Public Health Commons^™

How And When Health-Care Practitioners In Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services Deliver Alcohol Screening And Brief Intervention, And Why They Don’T: A Qualitative Study, Anton Clifford, Anthony Shakeshaft, Catherine Deans

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Introduction. Indigenous Australians experience a disproportionately high burden of alcohol-related harm.Alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) offers the potential to reduce this harm if barriers to its delivery in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) can be optimally targeted. Aims. Examine health-care practitioners’ perceptions of, and practices in, alcohol SBI in ACCHSs. Methods. Semi-structured group interviews with 37 purposively selected health staff across five ACCHSs. Results. Alcohol screening independent of standard health assessments was generally selective.The provision of brief intervention was dependent upon factors related to the patient. Four key factors underlying health-care practitioners’ perceptions of alcohol SBI were prominent: …

‘It Had To Be My Choice’ Indigenous Smoking Cessation And Negotiations Of Risk, Resistance And Resilience, Chelsea Bond, Mark Brough, Geoffrey Spurling, Noel Hayman

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

While Australia is considered a world leader in tobacco control, smoking rates within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population have not declined at the same rate. This failure highlights an obvious shortcoming of mainstream anti- smoking efforts to effectively understand and engage with the socio-cultural context of Indigenous smoking and smoking cessation experiences. The purpose of this article is to explore the narrative accounts of 20 Indigenous ex-smokers within an urban community and determine the motivators and enablers for successful smoking cessation. Our findings indicated that health risk narratives and the associated social stigma produced through anti-smoking campaigns formed …

Poor Food And Nutrient Intake Among Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Rural Australian Children, Josephine D. Gwynn, Victoria M. Flood, Catherine A. D'Este, John R. Attia, Nicole Turner, Janine Cochrane, Jimmy Chun-Yu Louie, John H. Wiggers

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the food and nutrient intake of a population of rural Australian children particularly Indigenous children. Participants were aged 10 to 12 years, and living in areas of relative socio-economic disadvantage on the north coast of New South Wales.

Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study 215 children with a mean age of 11.30 (SD 0.04) years (including 82 Indigenous children and 93 boys) completed three 24-hour food recalls (including 1 weekend day), over an average of two weeks in the Australian summer of late 2005.

Results: A high proportion of children consumed …

Social And Emotional Outcomes Of Australian Children From Indigenous And Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds, Naomi Priest, Jennifer Baxter, Linda Hayes

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objectives: 1) profile the living environments and 2) examine the social and emotional outcomes of Australian children from Indigenous and cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds at school entry. Method: Secondary analysis of cross- sectional data collected in Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n=4,735). Child mental-health outcomes were measured using parent report of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: Significant differences in family and neighbourhood characteristics, including parental income, maternal education, maternal parenting quality and neighbourhood safety, were found in children of Indigenous and CALD backgrounds compared to the reference group of Australian-born, English-speaking children. …

Socioeconomic Disparities In Physical Health Among Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Children In Western Australia, Carrington C.J. Sheperd, Jianghong Li, Stephen R. Zubrick

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective. Few empirical studies have specifically examined the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and health in Indigenous populations of Australia. We sought to provide insights into the nature of this relationship by examining socio-economic disparities in physical health outcomes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Western Australia.

Design. We used a diverse set of health and SES indicators from a representative survey conducted in 2000􏰣2002 on the health and development of 5289 Indigenous children aged 0􏰣17 years in Western Australia. Analysis was conducted using multivariate logistic regression within a multilevel framework. Results. After controlling for age and sex, …

Cancer Incidence And Mortality In Indigenous Australians In Queensland, 1997–2006, Suzanne P. Moore, Peter K. O'Rourke, Kylie-Ann Mallitt, Gail Garvey, Adèle C. Green, Michael D. Coory, Patricia C. Valery

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: To examine cancer incidence and mortality in Indigenous Queenslanders. Design, setting and patients: Assessment of indirectly standardised incidence and mortality ratios for Indigenous Australians in Queensland diagnosed with cancer from 1997 to 2006, compared with the total Queensland population. Main outcome measures: Standardised incidence and mortality ratios. Results: Compared with the total Queensland population, Indigenous Queenslanders had a lower overall incidence of cancer (standardised incidence ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.75–0.82), but a higher incidence of some of the more fatal cancer types. Overall cancer mortality was higher (standardised mortality ratio, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.28–1.45) and similar to rates for …

Cultural Icons And Marketing Of Gambling, L. Dyall, S. Tse, A. Kingi

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

A number of different countries and states have or are in the process of developing formal or informal guidelines to govern gambling advertising and marketing of gambling. There is a growing consensus that gambling advertising should not mislead the public, be fair, provide information on the odds of wining and there should be provisions in place to protect vulnerable groups, such as, children. In the development of these guidelines by different countries or states there has been no real consideration of the need to engage with different indigenous and ethnic populations to ensure that they are protected as vulnerable populations. …

Long-Term Trends In Indigenous Deaths From Chronic Diseases In The Northern Territory: A Foot On The Brake, A Foot On The Accelerator, David P. Thomas, John R. Condon, Ian P. Anderson, Shu Q. Li, Stephen Halpin, Joan Cunningham, Steven L. Guthridge

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: To examine trends in Northern Territory Indigenous mortality from chronic diseases other than cancer. Design: A comparison of trends in rates of mortality from six chronic diseases (ischaemic heart disease [IHD], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], cerebrovascular disease [CVD], diabetes mellitus [DM], renal failure [RF] and rheumatic heart disease [RHD]) in the NT Indigenous population with those of the total Australian population.

Participants: NT Indigenous and total Australian populations, 1977–2001. Main outcome measures: Estimated average annual change in chronic disease mortality rates and in mortality rate ratios. Results: DeathratesfromIHDandDMamongNTIndigenouspeoplesincreased between 1977 and 2001, but this increase slowed after 1990. …

Epilepsy In Indigenous And Non-Indigenous People In Far North Queensland, John Archer, Ruth Bunby

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: To compare patterns of epilepsy in Indigenous and non-Indigenous people presenting to hospital. Study design: Retrospective cross-sectional survey of individuals admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of epilepsy (1 January 2001 – 31 December 2004); presenting to the emergency department with a seizure (2004); or presenting to the epilepsy clinic (1 September 2002 – 31 March 2005). Setting: Cairns Base Hospital, the major referral centre for Far North Queensland, including Cape York and the Torres Strait, with a population of 230 000 (13% Indigenous). Main outcome measures: Proportion of Indigenous patients presenting for epilepsy; proportion of Indigenous and non-Indigenous …

Injury Profiles Of Indigenous And Non-Indigenous People In New South Wales, Kathleen F. Clapham, Mark R. Stevenson, Sing Kai Lo

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objectives: To compare the injury profiles of the Indigenous population in New South Wales with that of the non-Indigenous population.

Design and setting: Descriptive analysis of NSW Health data obtained from the Health Outcomes Information and Statistical Toolkit (HOIST) database. Hospitalisation data were collected for the period 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2003. Mortality data were collected for the period 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2002.

Main outcome measures: Hospitalisation and death rates due to injury by age, sex, injury mechanism and Indigenous status. Rate ratios for comparison between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Results: Rates of death from …

Treatment Patterns For Cancer In Western Australia: Does Being Indigenous Make A Difference?, Sonja E. Hall, Caroline E. Bulsara, Max K. Bulsara, Timothy G. Leahy, Margaret R. Culbong, Delia Hendrie, C D'Arcy J. Holman

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: To examine whether hospital patients with cancer who were identified as Indigenous were as likely to receive surgery for the cancer as non-Indigenous patients. Design, setting and patients: Epidemiological survey of all Western Australian (WA) patients who had a cancer registration in the state-based WA Record Linkage Project that mentioned cancer of the breast (1982–2000) or cancer of the lung or prostate (1982–2001).

Main outcome measures: The likelihoods of receiving breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy for breast cancer, lung surgery for lung cancer, or radical or non-radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer were compared between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations using …