Considering the Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Improvement of Australian Aboriginal Health: Scoping Review (Preprint)

Australian Aboriginal ◽

BACKGROUND Social media may have a significant role in influencing the present and future health implications among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, yet there has been no review of the role of social media in improving health. OBJECTIVE This study aims to examine the extent of health initiatives using social media that aimed to improve the health of Australian Aboriginal communities. METHODS A scoping review was conducted by systematically searching databases CINAHL Plus; PubMed; Scopus; Web of Science, and Ovid MEDLINE in June 2017 using the terms and their synonyms “Aboriginal” and “Social media.” In addition, reference lists of included studies and the Indigenous HealthInfonet gray literature were searched. Key information about the social media intervention and its impacts on health were extracted and data synthesized using narrative summaries. RESULTS Five papers met inclusion criteria. All included studies were published in the past 5 years and involved urban, rural, and remote Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people aged 12-60 years. No studies reported objective impacts on health. Three papers found that social media provided greater space for sharing health messages in a 2-way exchange. The negative portrayal of Aboriginal people and negative health impacts of social media were described in 2 papers. CONCLUSIONS Social media may be a useful strategy to provide health messages and sharing of content among Aboriginal people, but objective impacts on health remain unknown. More research is necessary on social media as a way to connect, communicate, and improve Aboriginal health with particular emphasis on community control, self-empowerment, and decolonization.

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption, correlates and interventions among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: a scoping review

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023630 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. e023630 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Kathleen M Wright ◽

Joanne Dono ◽

Aimee L Brownbill ◽

Odette Pearson (nee Gibson) ◽

Jacqueline Bowden ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Scoping Review ◽

Torres Strait Islander ◽

Grey Literature ◽

Sugar Sweetened Beverage ◽

Australian Aboriginal ◽

Sweetened Beverage ◽

Age Related ◽

Rural Settings ◽

ObjectivesSugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is reported to be disproportionally high compared with the general Australian population. This review aimed to scope the literature documenting SSB consumption and interventions to reduce SSB consumption among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Findings will inform strategies to address SSB consumption in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.MethodsPubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, Informit, Joanna Briggs Institute EBP, Mura databases and grey literature were searched for articles published between January 1980 and June 2018. Studies were included if providing data specific to an Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population’s SSB consumption or an intervention that focused on reducing SSB consumption in this population.DesignSystematic scoping review.Results59 articles were included (1846 screened). While reported SSB consumption was high, there were age-related and community-related differences observed in some studies. Most studies were conducted in remote or rural settings. Implementation of nutrition interventions that included an SSB component has built progressively in remote communities since the 1980s with a growing focus on community-driven, culturally sensitive approaches. More recent studies have focused exclusively on SSB consumption. Key SSB-related intervention elements included incentivising healthier options; reducing availability of less-healthy options; nutrition education; multifaceted or policy implementation (store nutrition or government policy).ConclusionsThere was a relatively large number of studies reporting data on SSB consumption and/or sales, predominantly from remote and rural settings. During analysis it was subjectively clear that the more impactful studies were those which were community driven or involved extensive community consultation and collaboration. Extracting additional SSB-specific consumption data from an existing nationally representative survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people could provide detailed information for demographic subgroups and benchmarks for future interventions. It is recommended that a consistent, culturally appropriate, set of consumption measures be developed.

Poverty and mental health in Aboriginal Australia

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1192/pb.23.6.364 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 23 (6) ◽

pp. 364-366 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jonathan Laugharne

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Respiratory Diseases ◽

Torres Strait Islander ◽

Aboriginal People ◽

Central Africa ◽

Aboriginal Health ◽

Aboriginal Australians ◽

Death Rates ◽

The World ◽

When the Australian Governor General, Sir William Deane, referred in a speech in 1996 to the “appalling problems relating to Aboriginal health” he was not exaggerating. The Australia Bureau of Statistics report on The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (McLennan & Madden, 1997) outlines the following statistics. The life expectancy for Aboriginal Australians is 15 to 20 years lower than for non-Aboriginal Australians, and is lower than for most countries of the world with the exception of central Africa and India. Aboriginal babies are two to three times more likely to be of lower birth weight and two to four times more likely to die at birth than non-Aboriginal babies. Hospitalisation rates are two to three times higher for Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal Australians. Death rates from infectious diseases are 15 times higher among Aboriginal Australians than non-Aboriginal Australians. Rates for heart disease, diabetes, injury and respiratory diseases are also all higher among Aboriginals – and so the list goes on. It is fair to say that Aboriginal people have higher rates for almost every type of illness for which statistics are currently recorded.

Using Facebook to reduce smoking among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: a participatory grounded action study

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-019-6918-7 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marita Hefler ◽

Vicki Kerrigan ◽

Becky Freeman ◽

Gordon Robert Boot ◽

David P. Thomas

Keyword(s):

Torres Strait Islander ◽

Australian Aboriginal ◽

Torres Strait ◽

Grounded Action

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the development of pandemic influenza containment strategies: Community voices and community control

Health Policy ◽

10.1016/j.healthpol.2011.07.004 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 103 (2-3) ◽

pp. 184-190 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Peter D. Massey ◽

Adrian Miller ◽

Sherry Saggers ◽

David N. Durrheim ◽

Richard Speare ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pandemic Influenza ◽

Torres Strait Islander ◽

Community Control ◽

Australian Aboriginal ◽

Finding Space and Place: Using Narrative and Imagery to Support Successful Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Enabling Programs

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education ◽

10.1017/jie.2016.11 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Clair Andersen ◽

Ann Edwards ◽

Brigette Wolfe

Keyword(s):

Torres Strait Islander ◽

Aboriginal People ◽

Word Meaning ◽

Space And Place ◽

Entry Level ◽

Whole Person ◽

Low Expectations ◽

Torres Strait ◽

The University

‘Riawunna’ is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘a place of learning’ for Aboriginal people, from entry level to tertiary studies, at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and operates on Hobart, Launceston and Burnie campuses. The Riawunna Centre was established to encourage Aboriginal people to aspire to higher levels of education, and to support them to be successful in their chosen course of study. One strategy developed to support the participation, retention and success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is the Murina program. During the four year period between 2010 and 2013 every student at UTAS who graduated from the Murina program and chosen to enrol in undergraduate studies has been successful in completing their courses. One of the tools used to achieve this result is the strong use of narrative and images in our teaching. This whole-person approach to teaching resonates culturally with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but is also applicable to any student of any culture, especially those who come to university tentatively and with low expectations of what they can achieve.

Prevalence of Hepatitis C Among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Hepatitis Monthly ◽

10.5812/hepatmon.38640 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 16 (7) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Simon Graham ◽

Mary-Ellen Harrod ◽

Jenny Iversen ◽

Jane Simone Hocking

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Hepatitis C ◽

Torres Strait Islander ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Australian Aboriginal ◽

The Centre of Clinical Research Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health: An Operational Rationale and Some Reflections on Progress so far

Australian Journal of Primary Health ◽

10.1071/py06028 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 97 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Glenn Giles ◽

Merridy Malin ◽

Peter Harvey

Keyword(s):

Health Services ◽

Clinical Research ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Torres Strait Islander ◽

Aboriginal People ◽

Aboriginal Health ◽

Health Council ◽

Torres Strait ◽

Research Excellence ◽

Torres Strait Islander Health

The Centre of Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE) in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health was established in late 2003 through a major National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant involving collaboration between the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia (AHCSA), Flinders University, and Aboriginal Health Services. Our foundation research communities are the Aboriginal communities served by these Aboriginal Health Services in the Spencer Gulf / Eyre Peninsula region. In recent years a number of collaborative research programs involving chronic illness management, self-management and coordinated care have been implemented in these communities and this work is the basis of the initial CCRE activities. Key objectives of the CCRE are to improve the health status of Indigenous people through conducting relevant and meaningful Aboriginal controlled health research, providing formal training for Indigenous health researchers and developing innovative approaches to health care that can be readily translated and applied to support communities. The inclusion, empowerment and engagement of Indigenous people in the process of managing community health represent tangible strategies for achieving more equitable health outcomes for Aboriginal people. This paper outlines the CCRE operational rationale and presents early activities and outcomes across the three strategic areas of CCRE operations: research, education and training, and translation. Some critical reflections are offered on the progress and experience of the CCRE thus far. A common obstacle this CCRE has encountered is that the limited (especially staff) resources available to the Aboriginal Health Services with which we are collaborating make it difficult for them to engage with and progress the projects we are pursuing.