAH's proposed
programs of work are high, particularly for Program 1 (where the link
between proposed research and specific health conditions is most direct).
Access
Economics also commented on the benefit arising from the CRCAH's
Facilitated Development Approach or FDA. One part of the application refers
to the CRCAH's intention to continue using the FDA to develop proposals to
be submitted to competitive research funders, for work beyond its own scope
but of importance to improving Indigenous health. (A trial of this over
recent years has seen a high proportion of proposals successful in gaining
funding through the NHMRC or other funders over recent years.)
From its
previous work with the NHMRC, Access Economics had estimated that the
returns on research investment would range from a low return of just over
2:1, to a high return of almost of 4.41:1. This provided an average return
for NHMRC investment of 3.31:1.
"Arguably, NHMRC projects based on CRCAH inputs may have
higher returns than other NHMRC projects. Non-Indigenous Australians have
very good health - including having one of the world' highest life
expectancies. In that sense most of the 'low hanging fruit' has already
been picked. In contrast, Indigenous health problems are both far greater
and poorly understood. Hence, the gains from research are potentially much
larger and change is more about removing constraints rather than requiring
technological breakthroughs.
"Moreover, the CRCAH's unique facilitated development approach, where
Indigenous end-users are engaged to identify research projects, means there
is a good chance that those projects with the largest gains will in fact be
identified.
"
Accordingly, Access Economics believes it is appropriate
to assign returns on projects identified by the CRCAH at the upper end of
the NHMRC spectrum, thus, a return of 4.41 to 1 is assigned here. The idea
is that, while a dollar spent on an 'average' NHMRC project returns a
benefit of $3.10, projects supported by the CRCAH return a benefit of
$4.41, in which case the extra $1.31 of benefits could be attributed to the
CRCAH."
Access Economics extrapolated this calculation to estimate
that if applied to the full 5% of the NHMRC's budget that is supposed to be
spent on Indigenous health research, the CRCAH's processes would value-add
at least $24.6 million, and produce an ultimate economic benefit of some
$93 million.
These two examples show the sorts of
assumptions and evidence upon which Access Economics' estimates of the
potential financial benefit of the CRCAH's work were made.
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| Help us improve the way we communicate |
The CRC for Aboriginal Health wants your feedback on
how you rate the effectiveness of our communications activities, including Gwalwa-Gai, our website, our e-Bulletins, our publications and
the various functions we organise. We would also like your feedback on the
level of exposure the CRCAH receives through media coverage. The survey
will be used to help us evaluate our performance and improve what we do,
and should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Individuals will not
be identified and responses will be grouped. Simply click on the link below
- we look forward to hearing from you!
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New
children's health report highlights disparities in Canada, the United
States, Australia and New Zealand
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A new
international research collaboration has found that Indigenous children in
Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand experience higher
rates of infant mortality, child injury, accidental death and other health
ailments compared to non-Indigenous children.
Indigenous Children's
Health Report: Health Assessment in Action, released by the
Canadian-based Centre for Research on Inner City Health (CRICH), provides
insight into common issues affecting Indigenous children's health around
the world. It is one of the first international reports researched by a
consortium of international researchers from the countries investigated,
Funded by Health
Canada
and led by Dr Janet Smylie at the CRICH, the Australian chapter was led by
Associate Professor Jane Freemantle and
Daniel
McAullay
, from CRCAH partners the Onemda VicHealth Koori
Health Unit at the
University
of
Melbourne
and the
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.
In all four countries, researchers found Indigenous
children suffered from infant mortality rates up to four times the national
average, higher rates of sudden infant death syndrome, child injury,
suicide, and accidental death. Indigenous children also experience a
disproportionate amount of ear infections, respiratory illnesses and dental
problems. However, all four countries emphasised that the data describing
Indigenous children were compromised in quality and completeness.
According to Associate Professor Jane Freemantle all
countries shared a common lack of quality data on Indigenous children's
health which continues to impinge on the effectiveness of research and of
collating evidence on Indigenous child health trends.
"Until now, there has been no consistency in the data
sources on Indigenous child health all four countries - the data are flawed
and incomplete," said Associate Professor Freemantle. "This report clearly
outlines the disparities that exist within Indigenous child health in each
of the four countries, but without quality data we cannot begin to provide
any reasonably acceptable comparisons between the four countries. In fact,
any attempt to make comparisons across the countries would be irresponsible
and misleading."
Co-researcher
Daniel McAullay
said the report did make important observations of the differences between
the health status of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in the four
countries studied, countries which share a similar history of Indigenous
dispossession and cultural dislocation.
"As an epidemiologist, who is Aboriginal, I understand the
importance of ensuring that we collect accurate and meaningful health
data," he said. "That way we can be sure we are accurately measuring the
data and thus able to compare the health disparity that exists between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous children both within
Australia
and with other colonised countries."
Despite the problems with available data Jane Freemantle said
that Indigenous Children's Health
Report: Health Assessment in Action is a valuable contribution
to our understanding of Indigenous child health and raises some deeply
concerning questions.
"Why do such genetically diverse Indigenous groups suffer
from similar health issues?" she said. "There is no medical reason why this
should be and we need to acknowledge the impact of the similar disparities
and measures of disadvantage found in all four countries."
The report included data describing the status of the
determinants of health of Indigenous children relative to non-Indigenous
children.
Social issues shared between countries included:
·
The
identification of colonisation as a shared and underlying determinant of
Indigenous health.
·
Disparate
numbers of Indigenous children live below the poverty line and/or in
overcrowded accommodation that impacts upon their health.
·
Differential
access to health care, economic and social resources for Indigenous
children and their families compared to non-Indigenous populations.
Jane Freemantle said improved data collection must be a
priority for health services in all four countries. "In
Australia
it will be extremely difficult to measure the effectiveness of national
efforts to 'close the gap' if we have poor quality data to begin with."
For further
information:
Jane Freemantle +61 3 8344 9164
Daniel McAullay
+61 8 9489 7761
To download report:
http://www.onemda.unimelb.edu.au/publications/reports.html
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Deputy PM launches
new CRCAH Supervisors Guide |
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A new
guidebook aimed at improving the supervision of Indigenous researchers and
their recruitment and training was launched by Deputy Prime Minister, Julia
Gillard, as part of the annual Science meets Parliament event in May.
 |
Deputy PM Gillard
launching the Supervisors
Guide at Parliament House
|
Based on interviews with both Indigenous and
non-Indigenous researchers Supporting
Indigenous Researchers: A Practical Guide for Supervisors
offers ways of improving the capacity of Indigenous health researchers to
identify, design, implement and conduct high quality health research.
Written over a number of years the book reflects the CRC
for Aboriginal Health view that sustainable improvements in Aboriginal
& Torres Strait Islander health will only be possible with serious
investments in developing a strong Indigenous health workforce.
Launching the book Gillard described it as a very
significant contribution to building Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
health research capacity and spoke of her Government's commitment to
closing the health gap between Indigenous and other Australians.
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Guide book
authors Di Walker and Alison Laycock
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"The CRCAH is an important partner in that challenge," she
told the large group assembled in Parliament's senate courtyard.
Replying to Ms Gillard's comments CEO
Mick Gooda
said the book was among the most
important publications to come out of the CRCAH. "If we are serious about
Indigenous health equality there are two particular prerequisites; a good
evidence base from rigorous research and a strong professional Aboriginal
& Torres Strait Islander workforce," he said. "This guide book is aimed
at achieving both of these by ensuring greater numbers of Indigenous people
themselves are able to become effective health researchers and this, in
turn, will improve the quality of the researcher itself and the take up of
that research by Indigenous communities and the health agencies."
"The book raises critical research issues and brings
together the advice and experiences of both Indigenous and other
researchers and relates their views to accepted practices in work force
development and management."
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Some of the crowd
at the Parliament House launch
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The Guide is in two parts; Part 1 includes tips for building a
reciprocal and supportive supervisor-researcher relationship and a strong
intercultural research team while Part 2 offers practical strategies and
resources to guide research supervisors in day-to-day processes, including
job planning and recruitment, induction, work planning and performance
appraisal. It explains how to determine training needs, and how to design
and support the training and professional development of emerging Indigenous
researchers.
A companion volume, Researching
Indigenous Health: A Practical Guide for Researchers, is due out
later in 2009.
The launch of the Guide was followed by the launch of a
discussion paper on best practice in research collaboration between university
researchers and community-based Indigenous researchers.
Research
Dancing; Reflection on the Relationships between University Based
Researchers and Community Based Researchers at Gurriny Yealamucka Health
Services, Yarrabah was launched by leading Aboriginal
academic and historian Professor Gordon Briscoe, AO, Professor of
Historical Demography, ANU.
Research
Dancing describes the processes for achieving real
collaboration and the benefits of doing so. The paper sets out positive
strategies for real research partnerships between research institutions and
the Aboriginal community groups so desperate the necessary evidence to
establish successful strategies for building good health and wellbeing in
Aboriginal society.
Mick Gooda
said
the two publications "represent a real practical contribution to changing
the culture of health research. One provides guidance to ensure improved
supervision and the other clearly demonstrates the successes which are
possible when real and effective partnerships between community and
researchers are built," he said.
To
download copies of the publications go to:
http://www.crcah.org.au/publications/downloads/DP-8_final-web.pdf
http://www.crcah.org.au/publications/downloads/supervisors_guide1.pdf |
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| Contributors and
authors join CRCAH Chair Pat Anderson
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Scholarship
winners attend PHAA's Justice Health Conference
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Aimee Capper and John Van Den
Dungen
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The CRCAH
recently provided a limited scholarship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander representatives to attend the Public Health Association of
Australia conference Justice Health in
Australia: Beyond the Convict Era.
Both CRCAH
and PHAA were overwhelmed by the very high standard of applications for the
scholarships, which covered conference registration, from individuals and
organisations across
Australia
.
Successful
applicants included:
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- Aimee Capper, Indigenous Peer
Support Worker with The Connection in the ACT;
- Michael Doyle, Aboriginal
Research Associate with the National Drug Research Institute in WA;
- Irene Fisher, CEO of Sunrise
Health Service Aboriginal Corporation in NT;
- Jill Guthrie from the Australian
Institute
of
Aboriginal
and
Torres Strait
Islander Studies
(AIATSIS) in the ACT;
- Richelle Jackson, Aboriginal
Community Development Worker with Dental Health Services
Victoria
;
- Josephine Maxstead, Alcohol,
Tobacco and other Drugs Training Officer with the Aboriginal Health Council
of WA;
- Jasmine Sarin, Clean Air
Dreaming Project Research Coordinator with the Illawarra Aboriginal Medical
Service in NSW;
- Rebekah Stennett, Koori Kids
Mental Health Worker and Project Officer with the Victorian Aboriginal
Health Service;
- John Van Den Dungen, Indigenous
Project Officer with the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users'
League (AIVL) in the ACT; and
- Rick Welsh, Aboriginal Male
Health Project Manager with the Men's Health and Information Resource
Centre in NSW.
The PHAA
provided a conference program boasting a diverse range of speakers covering
a wide variety of topics of interest to those working in the justice health
and related service delivery, research, policy development and program
delivery sectors.
Resolutions
developed by delegates at the conference will form the basis for future
PHAA advocacy activities on justice health and related issues.
To view
conference resolutions and a draft advocacy summary document got to: |
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Jill Guthrie and Rachel
Wargent at the PHAA Conference
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http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/JUSTICEHEALTHCONFERENCERESOLUTIONS.pdf
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Professor Anderson
urges better stewardship of Indigenous data collection
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Addressing
the recent International Group for Indigenous Health Measurement Conference
in Hawaii CRCAH research director, Professor Ian Anderson has called for
better management of Indigenous health data systems in
Australia
and elsewhere.
In his presentation, "Indigenous Stewardship in Health
Data Systems: A Systems Development Approach", Professor Anderson argued
that current Indigenous collection systems and processes are historically
part of the "experiences of exploitation, political and social
marginalisation of Indigenous peoples".
Professor Anderson argued that stewardship provided a new
"way to think about the creation of an Indigenous-led, enabling and
responsive health data system". He envisaged three components to this
stewardship:
- Self-determination, namely Indigenous-led
and controlled processes, through increased capacity resources and
development
- Shared responsibility with mainstream data
agencies, to ensure more effective data management
-
Development of structures and processes
across health data systems, including systems governance and partnerships,
research and analysis, and services and community agencies.
"Such stewardship
will need to integrate principles of self-determination and shared
responsibility; to reframe data management approaches based on data
priorities; to focus on capacity development through better information
infrastructure, methodological innovation (such as data linkages),
institutional processes, and people development; and finally, to develop
mechanisms for systems governance, analysis, and local engagement,"
Professor Anderson said.
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Meanwhile poor data causes ABS life
expectancy rethink |
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics has recalculated the
life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
following the availability of new data from its Indigenous Mortality
Quality Study conducted in 2006-07.
The new life expectancy at birth of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples was 67.2 years for men and 72.9 years for women for
2005-2007, according to what an ABS media release described as
"experimental figures". The new figures show the life expectancy of Indigenous
men is on average 11.5 years lower than for non-Indigenous men, while life
expectancy of Indigenous women is on average 9.7 years lower than for
non-Indigenous women.
However, the ABS has emphasised that the new figures were
based on methodological changes to the data set rather than any
improvements in the life expectancy of Indigenous people.
"The current estimates can't be compared with the
previously published 1996-2001 life expectancy estimates and the
differences in the estimates should not be interpreted as changes in
Indigenous life expectancy over time" said Australian Statistician
Brian Pink.
Associate Professor Jane Freemantle, who is undertaking a
five-year research project to address the critical issue of lack of data to
describe Aboriginal health at CRCAH's partner the Onemda VicHealth Koori
Health Unit, writes that the ABS changes are in recognition that "the
previous calculations of life expectancy for Indigenous people are less
than robust."
The changes "recognize that there is a paucity of reliable
mortality data describing Indigenous Australians in
Australia,
and is necessary because there are four States and Territories where the
data are incomplete and inaccurate and thus not amenable to be used in the
calculation of life expectancy."
She writes, "ABS use a new methodology (a direct
demographic method) whereby death registrations data are adjusted using
under-identification factors obtained from the Census Data Enhancement
Indigenous Mortality Quality Study. This new 'direct' method enables
the ABS use to extrapolate the existing available data to 'provide'
national mortality statistics."
"The Indigenous Mortality Quality Study used a sub-set of
the available mortality data and undertook a series of activities to
validate the Indigenous and non-Indigenous deaths in the sample using other
data sources."
"What is imperative is that any response recognizes that
the ABS is working towards more accurate calculations. However, the
'improved' life expectancy for indigenous Australians and thus a reduction
in the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians is a purely and absolutely a reflection of the changed
methodology for calculation and is NOT a miraculous and instantaneous
improvement in the life expectancy (due to any Close the Gap
initiatives)."
"Moreover, any gap in life expectancy among Australians is
unacceptable whether it be a magnitude of 8.8 (NSW) which represents the
lowest life expectancy estimate, or 14.2 being the highest estimate being
14.2 (NT). Efforts must be strengthened to close this gap."
Associate Professor
Freemantle told Gwalwa-Gai that she acknowledges and applauds the
commitment of the ABS to excellence in reporting data, through continually
seeking to improve the way existing data describing Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people are gathered, analysed and reported.
To read the ABS media release
detailing the changes go to (link)
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QIMR researchers close in on rheumatic fever vaccine
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Australian
researchers have moved a step closer to developing a human vaccine to
prevent rheumatic fever, a bacterial disease which in
Australia
is largely confined to Indigenous communities and which leads directly to
rheumatic heart disease.
Researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical
Research (QIMR), a core partner of the CRC for Aboriginal Health, have
developed a vaccine which has proved effective in protecting animals from
the disease.
Rheumatic fever results from an infection caused by
streptococcus A bacteria, which also causes "strep throat".
Rheumatic heart disease is the result of repeated and prolonged attacks of
acute rheumatic fever, causing worsening and permanent heart valve damage.
Australia's Indigenous people, particularly those living in remote regions, suffer from
some of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world.
Dr Michael Batzloff, laboratory head of the bacterial
vaccines group at QIMR, said pre-clinical work had shown that animals given
the vaccine reacted by generating antibodies against streptococcus
infection. When those antibodies were isolated from their blood and tested
on other animals that had not been given the vaccine, those other animals
were protected against the bacteria.
Further, the vaccine appeared to protect the animals for
long periods by priming immune system "memory cells" to react
against streptococcus after a long period. It also seemed to be effective
against multiple streptococcus group A strains, including those circulating
in
Thailand
and
Fiji
,
raising hopes it could prove effective worldwide.
"There are many steps required (to get a vaccine
ready for sale), but this is one of the bigger ones - to have defined the
mechanism of how the vaccine works, and to show that we can generate
long-lived immunity through memory B cells," Dr Batzloff said.
The human trials will initially involve a small number of
healthy adults to check the vaccine is safe to inject into people. Later it
will be tested on larger numbers, including people in remote Aboriginal
communities, to test its ability to prevent cases of rheumatic fever and
heart disease.
The trial is being
funded by the National Heart Foundation and the US National Institutes of
Health. If the work results in an effective human vaccine, it could save
the lives of 400,000 children worldwide each year.
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Flinders nurse
graduate will bring mental health focus to nursing work |
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While
chronic disease and substance abuse among Aboriginal Australians has
received plenty of media attention in recent years, the increasing
incidence of mental health issues has not been widely reported.
Flinders graduate
David Copley - the first Aboriginal person to complete a Graduate Diploma
in Mental Health Nursing in
South
Australia
(2009) - says discussions around Aboriginal
health have historically focused on illnesses such as diabetes and heart
disease. "However, in 2009, Aboriginal men and women are dying from mental
health issues at twice the rate of non-Aboriginal Australians," Mr Copley
says.
"While the incidence of schizophrenia and bipolar tends to
be the same across all sections of Australian populations, mental health
statistics for Aboriginal Australians escalate dramatically when
depression, anxiety and co-morbidities such as alcohol and substance abuse
are added to the equation."
David graduated from
the
South
Australian
College
of Advanced Education - Sturt Campus in 1988 with a Diploma of Applied
Science (Developmental Disabilities). He worked for 18 years in the
disability services sector. With the support of an Indigenous Health
Scholarship through the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund, he enrolled
in the Bachelor of Nursing at Flinders in 2006. He now works as the
Aboriginal Mental Health clinician for General Practice Network South
(GPNS). In a partnership arrangement between GPNS and Southern Adelaide
Health Service (SAHS), Mr Copley is engaged in mental health programs for
Aboriginal clients at the two Aboriginal Family Clinics operated by SAHS in Adelaide's Southern Region.
He says an awareness of the complexity of Aboriginal
health, cultural and socio-economic problems are essential requirements for
practitioners working with Aboriginal clients. With a severe shortage of
Aboriginal nurses in
South
Australia
(currently there are approximately 50 Registered
Nurses and 25 Enrolled Nurses),
David is actively encouraging young Aboriginal people to consider
nursing as a career path. "Aboriginal nurses alone are not the answer,
however. In order to improve the health of Aboriginal Australians, nurses - and indeed all health professionals - need to have a strong awareness of
both Aboriginal culture and the Aboriginal concept of health," he says. "In
order to facilitate these outcomes, in 2008 Flinders moved Aboriginal
Health from an elective topic to a compulsory core topic for all students
within the
School
of
Nursing
. This was
a fantastic positive step and I was lucky enough to be part of the teaching
team."
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Indigenous Health
workforce - AIHW
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Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander workers continue to be under-represented in the
health labour force although Indigenous jobs in community services grew at
double the rate for
Australia
as a whole between 2001 and 2006 according to a recent report released by
the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
According to the Health
and Community Services Labour Force 2006 report growth in the
number of Indigenous workers in the combined health and community services
sectors was almost 73%.while for non-Indigenous community services workers
the numbers rose by almost 45%,
Just over 15,000 Indigenous Australians were employed in
health and community services occupations in 2006. Of those, just over
5,500 Indigenous Australians were employed in the health workforce,
comprising just 1% of health occupation workers - well below the 2.5%
Indigenous representation in the population.
There were around 9,500 Indigenous Australians working in
community services, or 3.2% of all community services workers.
To download the report go to: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10677
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3rd
LIME conference to discuss Indigenous workforce innovations
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The
Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) biennial conference, LIME
Connection, is to be held in Melbourne
from 2 to 4 December 2009, on the theme Advancing
Indigenous Health: Workforce Innovations.
The conference is an
outcome of the LIME Network, a Medical Deans Australia and
New Zealand
project hosted by Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit at The University of
Melbourne, a partner organisation of the CRC for Aboriginal Health. The
network is dedicated to ensuring the quality and effectiveness of teaching
and learning of Indigenous health in medical education and curricula, as
well as best practice in the recruitment and retention of Indigenous
medical students.
The LIME Connection
provides an opportunity for conference participants to carry out quality
review, professional development, networking, capacity-building and
advocacy functions of the network.
It brings together
Indigenous and non-Indigenous medical educators, Indigenous health
specialists, policy makers, and community members from
Australia
,
New
Zealand
,
Canada
,
and the
US
to discuss innovative approaches in Indigenous medical education and the
experiences of practitioners.
It also aims to
encourage and support collaboration within and between medical schools and
to build multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral linkages.
The LIME Connection
hosts the Limelight Awards that acknowledge and celebrate the many
successes in Indigenous medical education.
According to the project
manager for LIME, Odette Mazel, "the existence of the LIME Network,
alongside associations such as the Australian Indigenous Doctors
Association (AIDA), Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa The Maori Medical Practitioners
Association and Indigenous Allied Health Association, helps in efforts to
improve outcomes in Indigenous health."
"There are an equal
number of Indigenous doctors and Indigenous medical students in
Australia
,
at around 129 each, indicating that recruitment in medical schools has
improved somewhat over the past few years," Odette said. "But the data also
shows that the gap between the per capita number of Indigenous doctors and
non-Indigenous doctors is still too wide."
Based on statistics
published a couple of years ago, Indigenous doctors constitute 0.2% of the
medical workforce, while the figure should be around 2.4%.
Odette works with the
members of the LIME Network to assist the planning, implementation and
evaluation of strategies for high-quality teaching and learning of
Indigenous health in medical education.
"We seek to encourage
the delivery and development of appropriate material and skills for today's
medical workforce, and to promote the use of resources, such as the CDAMS
[Committee of Deans of Australian Medical Schools] Curriculum Development
Framework and the Critical Reflection Tool,"Odette said.
The LIME Network Project
stemmed from the Medical Deans Indigenous Health Project, which was
completed in 2007.
A call for abstracts to
the 3rd LIME conference has been issued. For information and updates on the
conference, please visit the LIME Network website at www.limemnetwork.net.au
For further
information, contact LIME project manager Odette Mazel, Tel: +61 3 8344
9160,
Email: omazel@unimelb.edu.au.
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Local
lessons from International Family Therapy Conference - La Trobe researcher
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The
CRCAH recently sponsored Indigenous family-therapy researcher Robyne Latham
to attend the 17th World International Family Therapy Association Congress
in
Portoroz
,
Slovenia
.
Robyne, from Latrobe
University's Bouverie Centre, said presentations at the conference
addressing trauma, loss and grief, coupled with a focus on the
ramifications of post-colonisation of other Indigenous cultures
-specifically South Africa and America - were of potential benefit to
Indigenous family therapy students in Australia.
"I experienced a
profound and deepened understanding of the stark consequences of
colonisation, from a more global perspective,"she told Gwalwa-Gai.
Robyne learned, for
example, that higher-than-usual level of supervision was found to be
necessary for Slovenian family therapy students during and after their
training as a consequence of residual trauma and loss they experienced
during the Slovenia Independence War in 1991. The Bouverie training team is
now mindful that some of their Indigenous family therapy students may also
need similar higher levels of supervision due to intergenerational
experiences of trauma and loss, associated with colonisation.
Robyne's experience at
the Congress, Reconciling
Differences: Can Family Therapy Help Heal the World?, allowed her to recognise that the
Bouverie Centre's Indigenous training program is at the cutting edge of
Indigenous Family Therapy training, in
Australia
and internationally.
As the Indigenous
researcher for this postgraduate-level program, Robyne has been employed in
partnership with La Trobe University, to conduct a participatory action
research project over three-years focussing on evaluating and identifying
lessons learned about effective family therapy training for Aboriginal
child and family workers. The research is supported by a Cooperative
Inquiry Group, (CIG), made up of partners from La Trobe University,
Onemda-Melbourne University's Aboriginal Health Unit, Take Two, Berry
Street, and The Bouverie Centre.
"Our first group of ten students,
from the Shepparton region, have recently graduated from La Trobe
University as Family Therapists. We are currently training twelve students
from the Ballarat area, with another group of twenty students awaiting
training in the Gippsland area. Thus far, our student retention rate has
been one hundred per cent.
Robyne said the
opportunity to participate in the conference has given her greater
confidence, "I am not sure that family therapy can help heal the world. I
am sure, however, that our Aboriginal and Islander family therapists, can
effect positive change, within and for our families and our communities.
When Aboriginal and Islander family therapists, working from a framework of
culturally sensitive practices, support the healing of just one family, and
then another, and then another, this healing process is a great path to
follow."
For a copy of her
full report on the conference, please contact Robyne Latham, Indigenous
Researcher, The Bouverie Centre, La
Trobe
University
,
on E: r.latham@latrobe.edu.au
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Koori kids swimming program key to better health |
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A
project that began with teaching Koori kids to swim in East Gippsland, in
Victoria, is having far-reaching impacts on community wellbeing and
physical health, including a 200% increase in adult participation in the
water project, the introduction of a kinder gym for koori kids at three
sites, as well as an increase in attendance in YMCA programs and local
health services.
East Gippsland has five times more Koori people living
there than other parts of
Victoria
,
with 50% under the age of 19 years, and 158 kids between 0 and 5 years of age.
During consultations on health and wellbeing priorities in
local Indigenous communities, Koori mums in the Bairnsdale/Lakes Entrance
area told staff from the Gippsland Lakes Community Health (GLCH) that they
really wanted their kids to know how to swim and to be more physically
active.
Poor public transport, low income, and culturally
inappropriate services were identified as significant reasons for Koori
people not participating in current services.
Working with local Indigenous communities, namely Gippsland
and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative Community Health, Djillay Ngalu
Healthy for Life Community Health, and Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust
Community Health, GLCH successfully developed and implemented its five-year
Physically Active Koori Kids (PAKK) program.
Not only are the Koori kids having loads of fun learning
to swim, the community swim program is helping the local Koori community
have greater confidence in themselves, and their kids' safety and health, according
to Koori Health promotion worker, Tanya Williams, whose two young boys, also
went through the swim program.
"I have seen a big change in my children, they are relaxed
around water, they are able to swim a lot better
than before, they are not
afraid of the water, and they made lots of friends. The swim program really
took my kids out of their shells; before the swim program, they were very
shy. For me the great thing about the program has been the opportunity to
work in my local community,"Tanya told Gwalwa-Gai.
Research shows that Indigenous people have higher drowning
rates than general populations, mostly due to Indigenous kids never
learning how to swim, and that lack of physical exercise in Indigenous kids
can cause health problems down the track.
Indigenous people have four times the illnesses,
compared with the general population. Such lifestyle conditions are known
risk factors for diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular
diseases later in life-contributing factors to early disability and death
among Indigenous people.
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Call
for cultural competency training for all Australian psych students |
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Cultural
competency training should be mandatory for all Australian undergraduates
studying to be psychologists, says Larrakia woman and Darwin-based practicing
psychologist Carmen Cubillo.
"There is a great unmet need for culturally appropriate
therapeutic services for Indigenous people, not only in remote areas like
the Northern Territory but throughout
Australia
,"Ms Cubillo told Gwalwa-Gai.
"However, at present no unit in cultural competency is
offered to psychology undergraduates at any university in
Australia
that I'm aware of, and this has ramifications for psychologists who end up
working with Indigenous clients in terms of the effectiveness of their
practice."
Ms Cubillo recently stepped down from an eight-month stint
on the Australian Indigenous Psychology Association's national steering
committee in order to finish her PhD at
Charles
Darwin
University
, which she
hopes to achieve in 2010.
"As well as my PhD I've also been busy with work and
research commitments, so something had to give if I was to finish my
studies!"she says of her decision to quit the steering committee.
Her PhD thesis examines the effectiveness of the Let's
Start Exploring Together for Indigenous Preschools program in promoting
change in parent behaviour to support their children's learning. Since 2006
Ms Cubillo has also been working as a researcher on the Let's Start
program, which is part-funded by the CRC for Aboriginal Health.
Ms Cubillo says psychology is a "very demanding profession"and the AIPA has a vital role to play in nurturing the development of
Indigenous psychologists throughout
Australia
.
"Just as many Indigenous people prefer to be seen by
Indigenous doctors and nurses, they also feel more comfortable discussing
mental health issues with an Indigenous therapist,"she says.
"The AIPA aims to provide mentoring support and
scholarships for Indigenous psychology students, and eventually hopes to be
able to provide support and networking opportunities for practicing
Indigenous psychologists as well."
"We also intend to set nationally-recognised best practice
standards for all psychologists working with Indigenous people."
Ms Cubillo is one of just a handful of Indigenous
psychology PhD students across
Australia
, and is one of only
about 40 Indigenous practicing psychologists out of the 16,500
psychologists registered Australia-wide.
She says the AIPA is still very much in its early stages
but is being strongly supported by the Australian Psychological Society
(APS) and the Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association (AIDA).
The AIPA's steering committee has eight members - including
two from the
Northern Territory
- and
meets twice a year at APS head office in
Melbourne
. An APS board member sits on the
AIPA committee and, in turn, an AIPA committee member sits on the APS
board.
"We're still having a lot of discussions about how the AIPA
will be structured,"she says. "For example, we've been debating whether to
have an Indigenous-only membership or whether to broaden our membership to
include all those psychologists who work predominantly with Indigenous
clients."
"We've based our model on the AIDA's, and they have been helping us
a lot with our development."
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Alarmingly high ear
disease rates in urban Aboriginal kids |
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A new
study in
Perth
has found that urban Aboriginal children also suffer from higher rates of
ear disease and hearing loss that their non-Aboriginal counterparts.
The first longitudinal study of Aboriginal children's ear
disease in urban Australia found that Aboriginal children are still more
likely than their non-Aboriginal peers to suffer otitis media (middle ear
infections), experience the first episode earlier in life, to continue to
experience episodes over a longer period of time and to suffer permanent
auricular damage and hearing loss, despite having access to better housing,
water and medical care in suburban Perth.
Lead author of the study, published in the May edition of
The Medical Journal of Australia, Dr. Cori Williams, Lecturer in Speech
Pathology at Curtin University, said that traditionally, high rates of
middle ear disease including acute ear infections, otitis media with
effusion (glue ear) and chronic suppurative otitis media (runny ears) were
seen in rural and remote areas of the State, however this study indicates
alarming rates of occurrence of middle ear disease in the urban Aboriginal
population.
"In this study we looked at 119 Aboriginal children
attending three suburban schools in
Perth
,
from 1988-2004 ranging in age from 4-12 years,"she said
"Nineteen percent of children had evidence of glue ear
which can contribute to recurrent ear infections, runny ears and hearing
loss, behaviour problems and truancy with the end result of diminished
educational and vocational outcomes.
"Hearing loss, either mild or moderate, was evident in 41%
of the children aged between four to seven years, a crucial time for formal
education and learning."
One important finding noted in the study was that in urban
Aboriginal children, ongoing middle ear disease was not seasonal and in the
over ten years of age group the occurrence of middle ear was significantly
higher than in non- Indigenous children at the same age.
The prevalence of chronic suppurative otitis media was
lower than the up to 50-70 percent seen in remote area children, but still
more than the 1 percent seen to constitute an avoidable disease burden.
These figures are similar to those reported in the West
Australian Child Health Survey from CRCAH partner the Telethon Institute
for Child Health Research.
These findings demonstrate the high burden of middle ear
disease in urban Aboriginal children over a substantial period of
observation with implications on educational and vocational outcomes.
Study project leader, Clinical Professor Harvey Coates
from the
University
of
Western Australia
, has commenced an outreach
program from
Princess
Margaret
Hospital
for Children addressing Indigenous ear disease in the study region at
Swan
District
Hospital
with an Ear Bus supplied by Variety Club, and staffed with audiologists from
the Telethon Speech and Hearing Centre and local Aboriginal staff.
Professor Coates said that ongoing childhood surveillance
for otitis media and its complications is critical, especially for children
'at risk' such as indigenous children so that treatment can be expedited
and educational authorities can address the learning needs of those
children.
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/190_10_180509/wil11465_fm.html
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Health
Equity Council backs Government's health initiatives |
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A key
Indigenous advisory body participating in the Australian Government's
efforts to reduce the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and
non-Indigenous Australians has backed the Government for the health policy
steps it has taken since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his historic
apology to the Stolen Generations.
In his role as Chair of the National Indigenous Health
Equality Council (NIHEC), CRCAH Research Director Professor Ian Anderson
said he had seen at first hand the importance of Prime Minister Rudd's
apology to Indigenous Australians.
Professor Anderson reiterated that the NIHEC was committed
to pursuing the "closing the gap"agenda based on principles of respect for
Indigenous leadership and culture, as well as a scientific approach to
evidence-based policy and program intervention.
"The Council provides a forum through which we can work in
partnership with the community and the Indigenous health sector to achieve
Indigenous health equity,"he said.
The NIHEC was established in July 2008 to advise the
Government on the development and monitoring of health-related goals and
targets to support the Government's commitments to "closing the gap"and
reducing the unacceptably high rates of child mortality in the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander population.
The Government also tasked the NIHEC with formulating a
strategy to boost the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people in the health workforce.
In a statement issued on the first anniversary of the Prime
Minister's apology the NIHEC said it had agreed:
- to the development of a national instrument
for a set of evidence-based targets and priorities that integrated
accountability measures and regular reporting frameworks.
- that workforce issues needed to be addressed
as a top priority, with discussions centring on workforce announcements
from the recent Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
- to the establishment of two technical
sub-groups. The first, referred to as the 'Helicopter Project', has been
established to provide an overarching view of present activity so that gaps
as well as overlaps in existing policies in the area of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander health can be identified. The second sub-group, the 'Vision/Futures Project', will develop strategic interventions where gaps
exist.
"Council agreed that although challenges exist, appropriate
solutions can be found through genuine engagement with Indigenous
communities,"Professor Anderson said. "The Council looks forward to continuing
its close association with government over the next year and into the
future as we all work together to achieve better health outcomes for
Indigenous Australians."
For more information about the NIHEC and its activities, visit www.nihec.gov.au.
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Cannabis piles on the problems in communities: MJA study |
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A
recently published study of cannabis use in three remote Aboriginal
communities has found strong evidence that use of the illegal drug
contributes substantially to social dysfunction and health issues among
people already disadvantaged by isolation and poverty.
The study, 'Cannabis use in remote Indigenous communities
in Australia: endemic but neglected', appeared in the 2 March 2009 issue of
the prestigious Medical Journal of
Australia and was co-authored by researchers Kylie Lee,
Katherine Conigrave, George Patton and Alan Clough.
The three communities studied all share a primary
Indigenous language with English as a second language, and while close to
each other all are remote from cities and cannabis production areas.
Researchers also found that more than 90% of adolescents and young adults
in these communities smoked tobacco.
In terms of economic effects, the study found that up to
10% of each community's total income was spent on cannabis, while users
spent between 31% and 62% of their weekly median income on cannabis.
In terms of the wider social and health impacts, cannabis
users were less likely than non-users to participate in education or
training and more likely to report auditory hallucinations, suicidal
ideation, symptoms of depression, and having been imprisoned. Community
violence increased when cannabis supplies were scarce.
The researchers hypothesise that restrictions on alcohol
in these communities may have acted to encourage an increase in cannabis
use against a background of community-wide feelings of disempowerment. They
also point to other reports and anecdotal evidence that suggests the
problem of cannabis misuse is widespread within Indigenous communities
across a broad area of northern
Australia
.
The study's authors acknowledge that turning back the tide
of cannabis use in communities will not be easy and must be multi-faceted.
Beefed-up policing to cut the supply of cannabis to these communities will
need to be accompanied by local prevention and treatment initiatives.
Long term, the authors say education, employment and
capacity-building measures within communities offer the best hope of
re-engaging youth and reducing the impact of substance misuse.
The study is available online
at www.mja.com.au/public/issues/190_05_020309/lee11321_fm.html.
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Onemda
Launches Sharing Our Stories and Building on Our Strengths Film and
Report |
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Onemda
VicHealth Koori Health Unit recently launched, to great acclaim, a film and
report entitled Sharing Our Stories and Building on Our Strengths produced in cooperation with
Aboriginal community organisations.
The film and report document the way in which Onemda
supported Aboriginal health workers (AHWs) to present their work at
VicHealth's From Margins to Mainstream:
The 5th World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and the
Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders in Melbourne
late in 2008.
"We wanted to demonstrate to the conference that all
social, cultural and community activities can contribute to better health
outcomes,' explained report author and the film's narrator Onemda's Ngarra
Murray.
"My role at Onemda was to bring these health professionals
together to talk about their experiences in Indigenous mental health, and
to help coordinate Onemda's presentation skills program,"said Ngarra.
"Onemda staff and mentors worked closely with participants, and provided
them with continuous support and encouragement leading up to their
presentations at the conference."
The eleven Aboriginal Health Workers mentored by Onemda
work in both urban settings, such as the Maya Living Free Healing Centre
and the 'I'm an Aboriginal Dad' program, and regional outfits like the
Koori Resource and Information Centre in Shepparton. The workshop group
also included two Aboriginal mental health workers from the
Northern Territory
.
The success of this project was further illustrated through
the film, a joint production by Onemda and the Knowledge Transfer Group at
the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health
Sciences. The film focused on the work of two of the conference
participants, Anthony Brown and Troy Austin, while at the same time
acknowledging the contributions of all eleven presenters.
Anthony coordinates the Koori Kids Adolescent Unit at the
Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) in the
Melbourne
suburb of Northcote. The film
explores Anthony's strategies for keeping the community connected through
his family counselling work at VAHS and as Breakfast presenter on Koori
community radio station 3KND.
For
Troy
,
as President of the Fitzroy Stars Football Club, football is about a lot
more than the actual game. The club's mission is to nurture a culture that
promotes a healthy lifestyle aimed at improving fitness, nutrition and
self-esteem, offers pathways to employment and education, and fosters
reconciliation by building connections between Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal communities. The film follows the team as they re-enter
Melbourne
's Northern
Football League after a long absence and demonstrates how the community is
enriched by the team as they "enjoy each other's company, care for each
other and work hard for our people".
Paul Stewart, a Research Community Development Officer at
Onemda, said that both the report and the film are continuing to generate
much interest from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations. "Lots
of people have commented that it's great to see positive stories being
celebrated and shared about our community."
The ultimate achievement of Onemda's conference
presentation skills program is that the Indigenous presenters highlighted
the positive work being done by Aboriginal health professionals in their
communities.
They variously addressed the common theme of how best to
achieve mental health and emotional wellbeing for their communities and
people, and showed how and why their programs, both preventive and
curative, were positive and beneficial to their communities.
Angela Clarke, Onemda's Deputy Director Community Programs,
noted in her Foreword to the report, that for "Aboriginal people the
boundaries between work and personal lives are often blurred and at times
non-existent, we have in our communities the expertise to enhance all
aspects of our health, which includes our wellbeing, and we need to share
this-and we should have more opportunities to do so."
Onemda is hopeful that its successful collaboration with
the Aboriginal community on the project could provide other community
health organisations with a model for excellence in health promotion
translation.
The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation funded the
presentation skills project and subsequent report, while the CRC for
Aboriginal Health and the
University
of
Melbourne
contributed personnel, funding and resources to produce the film.
To view the film and download the report, visit Onemda's website (www.onemda.unimelb.edu.au).
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Healing our Spirit Worldwide |
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
workers and researchers are advised to start planning now for
Healing Our
Spirit Worldwide the Sixth Gathering, which is due to take place on the
island
of
Honolulu
in
Hawaii
from 3 to 10 September 2010.
The goal of Healing Our Spirit Worldwide (HOSW) is to celebrate the
diverse and unique cultural strengths, knowledge and talents of Indigenous
peoples around the world, with a particular focus on successes, best
practices and common issues in health, healing and addictions.
The Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health is a proud
supporter of and committed participant in the gathering, which will be
hosted by native Hawaiian healthcare organisation Papa Ola Lokahi (www.papaolalokahi.org).
Event organisers are now accepting abstracts, presentations and
proposals for the sharing of cultural practices and performing arts. These
need to be submitted by 8 September 2009 via the link on
the home page of the HOSW website (www.hosw.com).
The CRCAH also recommends that all those interested in attending or
preparing material for the gathering should subscribe to mailing lists on both the HOSW and CRCAH
websites. This will allow interested parties to be updated about HOSW on a
regular basis via email.
To subscribe to the HOSW mailing list, visit www.hosw.com and click on 'Mailing List' on the sidebar.
To subscribe to the CRCAH
mailing list, visit www.crcah.org.au, click on the 'Events' tab, click on 'Healing Our Spirits' then
click on 'subscribe' in the body text.
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Doco
traces women's fight for Fitzroy Crossing grog restrictions |
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A
24-minute documentary about a courageous group of Aboriginal women who
fought for the introduction of grog restrictions at Fitzroy Crossing in
Western Australia
had its premiere at the United
Nations in
New York
in March this year.
Australian Minister for the Status of Women Tanya Plibersek
and Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick co-hosted
the documentary's launch, which was a main side event to this year's 53rd
Session of the UN Commission of the Status of Women.
The documentary Yajilarra
- meaning "to dream"in the Banuba language of the
West
Kimberley
region - traces the campaign by local women June
Oscar and Emily Carter to secure alcohol restrictions in their community.
The two women, of the Marninwarntikura Fitzroy Women's
Resource Centre, decided to push for limits on grog in 2007 following a
spate of suicides in and around the town, which came against a background
of rising alcohol consumption, child abuse and domestic violence.
They persevered in the face of threats and intimidation,
and ultimately won the support of many men as well as women throughout the
Kimberley
region.
Film producer Melanie Hogan says the documentary does not
simply put forward the women's views, and canvasses all points of view
within the community.
"A lot of people aren't necessarily happy (with the
restrictions) and that's ... what makes the story so inspiring," Ms
Hogan says. "The women (had) to come up against their own family
members and people in the community who are against the restrictions."
Four months after the WA Government imposed a ban on the
sale of full and mid-strength alcohol in Fitzroy Crossing in October 2007,
the state's Drug and Alcohol Office reported a 55 per cent reduction in
people presenting for alcohol-related treatment at the local hospital's
emergency department.
Police said they had seen a 45 per cent drop in the
incidence of alcohol-related violence after the only local hotel, the
Crossing Inn, reported a 77 per cent reduction in alcohol purchases. The
grog bans have since been extended indefinitely.
Yajilarra had its Australian launch in
Sydney
at the end of April, and is currently being screened at various venues
around
Australia
as well as being available for purchase on DVD. For more information on
screening or DVD purchase details, please email to melanie.hogan@yarnup.com.au.
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Positive start for NSW mental health training program,
evaluation finds |
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An
evaluation of the first year of New South Wales Health's Aboriginal Mental
Health Worker Training Program by the CRCAH's External Projects Group has
found the program is already delivering significant benefits, despite still
being "a work in progress".
The State training program has its origins in a small
outreach training program which started in Queanbeyan in 1993-94. It continued
to grow and, in July 2007, the NSW Government announced a five-year
strategy to develop the State's Aboriginal mental health workforce with
over $6 million allocated for the employment and training of additional
Aboriginal Mental Health Workers
In a just-published Implementation
Review, CRCAH Senior Researcher
Nea
Harrison
and colleague Carol Watson reported participants
had a largely positive experience of the training program. In addition,
they felt it also provided benefits for their Aboriginal clients and
communities.
"The State-wide program has had a good beginning,"the
review states. "It has a strong policy framework, Ministerial Executive
champions and Area Health service support."
"The Program builds the local community's capacity with
regard to mental health literacy and knowledge of mental health services.
Trainees, as members of the local communities and organisational networks,
are able to transmit information and translate 'government speak' and the
language of mental health into understandable words and concepts."
However, the CRCAH researchers also identified a number of
ways to improve the program, including the development of a Training
Program Manual, establishing links with other agencies and services, the
development of tertiary academic pathways and the identification of
resources needed to support training.
To download the review visit www.crcah.org.au/publications,
or for a hard copy call the NSW Health Mental Health Workforce Program on
02 6360 7700.
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2009
AIATSIS Conference to focus on urban life |
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Much
of the policy focus by recent Australian Governments has been on Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people living in regional and remote areas but
the upcoming conference of the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Studies will reflect the fact that a large part of
Australia's Indigenous population live in urban centres.
The conference, themed, Perspectives on Urban Life:
Connections and Reconnections will provide a timely opportunity to host debate
about a topic historically under-represented in Indigenous Studies. It will
bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts with broad experience
and multi-disciplinary research to inform future policy directions in
several inter-related streams, such as: people, history and movement; the 'Urban'/'Outback' divide; health and wellbeing; law and justice; education,
economy and employment; culture; sport and festivals; youth, and housing.
AIATSIS is inviting people in the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander health sector to submit papers for the conference which
will be held on from Tuesday 29 September - Thursday 1 October this year in
Canberra
with opportunities to hold workshops on the prior Monday or proceeding
Friday. Trade stalls, exhibitions and poster displays will run in parallel
with the conference.
The conference will address a range of topical issues including
health, education, identity and culture, and will critically examine and
evaluate the numerous factors that have led to Indigenous people living in
urban areas today.
The conference highlights leading research, raises debate,
and encourages multi-disciplinary approaches to current issues. It provides
a unique opportunity for people to come together to investigate, discuss,
debate and develop best practice within Indigenous Studies and aims to
inform policy direction and foster knowledge growth, both during the
conference period and in subsequent dissemination of its proceedings.
For further information, to register or to submit proposals for
participation, visit: www.aiatsis.gov.au, or contact the program co-ordinator, Cressida Fforde, on conference2009@aiatsis.gov.au or +61 (0) 2 6261 4221.
Registration is now open.
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Breaking down
barriers between men and GPs |
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In a
fresh bid to encourage men to take their health more seriously, the Royal Australian
College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and other key health organisations
are using the number '5' as the central motif in a new web, print and
workplace-based campaign to break down the barriers that prevent men from
going to a GP.
Known as the M5 Project, the broad-based movement aims to
get men spending five minutes each day thinking about their own health,
talking to their workmates about men's health issues and taking five simple
preventive steps to - in effect - save their own lives by:
- sharing their family history with a GP.
- knowing their healthy weight.
- checking their blood pressure regularly.
-
stopping smoking.
-
maintaining a healthy body and a healthy
mind.
According to information on
the M5 website www.m5project.com.au five
men die each hour from preventable conditions. M5 says the goal is to
decrease this preventable death rate to zero.
Central to M5's mission is the core philosophy that "it is OK to talk about
health with our mates, and important to know and trust a local doctor to
look out for us".
This is a message that resonates with
Jack Bulman
,
project leader for the CRCAH-funded Mibbinbah - Men's Places project, which
is investigating how 'safe spaces' can improve Indigenous men's health and
sense of wellbeing.
"It's really important for blokes to talk up about their health and not be
ashamed to do it, but this can actually be a hard thing to do for men and
it's particularly hard for Indigenous men,"Jack says.
"There's a lot of shame about health issues in Indigenous communities,
and an Indigenous bloke sitting on his own in a doctor's waiting room will
feel bad about word getting out that he's got a problem, that he's showing
weakness."
" What we find works really well for our men is if they can get
together as a group in a safe place and start opening up to each other
about health issues. A lot of times we'll have health checks in our men's
groups, and we often invite one of the AMS [Aboriginal Medical Service]
doctors in to have a yarn with us."
As well as being a call to arms for men's health, the M5 website contains a
lot of health and dietary information specifically tailored to a male
audience, along with links through to more detailed information on specific
conditions that affect men.
There are also posters that can be printed out for spreading the health
message around workplaces and communities, a downloadable health check card
which provides information on what medical check-ups a man should have
depending on his age group, and a list of GPs for specific locales all over
Australia
.
The M5 Project is also publicising a key men's health event happening later
this year on the Gold Coast, The Healthy Male Forum 2009. Hosted by
Andrology
Australia
,
the Forum runs from 19 to 21 June and aims to provide an overview of the
latest developments and understanding in men's health for an audience of
medical practitioners and consumers.
To find out more about the forum, visit www.asnevents.com.au/andrology.
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Internship students experience Indigenous research at Onemda |
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Onemda
VicHealth Koori Health Unit, the CRCAH and The University of Melbourne's
Indigenous Employment Strategy have jointly developed a pilot internship
program for Indigenous students from around
Australia
.
In its first year, the program gave three students
studying Indigenous health and community development the opportunity to
cultivate knowledge and experience of real-world Indigenous research.
The internships, based at Onemda, ran over eight weeks,
allowing the students to gain a working understanding of Onemda and other
Indigenous units at the university in research, teaching and learning,
community development, and knowledge transfer.
According to Onemda Deputy Director Shaun Ewen the idea of
the program is to provide networking, mentoring and work opportunities,
which other people might take for granted in their career development.
"If your mum and dad is a doctor or nurse, you know the
field of opportunities, but Indigenous kids often have few established
networks in health, so we provide them with opportunities to help kick
start their careers,"says Shaun.
The interns are provided with many hands-on experiences,
and are paid for their work. "They contributed to projects at Onemda, doing
literature reviews and discrete parts of projects, handling web sites and
piggy-backing on existing projects."
"Most importantly, they work with top Indigenous
academics, who are more than happy to share their knowledge and expertise
with their younger Indigenous peers,"adds Shaun.
All of the three students were positive about their
experiences at Onemda.
Bachelor of Social Work student at the
Institute
of
Koori
Education
,
Deakin
University
, Kathryn
Morris told Gwalwa-Gai that her experience allowed her to see how [social
work] course structures were "put together".
"This helped me to understand the effort that goes into my
studies and making all resources available to me during my time at
university,"said Kathryn. "I was then based at the Centre of Indigenous
Education (CIE) on campus where I was fortunate to work on a few of their
important projects, such as the 2009 Summer School Program, the new
Bachelor of Arts Extended Program, and the CIE Student Guide."
Dasha Newington, medical student at the
University
of
Sydney
,
says of her experience at Onemda reinforced how desperately Koori doctors
and health professionals are needed. "I encourage Indigenous people of all
ages and life stages to consider a career in medicine or allied health,"she said. "If there is one thing that the last four weeks has confirmed, it
is that there are a great number of people who are willing to support you
in reaching these goals."
Melbourne
University
student
Sarai Atkinson said she learned a lot about study opportunities at
university and career possibilities in Indigenous health.
"I learned especially how important it is to work with
community when doing Indigenous health research,"said Sarai. "I am
confident that through my year as a student at the
University
of
Melbourne
,
a lot of Onemda people will be there to help me in my studies. I certainly
recommend the internship to other youth around the university and back in
my community in Shepparton."
The internship is currently limited to the Faculty of
Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences, but according to Kylie Kinsela,
Melbourne
University
's Indigenous Employment
Coordinator, the program is being evaluated with the intention of
developing it into a model that can be replicated across other faculties
and institutions.
"The internship model promises to be a very useful
prototype for people wanting to promote the value of Indigenous employment
and to greatly expand workforce opportunities for Indigenous students,"says Kylie.
"The program also assists us to identify future talent
and, longer term, should increase Indigenous involvement in Indigenous
health,"adds Shaun.
For further information, contact Kylie Kinsela on
+61 3 8344 9978 or kkinsela@unimelb.edu.au.
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Innovative
education and training, key to Indigenous health improvements: CRCAH
Research Director
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At the
recent SheppARTon Festival in northern Victoria CRCAH research director,
Professor Ian Anderson who is Director of the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health
Unit director at The University of Melbourne, challenged the audience to
consider the state of Indigenous health in
Australia
and what needed to be
done in education to reverse this trend.
In his vision for improved Indigenous health, Professor
Anderson argued that health must be treated in conjunction with education
and training, rather than in isolation from each other.
"Opening up of education opportunities and investing in
Indigenous education and infrastructure would make a great difference in
the long term,"he told the audience.
Professor Anderson pointed to the
Academy
of
Sport
,
Health and Education (ASHE) at Shepparton as "vision building and
groundbreaking"in its programs. "It's the type of innovative thinking
necessary to close the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
people in
Australia
,"he said.
ASHE, a joint venture between the
University
of
Melbourne
and the Rumbalara Football and Netball Club, uses participation in sport as
an avenue for Indigenous people to undertake education and training within
a trusted culturally appropriate environment.
"Universities have a role to play in shifting the focus of
research from merely 'descriptive' to understanding the root causes of
health and social malaise among Indigenous peoples, as part of developing
solutions that are real and lasting,"he said.
For further information on ASHE:
http://www.ashe.com.au
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NSW Indigenous student mentoring program spreads its reach
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A mentoring program which encourages Indigenous students to
finish Year 12 and go on to university is increasing its presence in New South Wales high
schools as word of its success spreads.
Australian
Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), an Indigenous not-for-profit
corporation, was started by CEO Jack Manning Bancroft in
Sydney
in 2005. Since then it has grown
to involve more than 700 Indigenous students from Years 9 to 12, who are
linked with mentors from the
University
of
Sydney
(city and
Cumberland
campuses) and
Wollongong
University
.
Now AIME has
joined forced with Southern Cross University to run the program from the
university's
Coffs
Harbour
campus for
the benefit of Indigenous schoolchildren in NSW's north coast region.
In February
2009
Orara
High School
, with 78 Koori students,
became the first school in the region to join the AIME program, with more
set to follow.
|
Clark Webb
is looking for Southern Cross University students to be involved in a mentoring program for Aboriginal high school students.
|
The program
uses volunteer university students to provide mentoring on a one-on-one
basis to Indigenous students ranging from Years 9 to 12. In Year 9 the
program is based around interactive activities including art, hip hop and
drama; in Year 10 there is a leadership program; and for Years 11 and 12
there is tutoring and assistance in things such as subject selection.
In total,
the AIME program offers Indigenous high school students over 60 hours of
extra one-on-one support from Years 9 through to 12.
The program
leader for the north coast region is Clark Webb, a Bundjalung /
Gumbaynggirr man who finished Year 12 at
Coffs
Harbour
High
School
before completing an archaeology degree at
Sydney
University
, where he was also an
AIME mentor for three years.
"The goal is
to increase school attendance and to get more Aboriginal kids through the
School Certificate and HSC and then increase attendance at university,"Clark
says.
"One of the
biggest problems is that there can be an internal barrier - sometimes
Aboriginal people have a fear or a feeling that we can't succeed. We need
to break that down and show these kids clear pathways. We need to show the
kids Aboriginal people can succeed in education - we're not just good at
sport."
Clark says
he aims to involve up to 170 Aboriginal students from high schools in
Coffs
Harbour
during 2009, using 100
mentors from Southern Cross University.
"Depending
on the success this year, we'll be looking to expand further into the north
coast,"he says. "This region has the third highest population of
Aboriginal people in
Australia
,
and it is attracting a lot of our people in from other areas."
Southern Cross University students who are interested in
becoming a mentor should contact Clark Webb on 0450 319 898 or email
cw@aimementoring.com. For further information on the program, visit the
website www.aimementoring.com.
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CRCAH
backs new Dhungalla Kaella Oration Series |
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More
than 150 people were challenged and inspired by the contributions of
speakers Paul Briggs, Dr Carmen
Lawrence and Deborah Cheetham at
the recent inaugural CRCAH-sponsored Dhungalla Kaella Oration in Shepparton, Victoria.
The Dhungalla Kaella
Oration Series, is a collaboration between the
University
of
Melbourne
, the Koori Resource and
Information Centre in the Goulburn Valley, Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative
Ltd and Rumbalara Football Netball Club, the
Academy
of
Sport
,
Health and Education (ASHE) in Shepparton, and a number of regional partner
organisations. The five-year program of orations will celebrate Indigenous
cultural identity, find opportunities for growth and positively influence
future generations with themes of health and society, culture, climate
change, the economy and regional development, and legal issues.
The
University
of
Melbourne
's
Chancellor, the Hon. Alex Chernov, introduced the guests after a very warm
Welcome to Country by Aunty Francis Matheysson.
 |
Professor Ian
Anderson thanks Aunty Francis Matheyssonand Justin Mohamed at the recent Oration
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Paul
Briggs
, Founding President and Chairman of the Rumbalara Football Netball
Club and Fellow of the University's Council, told the audience of the
commitment by Aboriginal leaders in the Goulburn Valley to realise
Aboriginal aspirations in the area and that, for example, the University's
new Institute for Indigenous Partnerships-with Aboriginal leadership and values-would
be a focus point for programs supporting those aspirations. Part of this
work will be knowledge exchange activities that value Aboriginal knowledge
as well as Western concepts. The goal is to create a new thinking that is
inspirational, that is aspirational, and that has the emotional and
spiritual wellbeing of Aboriginal people at its core.
Carmen Lawrence's career
has come almost full circle after her initial training as a research
psychologist in Western Australia, 21 years as a State and Federal
politician-including the Federal Minister for Health and Human Services-and
now as a Professorial Fellow at the University of Western Australia. Carmen
spoke on 'The Prejudice of Good People', dissecting the negative outcomes
of covert racism and unexamined prejudices. She focused on healthcare
delivery, where research shows that such attitudes undermine relationships
between providers and patients, resulting in poorer care for Aboriginal
people. Racism poisons not only social relationships but also health,
Carmen said, and we must constantly question the assumptions and values
that underpin our ideas and public policy.
Justin Mohamed, Director
of ASHE and former CRCAH Program Leader, thanked Carmen Lawrence for
raising these issues, which are also experienced in the Shepparton
community, and for indicating ways in which prejudice can be challenged. He
then introduced the next speaker, Ms
Deborah
Cheetham
.
Deborah-soprano, actor,
composer and playwright-moved the audience to tears as she spoke of her
experience as a member of the Stolen Generations and of her reconnection
with her people and Country, and then to laughter as she described her
journey from 'white Baptist Abba fan' to Aboriginal opera singer. Deborah
told the audience of a project, supported by the
University
of
Melbourne
's
Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development to address the
under-representation of Indigenous Australians in the world of classical
opera music. Part of this endeavour is the opera she has composed, Pecan Summer, about the 1939
Cummeragunja walk-off, which will be performed in 2010, with excerpt
previews in Shepparton in September 2009.
Justin then closed the
proceedings by thanking Aunty Frances for her Welcome and the speakers for
their contributions, and inviting
Helen Hayes
,
Director of Knowledge Transfer and Partnerships at the University of
Melbourne, and Ian Anderson, Professor of Indigenous Health at the
University's Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit and CRCAH Research
Director, to present Aunty Frances and the other contributors with gifts.
A video podcast of the
Oration will be available on the CRC for Aboriginal Health's website (www.crcah.org.au) and on the
University
of
Melbourne
's Knowledge Transfer and
Partnerships website (www.knowledgetransfer.unimelb.edu.au)
later in June.
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Summer School, a positive experience for Indigenous
postgraduate students
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander students from around Australia
recently participated in the seventh annual residential Summer School at
The University of Melbourne for Indigenous postgraduate research students
in the health and social sciences.
This year's
Summer School was hosted by the Centre for Indigenous Education together
with the Australian Indigenous Studies Program at The University of
Melbourne, the CRC for Aboriginal Health, and the
Academy
of
Social Sciences
in
Australia
.
According to
project officer Simone Brotherton, this year's summer school was
particularly successful because there were more supervisors of postgraduate
research students participating in the workshops of health sciences and
related social sciences than in previous years.
"The
reputation of summer school is increasing among Indigenous students and
university faculties, attracting the involvement of supervisors, which is
critical to the success of the program and the students in it,"says
Simone.
 |
James
Cook
University
student Roianne West (right)
with supervisor Kim Usher at
2009 ASSA Summer School.
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So far about
100 Indigenous students have gone through the annual program since it began
in 2002. This year's Summer School attracted 11 Indigenous postgraduate
students, six supervisors and many leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous
academics to the university's five-day residential workshop program.
Designed to
support students complete their studies and develop successful careers, the
workshops assist students in selecting and refining their thesis topic;
discussing research methodology; examining issues of research access and
ethics; building research networks; maintaining sound communication with
supervisors, community and other stakeholders; building research skills in
the collection, analysis and presentation of data; and report and thesis
writing.
The program
is increasingly very much part of the Indigenous student experience, with
very positive feedback from students doing the workshops. "I highly
recommend the summer school to anyone, the facilitators were highly skilled
and qualified, and they helped me gain clarity about my studies,"says
James
Cook
University
student Roianne West.
Among the
academics taking part in this year's Summer School were CRC for Aboriginal
Health research director and Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit director at
the
University
of
Melbourne
, Professor Ian Anderson; Foundation
Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the
University
of
Melbourne
,
Professor Marcia Langton; and Associate Professor Mary Wlodek, Medicine,
Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne.
The Summer
School was held with support from the Commonwealth Department of Education,
Science and Training and the CRC for Aboriginal Health. Additional support
was generously provided by the Pratt Foundation, CSIRO, Hecht Foundation,
Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation, Newmont
Australia
and the
University
of
Melbourne
.
For
further information about the Summer School, please contact Simone
Brotherton, Project Officer, The Centre for Indigenous Education, The
University
of
Melbourne
.
Email: sbr@unimelb.edu.au
Tel:
03 8344 0451
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Living
Strong - recipes for healthy Murris
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A group
of nutritionists at Queensland Health has recently published the Living
Strong - Healthy Lifestyle Cookbook with more than 20 recipes for delicious
soups, main meals and deserts specially formulated for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander families.
The book contains
traditional
Torres Strait
dishes such as
Sop Sop and Murri favourites like damper and a reduced-fat bully-beef stew.
As the book's authors
write in the introduction: "This cookbook provides a variety of healthy
recipe ideas and some traditional cooking for you and your family to enjoy.
The recipes are provided to encourage people to use more vegetables, fruit,
lean meat and fish to make quick and easy nutritious meals.
One of those authors is
Townsville-based Dawn Charteris, an ex-camp cook who now works as a
nutritionist with Queensland Health's Tropical Population Health Services
who told Gwalwa-Gai that the cookbook filled a community need.
"The Living Strong
Healthy Lifestyle Cookbook was developed in response to requests from many
community members who attended the Living Strong training,"said Dawn.
"They felt that there was a need for a cookbook with some healthy
traditional recipe ideas.
"The community
feedback and demand for the book indicates the cookbook has been well
received by communities"
To download the Living
Strong cook book go to:
http://www.gofor2and5.com.au/DataStore/files/pdf/QLD/QLD-ATSI%20Cookbook-Feb09.pdf
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Feasibility study recommends specialist Masters stream in
Indigenous health |
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A feasibility study undertaken by the Institute
of Koorie Education at Deakin University and Onemda VicHealth
Koori Health Unit has recommended step-by-step development of an Indigenous
public health specialist stream within existing Master of Public Health
(MPH) programs at Australian universities.
The study
funded by the Department of Health and Ageing under its Public Health
Education and Research Program (PHERP) was responding to an identified need
for more professionally qualified public health practitioners and
researchers to work effectively in Indigenous settings.
The report,
"Feasibility Study for a Nationally Accessible Master of Public Health
Program Specialising in Indigenous Health"recommends a nationally
accessible MPH specialist stream in Indigenous public health be developed
and offered alongside the existing nationally-accessible MPH tailored for
an Indigenous cohort at
Deakin
University
.
The
development of a nationally-accessible specialist stream in Indigenous
public health complements the recommendation and guidelines for the
inclusion of foundational Indigenous public health content in all national
MPH programs. The Indigenous content to be mastered by all MPH
graduates was outlined in the National Indigenous Public Health Curriculum
Framework published in June last year also by these partner organisations.
The framework delineates a set of guidelines for the integration of six
core competencies foundational to Indigenous public health within academic
MPH programs nationally.
Both reports
aim to build Indigenous public health capacity through curriculum reform,
promoting innovative and creative Indigenous public health education. The
CRCAH has been a key organisational partner for the two studies, along with
the Department of Health and Ageing, the Public Health Association of
Australia, and the Australian Network of Academic Public Health
Institutions.
A full version of the report can be downloaded from: www.onemda.unimelb.edu.au/publications/reports.html.
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Two
health docos launched for Indigenous youth |
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The
Rural Health Education Foundation's satellite broadcasting service has
launched two new television documentary programs targeted at Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander youth.
The 26-minute programs, Stay Strong and Strong and Deadly, premiered early
2009 and aim to address health and development issues for 6-12 year olds
and 12-18 year olds respectively. Both are presented by well-known
Indigenous actor Roxanne McDonald and feature multiple case studies.
 |
NSW
Governor Marie Bashir with Tom Calma and others at the recent film launch
|
Stay Strong examines successful
community-based primary healthcare and educational initiatives with an
emphasis on prevention and health promotion in areas of identified need. It
showcases the Nunga Kid's Café in Port Lincoln, Music Outback Foundation in
Central Australia and Chris Sarra's Strong and Smart program, which all
contribute to generational change by providing culturally positive
experiences for Indigenous kids that build pride and resilience.
Strong and Deadly, formally launched by New
South Wales Governor, Professor Marie Bashir and Social Justice
Commissioner, Tom Calma presents several programs that are having a
significant impact on the health and well-being of Indigenous young
people. Featured case studies include a football-based program in a
high school in
Kununurra
,
WA
;
a young women's group in
Palmerston
,
NT
; and Tirkandi Inaburra,
aresidential program for Indigenous boys aged 12-15 near Coleambally,
NSW.
Both programs build on the
first two titles in the Foundation's Strong Series, Start Strong and Grow Strong, which premiered on the
Foundation's satellite network in 2006 and have since been shown on SBS
Television, National Indigenous Television Service (NITV) and Aurora
Community Channel.
Speaking at the
programs' launch, RHEF CEO Don Perlgut said the physical and mental health
of a child "has a powerful impact on their school attendance and their
ability to learn and participate in school activities".
"These two new programs
showcase compelling examples of the positive impact of a nurturing
environment,
not only on a child's educational prospects, but also on their
future physical, social and financial well-being,"he said.
DVD copies of these
programs are available for purchase at $100 each via the website www.rhef.com.au or by phoning
02-6232 5480. Indigenous organisations can apply to the Foundation for a
free copy of the DVD.
The programs can also be
viewed or listened to on the website for free via web-streamed video or
audio podcast. Go to: http://www.rhef.com.au/programs/program-1/?program_id=353.
RHEF's satellite network broadcasts to 635 sites around
Australia
,
comprising mainly hospitals, health centres and community controlled health
clinics.
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Revitalizing Primary Health Care - the Teasdale-Corti Program
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 |
At work during
the recent Teasdale Corti training workshop
|
Earlier this year the CRCAH hosted a two week training program
for cohort of Canadian First Nation & Métis, Maori and Australian
Aboriginal emerging researchers, as part of the International Research
Project :"Health for All: Revitalising Primary Health Care".
The project,
funded by Canadian-based Teasdale-Corti
Gl
obal
Health Research Partnership Program and through a partnership the CRCAH,
aims to consolidate existing knowledge on comprehensive primary health care
(CPHC)., develop research capacity at the local service level, and to lay
the groundwork for the ongoing promotion of the role and need for CPHC.
The
Australian training component brought together Aboriginal and Maori people
for a two week training and capacity development workshop and was
coordinated by Gwyn Jolley and Catherine Hurley, from South Australian
Community Health Research Unit (SACHRU), under contract to the CRCAH.
The course
worked with each of the research teams who have successfully applied for
funding through the project to build on their existing skills and
knowledge, finalise their research designs and implement their
comprehensive primary health care research study.
Working
titles of proposals and participants
Initiatives
to Improve Access to CPHC for Maori in Aotearoa New
Zealand
Maori
practitioner Tania Forrest, Research user: Rowena Gotty, Mentors: Drs. Sue
Crengle and Pat Neuwelt
Influence
of a Community Health Indicators Toolkit and Database on the Development
and Evaluation of a CPHC Strategy in the Athabasca Region of
Saskatchewan
Mentors: Dr.
Bonnie Jeffery SPHERU
University
of
Regina
and Dr.
Jennifer Poudrier
University
of
Saskatchewan
,
Melissa Stoops, PhD Student (Junior Researcher),
Sandra
Hansen (research user)
CPHC in
the
Island
Lake
Communities: what does it mean
and how does it look?
Grace
McDougall (Regional Public Health Coordinator for the FARHA, co-leader of
the Public Health Improvement Pilot Project (PHIPP), Alex McDougall
(Executive Director, Neewin Health Care Inc.), Dr. Marcia Anderson
(Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences,
University
of
Manitoba
, and co-leader of the
PHIPP).
Wellbeing
at Utopia: the role of the Urapuntja Health Service
Sarah
Dogherty CEO, Ricki Tilmouth (research user), Kevin Rowley (mentor),
Case
study of the Male Health Program
Stephanie
Bell - CEO, Clive Rosewarne (researcher), John Liddle and Korey Summers
(Research Users)
Historical
analysis of CPHC at Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, Fitzroy, Melbourne
Joanne Luke
(researcher), Bronwyn Frederick's (mentor), Rod Jackson (CEO VAHS), Olivia
Bartley
Upon
returning to their home organisation, it is anticipate the each of the
research team will continue to work collaboratively with the other team
members to further enhance the network of Aboriginal and Maori researchers
who are leading the advancement of CHPC within the our countries.
For more information on the Australian component of the
Teasdale Corti International program contact:
Scott
Davis
on scott.davis@crcah.org.au
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New
Communications staff member
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The
CRCAH has been very fortunate in acquiring the services of a consultant to
replace our recently moved-on Communications Officer Cassandra
Preece.
 |
Steven Pelham
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Steven Pelham is a
Cairns-based IT and graphic design consultant with many years experience
working in remote Far North Queensland Aboriginal communities with the
Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, the Cape York Land Council, the
Cape York Digital Network and most recently the Health Interactive
Technologies Network (HITnet) a program that disseminates health related
information into remote and rural communities through the use of
multi-media technology.
Steve is a descendent of
the Kaurareg people from the Prince of Wales group of islands which include
Thursday Island
and the Kuku Yalanji
people from the Mossman/Daintree/Laura area.
Steve has a three year
old daughter and says one of his personal aspirations is to be the best
father he can be.
Steve told Gwalwa-Gai
that he is strongly committed to working to improve the health of his
people and that he is excited at the opportunities for this at the CRCAH.
"My design and
communications skills and experience mean that I hope I'll be able to add
value to the work of the CRC in closing the health gap for my people,"said
Steve.
Steve will initially be
working for the CRCAH as a consultant for three days a week.
To contact Steve: stevenpelham@gmail.com
Gwalwa-Gai would also
like to take this opportunity to thank Steve's predecessor,
Cassandra Preece
for all her hard work and
creativity over the three years she was with the CRCAH. Cass is now working
with the Mibbinbah Men's Spaces project based on
Queensland
's Gold Coast.
Cass was an enthusiastic and creative worker for the CRCAH and played
a critical role in the creation of the CRCAH brand. We wish her well in her
job at Mibbinbah and thank her for her important contribution to Aboriginal
health research.
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Correction: Stories of hope and resilience at Hopevale
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In the last edition of Gwalwa-Gai
we published an article about digital story telling (DST) in the Cape York
community of Hopevale which researcher Samia
Goudie reported was assisting in the community's social
and emotional wellbeing.
The article
incorrectly stated that "the story-telling project was carried out as part
of the broader Hopevale - Pelican project run by Pelican Expeditions". The
article should have read: "The story-telling project is part of the Pelican
- Hopevale project camp jointly run by the Hope Vale Elders and Pelican
Expeditions and championed by Hopevale Elders Des and Estelle Bowen".
Our
apologies to Des and Estelle Bowen.
For further information about DST and the
Pelican - Hope Vale project camp,
please contact,
Samia Goudie
,
Lecturer, Indigenous Health Unit,
School
of
Population Health
, the
University
of
Queensland
.
T: +61 7 336 55552, E: s.goudie@uq.edu.au
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