Community In Brisbane Research Articles

Understanding problem gambling in two ethnic communities in Brisbane, Queensland A pilot study

This paper aims to present findings from a pilot study on understanding gambling within the Greek and Vietnamese communities in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland State. It explores gambling behaviour among gamblers and views of workers from their own communities. Rich data were obtained by conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews. Three themes that emerged are the causes of gambling, the impact of gambling, and participants' views on existing delivery of gambling services. It appears that a more culturally appropriate gambling service is necessary to address the needs and problems of gamblers from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Policing a Chinese Community in Brisbane, Queensland: An Experiment

This article introduces a police-led initiative by the Queensland Police Service (QPS) which was set up in Brisbane in 2001 to try to promote interaction with young people in the Chinese community. In this article, the objectives, design and contents of the initiative will be described. The police's views on different aspects of the Youth Group and the areas for further improvement will be reported.

Communicative Needs and Bilingualism in Elderly Australians of Six Ethnic Backgrounds

The communicative needs and bilingual language use of elderly members of six ethnic communities in Brisbane were investigated, to provide a basis for the development of linguistically and culturally appropriate measures of communication impairment. Data were collected using group and individual interview methods. The results highlighted the importance of communication in the family and social domains for all groups. This is not adequately reflected in some existing measures of functional communication. Degrees of bilingualism were found not to be consistently related with length of residence in Australia. For subjects reporting difficulty in speaking English, communication in the public domain was restricted.

Reluctant entrepreneurs: professionally qualified Asian migrants in small business.

"The abandonment of the White Australia Policy after World War II and the implementation of a points system in Australia's immigration program have led to a dramatic increase in the number of highly educated Asian migrants in the country. A study of 144 entrepreneurs of small business in the Indian and Chinese communities in Brisbane and Sydney found that, faced with institutionalized blockages, few of these highly educated migrants could practice what they were originally trained for. The majority of them, with their class resources, determination and optimism, became reluctant entrepreneurs."

Attitudes & Awareness to Child Abuse: of 40 Greek second year university students and their parents and 40 Greek early school leavers and their parents in Melbourne

AbstractThe phenomenon of child abuse was unexplored in Greece until the late 1970’s when the legal, social and medical professions became aware of the growing problem which resulted in the passing of a new law. Studies on child abuse are almost non-existent at present. Maroulis claimed that corporal punishment in the Greek culture can be perceived as an acceptable way of shaping a child’s behaviour. As yet there is very little, if any, research undertaken in Australia on Greek people and their awareness to child abuse. Masselos’s 1981 account of the Greek Community in Brisbane cites only three cases of child abuse as having occurred. This account cannot be viewed as indicating a low prevalence. Education is regarded as one of the essential factors in making people aware of the problem of child abuse and teaching them what the needs and the requirements of children are. Two of the three authors of the present study are from the Greek community, and were most concerned to ascertain the sensitivity to child abuse in the largest ethnic community in Melbourne. This study was undertaken in the year of the campaign “When Love is Not Enough” was launched, 1982. In this study 240 subjects, 40 Greek second year university students and their parents and 40 Greek early school leavers and their parents were given a questionnaire to fill out. The questionnaire contained questions of awareness, attitudes and opinions to child abuse. The aim was to see whether these selected samples of Greek people in Victoria were aware of the problem of child abuse.

Politics, Policy and Performance: The Primary Prevention of Disease in Two Community Health Centres in Queensland

A major goal underlying the community health programme initiative in Australia was the prevention of disease. The clients and people in the communities served by two Brisbane community health centres were studied to determine the extent to which (a) they had received preventive advice; (b) they had acted upon such advice. Comparative data on non-client community samples were also examined. The data indicate that there is little preventive activity and little evidence of changes in behaviour associated with preventive programs in the two health centre areas. The apparent failure of at least one major goal of the community health programe in Queensland is attributable to, amongst other factors, political and structural forces which impeded the successful implementation of this policy initiative.

THE IMPACT OF HEALTH CENTRES IN BRISBANE ON SOME COMMUNITY HEALTH INDICATORS

In this study, the goals of the Australian Community Health Program were identified and operationalised. Measures of the communities' health were obtained before and after the health centres came into operation. A population from a comparison area in which community health centre services were not available is also examined.The findings fail to support the view that Brisbane community health centres influence community symptom levels. Further, there is no evidence that health centre activities have produced a decline in medical service utilisation. Stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates appear unaltered. Hospital admission rates declined in one intervention area but continued to increase in both the comparison and, at a lower rate, in the other intervention area. The apparent lack of impact of community health centres in Brisbane may, in part, be attributed to political and structural factors which have limited the number and range of intervention programs. Thus it cannot be assumed that these findings reflect upon the Community Health Program as a whole, but they do indicate that in some centres the Program may fail to address adequately some community health needs.