Digital Commons Network^™

Which Way From Here? An Exploration Of Local Perspectives On Strengths, Needs And Goals In The Aurukun Community, Jack R. Menges, Marie L. Caltabiano, Alan Clough, Tim White

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

Aurukun is a small Aboriginal community located in remote Cape York, Far North Queensland. This study explores local perspectives on the goals, strengths and areas of need in the community, and perceptions of the role of a man in Aurukun. Seventeen individuals from the Aurukun community were informally interviewed. The sample comprised eight community elders (four female, four male) and nine community members (six male, three female). A reference group comprising local community members and elders guided the research project. Results indicated that the communities’ main strength was their connection to culture, the areas most needing improvement were violence, alcohol …

On The Path To Decolonizing Health Care Services: The Role Of Marketing, Reece George, Steven D'Alessandro, Mehmet I. Mehmet, Mona Nikidehaghani, Michelle M. Evans, Guarangi Laud, Deirdre Tedmanson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Despite considerable investment, health outcomes for First Nations people are well below those of the rest of the population in several countries, including Canada, the United States, and Australia. In this article, the authors draw on actor-network theory and the case of Birthing on Country, a successful policy initiative led by First Nations Australians, to explore the decolonization of health services. Using publicly available archival data and the theoretical guidance of actor-network theory, the analysis offers insight into how marketing techniques and technologies can be deployed to achieve improved health outcomes and implement decolonized approaches. The insights provided have theoretical …

Embedding Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Lgbtiq+ Issues In Primary Initial Teacher Education Programs, David B. Rhodes, Matt Byrne

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Existing research has explored inclusion in education, however, issues related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ young people, with some notable exceptions, have, until recently, seldom been included in any meaningful academic discussion. Issues of youth race, gender and sexuality have been interrogated as discrete issues. This small but growing body of research demonstrates the potential impacts of intersectional disadvantages experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ young people in Australia (Uink, Liddelow-Hunt, Daglas, & Ducasse, 2020). This article seeks to explore the existing research and advocate for the embedding of a critical pedagogy of care in primary …

Breaking The Silence: Insights Into The Lived Experiences Of Wa Aboriginal/Lgbtiq+ People: Community Summary Report 2021, Braden Hill, Bep Uink, Jenny Dodd, Dameyon Bonson, Anne-Marie Eades, Sian Bennett

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ‘Breaking the Silence’ research project is one of the first to focus on the unique experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ people living in Western Australia. Research focusing on the intersection of Indigeneity and gender/sexual diversity is severely lacking in Australia. This is the first survey to comprehensively capture the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ Western Australians. Previously, major research pertaining to LGBTIQ+ Australians rarely just focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander same sex attracted or gender variant individuals (Bonson, 2017; Dudgeon, et. al., 2017; Growing Up Queer, 2014; Hill, et. al., 2021; …

Breaking The Silence: Insights From Wa Services Working With Aboriginal/ Lgbtiq+ People: Organisations Summary Report 2021, Braden Hill, Bep Uink, Jenny Dodd, Dameyon Bronson, Anne-Marie Eades, Sian Bennett

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ‘Breaking the Silence’ research project is one of the first to focus on the unique experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ people living in Western Australia. The report presents the first phase of a twopart research project that explores how a range of health, social support and education organisations respond to the needs of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, living in Western Australia and identifying as LGBTIQ+. This report presents the findings of focus groups, interviews and surveys with staff employed within a range of organisations that work closely with Aboriginal and/or LGBTIQ+ individuals. The discussion …

What Do We Know About The Nexus Between Culture, Age, Gender And Health Literacy? Implications For Improving The Health And Well-Being Of Young Indigenous Males, Anthony Merlino, James A. Smith, Mick Adams, Jason Bonson, Richard Osborne, Barry Judd, Murray Drummond, David Aanundsen, Jesse Fleay, Benjamin Christie

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Health literacy, although diversely defined, refers to the abilities, relationships and external environments required for people to successfully promote health. Existing research suggests that health literacy is related to health inequities, including individual and community capacity to navigate health. A diverse range of factors shape health literacy abilities and environments, especially culture, gender and age. However, the nexus between these variables and their cumulative impact on health literacy development remains largely unexplored. Commentary that explores these dynamics among young Indigenous males is particularly scant. In turn, strategies to bridge health equity gaps have been obscured. This article brings together disparate …

‘Team Australia?’: Understanding Acculturation From Multiple Perspectives, Justine Dandy, Tehereh Zianian, Carolyn Moylan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In this paper we explore mutual acculturation among Australians from Indigenous, majority, immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Our aims were: to develop Berry’s acculturation scales for use in Australia and from multiple perspectives and to explore acculturation expectations and strategies from these multiple perspectives. We conducted in-depth interviews (n = 38) in Perth, Western Australia. We investigated participants’ views, guided by the two dimensions underlying Berry’s model of acculturation: cultural maintenance and intercultural contact, and models of culture learning. We found that participants had different acculturation expectations for different groups, as well as different preferred strategies for themselves, although most …

A Youth Curfew: A Retrospective View Of The Rise, Fall And Legacy Of The Northbridge Policy, Trudi Cooper, T. Love

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article presents policy, practice and theory implications of a case study of a youth curfew. The original case study of the Northbridge Policy Project set out to document the purposes of the Northbridge Policy, how policy was implemented, and to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach as a generalised response to child welfare and youth crime. The study synthesised data from multiple sources. The original study concluded that although the project was well resourced, well managed and had improved greatly inter-agency collaboration for child protection, these benefits could have been achieved without the curfew, which undermined some preventative aspects …

Investigating The Relationships Between Education And Culture For Female Students In Tertiary Settings In The Uae, Beverley Mcclusky

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research is about the higher education of Indigenous Emirati women and how they balance the intricate demands of higher education with the social customs of a traditional society and the expectations placed on women. The study sought to identify and comprehend the issues which have affected the educational changes that are taking place, including culture, gender, religion, the influence of Western education processes, and the desire of an Indigenous population to raise their educational practices to an internationally recognised benchmark.

The research was aimed at providing insights into the distinctiveness of this group of women from their social and …