Indigenous Community Organisations Research Articles

Using Social Media to Recruit Participants in Health Care Research: Case Study.

This paper presents a case study describing the use of social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram, as a valuable tool for recruiting participants in community-engaged health care studies. Drawing on the experiences of our team during a qualitative study aiming to understand the needs of Indigenous fathers and Two-Spirit parents as they transition to parenthood, we offer an in-depth exploration of our social media recruitment strategy. This strategy encompasses deliberate content creation and online engagement with local Indigenous community organizations and people. Through the implementation of this recruitment strategy, we successfully recruited 18 Indigenous fathers and 4 Two-Spirit parents to our community-engaged project. We learned that social media can be used to enhance recruitment by building community trust, engagement, tailored content for specific audiences, and adaptive strategies guided by data metrics provided by social media platforms. Our journey included several challenges, such as dealing with fraudulent participants, navigating budget and resource constraints, and facing recruitment limitations, which we also describe in detail. Our paper provides essential insights for researchers considering the use of social media as a recruitment tool but we are unsure of how to begin. Health care researchers may find our experience and recommendations helpful for developing and implementing their own effective social media recruitment strategy. Meanwhile, sharing our experience contributes to the broader understanding of the role of social media in participant recruitment.

"You Can't Work with My People If You Don't Know How to": Enhancing Transfer of Care from Hospital to Primary Care for Aboriginal Australians with Chronic Disease.

Indigenous Australians experience significantly poorer health compared to other Australians, with chronic disease contributing to two-thirds of the health gap. We report on an evaluation of an innovative model that leverages mainstream and Aboriginal health resources to enable safe, supported transfer of care for Aboriginal adults with chronic conditions leaving hospital. The multisite evaluation was Aboriginal-led and underpinned by the principles of self-determination and equity and Indigenous research protocols. The qualitative study documented processes and captured service user and provider experiences. We found benefits for patients and their families, the hospital and the health system. The new model enhanced the patient journey and trust in the health service and was a source of staff satisfaction. Challenges included staff availability, patient identification and complexity and the broader issue of cultural safety. Critical success factors included strong governance with joint cultural and clinical leadership and enduring relationships and partnerships at the service delivery, organisation and system levels. A holistic model of care, bringing together cultural and clinical expertise and partnering with Indigenous community organisations, can enhance care coordination and safety across the hospital–community interface. It is important to consider context as well as specific program elements in design, implementation and evaluation.

Who holds the key? Negotiating gatekeepers, community politics, and the “right” to research in Indigenous spaces

AbstractThis article considers key methodological and ethical issues for qualitative research with Aboriginal sex workers based on the author's experiences conducting research with this diverse group of people. Issues gaining access to this group through Indigenous community organisations and sex worker community organisations are considered. The aim is to share critical reflections about some of the assumptions underpinning the research process, ethical engagement with Indigenous communities, and research participants and to outline researcher responsibilities. In navigating these factors, it was found that working with and for community‐based organisations requires considerable attention to power and the dynamics of representation.

Inquiry into funding and delivery of programs to reduce homelessness

Inquiry into funding and delivery of programs to reduce homelessness

FRONTLINE: Place-makers of the mind: Symbolic reconstruction of an inner city park

In 2016, a specialist unit of study that teaches university journalism students how to report in partnership with Indigenous community organisations extended its story range to an exclusive news feature produced in collaboration with members of the wider Nyoongar community of Perth, Western Australia. The story asked and answered the question of what happened to a stalled proposal to co-badge a major inner city park with a Nyoongar name. In conceiving the story, and producing it with assistance from our students, we intervened to achieve clarity on a local government decision where due process had not been followed. With the help of Nyoongar sources, we sought to explain the cultural importance of the park, and raise awareness of the decolonising potential of Indigenous place names. The story is appended after an exegesis that melds sense of place theory with Bourdieusian field theory to situate the story and its producers in social space.

‘Yarning up with Koori kids’ – hearing the voices of Australian urban Indigenous children about their health and well-being

ABSTRACTObjective: Australian Indigenous children experience some of the most substantial health inequalities globally. In this context, research regarding their health and well-being has overemphasised physical illnesses with limited exploration of a diverse range of dimensions and determinants, particularly those based on Indigenous holistic understandings of health and well-being. This deficit-based approach has thus missed many strengths and assets of Indigenous children. This research aimed to gain insight into the perspectives of Indigenous children about their health and well-being in an urban setting in Australia. It joins a limited international literature examining views and experiences of non-majority children.Design: Participatory and qualitative child-friendly research methods were utilised. The project was developed in partnership with Indigenous community organisations and members. Photo-elicitation activities and focus groups were conducted with 31 Indigenous children aged 8–12 years. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, combining focus group and interview data.Results: It was evident an urban Indigenous child perspective of health and well-being includes rich understandings of the interconnectedness of physical, social-emotional and cultural dimensions of holism, as well as the integral importance of family and community relationships. The study also found that specific worries regarding loss of loved ones and racism were highly salient in Indigenous children’s lives.Conclusion: The overwhelming conclusion to be drawn from this research is that Indigenous children in urban areas need ongoing recognition of both their agency and resilience in the face of adversity, within a wider context of historical and contemporary racialisation and racism.

P033: Engaging Indigenous patients in addressing cultural safety in an emergency department: a pilot initiative

Introduction: Cultural safety is integral to good clinical care, particularly for Indigenous patients. However, it remains poorly defined in emergency department care (ED). Practitioners at an urban Canadian ED serving a significant Indigenous population sought to engage with the community to define areas for improvement in culturally safe emergency department care. Methods: A participatory action approach was used. A Steering Committee was created, including emergency clinicians and Indigenous health researchers. The Committee collaborated with a local Indigenous health study (Our Health Counts) to aid recruitment. Relevant Indigenous community organizations were identified and engaged via email and personal visits. Recruitment posters were placed in common areas at community sites and the ED. Convenience and snowball sampling was used - potential participants called an ED research coordinator and inclusion criteria were confirmed (self identify as Indigenous, >18 years old, ED visit within the past year). Eligible participants were invited to attend a focus group facilitated by an Aboriginal Elder. Results: 31 individuals called to enroll for a total of 4 potential focus groups. 1 was successfully held: 5 participants were confirmed, 2 attended. Many recruitment challenges were identified, including difficulty maintaining contact/follow-up with a transient population, poster dissemination before recruitment start date, non-Indigenous patients attracted by compensation, and potential participant safety concerns regarding non-Indigenous contact point. Conclusion: Our initiative highlights challenges in engaging vulnerable populations in a large city. Focus groups may be logistically too challenging for this transient population. Other real-time data collection methods, such as phone interviews or surveys may be promising. An Indigenous contact point would likely improve perceived safety. The lack of socio-demographic data collection makes identifying potential participants challenging.

The Effects of a Community and School Sport-Based Program on Urban Indigenous Adolescents’ Life Skills and Physical Activity Levels: The <i>SCP</i> Case Study

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a community and school sport program (SCP) on Indigenous adolescents’ life skills and physical activity levels within program sessions. A secondary aim was to determine the acceptability of the SCP. Participants in the SCP (n = 34; 89%) participated in a 10-week case study (age = 13.7 ± 1.16; 58% girls). Systematic observations of SCP sessions were conducted to determine physical activity levels and a life skills questionnaire was implemented. Acceptability measures included retention, implementation, attendance rates, and interviews with participants [n = 18] and key stakeholders [n = 6]. Systematic observations indicated that Indigenous students were engaged in MVPA for 58% of lesson time. Participants’ life skills remained unchanged (p = 0.93). Interview data showed that Indigenous students and key stakeholders believed the SCP was acceptable. This study highlights the need for partnerships between Indigenous community organisations and schools to design sport-based programs to promote Indigenous adolescents’ MVPA.

NGOs and Indigenous Community Organizations in Peruvian Amazon Basin Partners, Asset Providers or Bridge Builders?

Non-governmental organizations working in the promotion of development (ONGD) are actors that articulate two aspects that had generally been unlinked in the world of development: technical capability-expert knowledge and the capacity for advocay and channelling of demands of vulnerable social actors. Since the 1970s, NGOs in the field of sustainable development have contributed to highlight indigenous Amazonian peoples' rights to territory and preservation of their habitats. In recent years different and new roles have arisen accross a range of different types of NGOs amidst a mounting trend of conflict as a consequence of proliferation of extractive industry in vulnerable areas. New specialized roles develop from a complex equation that combines NGOs' principles and background, interaction within the NGO community and the position the organization is willing to play within the array of actors involved in the conflict-negotiation processes that arise around the relationship between extractive industries and indigenous groups.

Making ENDS Meet: Community Networks and Health Promotion Among Blacks in the City of Brotherly Love

This historical inquiry illustrates the power of social networks by examining the Starr Centre and the Whittier Centre, two civic associations that operated in Philadelphia during the early 20th century, a time when Black Americans faced numerous public health threats. Efforts to address those threats included health initiatives forged through collaborative social networks involving civic associations, health professionals, and members of Black communities. Such networks provided access to important resources and served as cornerstones of health promotion activities in many large cities. I trace the origins of these two centers, the development of their programs, their establishment of ties with Black community residents, and the relationship between strong community ties and the development of community health initiatives. Clinicians, researchers, and community health activists can draw on these historical precedents to address contemporary public health concerns by identifying community strengths, leveraging social networks, mobilizing community members, training community leaders, and building partnerships with indigenous community organizations.

A Collaborative Cardiovascular Health Program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Goulburn-Murray Region: Development and Risk Factor Screening at Indigenous Community Organisations

The Heart Health Project was developed in partnership between Aboriginal health and social organisations in the Goulburn-Murray region and university departments. The aims included screening for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, and evaluating community-directed interventions. We describe the development of the Heart Health Project and the results of risk factor screening among employees (n=66) of Aboriginal organisations during 2003-04. Screening identified few new cases of overt hypertension, diabetes or hypercholesterolaemia, but did find a large proportion of the survey sample who smoked, had evidence of periodontal disease or who had "high normal" levels of risk factors at a relatively young age, placing them at risk of developing overt disease. Barriers to diet and exercise behaviours thought to protect against CVD were documented. While appropriate planning made clinical follow-up relatively straightforward, effective referral of at-risk people to primary prevention programs was more difficult. The barriers to making diet and exercise changes need consideration in designing interventions for primary prevention of CVD, as does the importance of promoting heart health in a culturally relevant way. This can be achieved through community direction but long-term support for partnerships and intervention programs is required.

Program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Goulburn-Murray Region: Development and Risk Factor Screening at Indigenous Community Organisations

The Heart Health Project was developed in partnership between Aboriginal health and social organisations in the Goulburn-Murray region and university departments. The aims included screening for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, and evaluating community-directed interventions. We describe the development of the Heart Health Project and the results of risk factor screening among employees (n=66) of Aboriginal organisations during 2003-04. Screening identified few new cases of overt hypertension, diabetes or hypercholesterolaemia, but did find a large proportion of the survey sample who smoked, had evidence of periodontal disease or who had ?high normal? levels of risk factors at a relatively young age, placing them at risk of developing overt disease. Barriers to diet and exercise behaviours thought to protect against CVD were documented. While appropriate planning made clinical follow-up relatively straightforward, effective referral of at-risk people to primary prevention programs was more difficult. The barriers to making diet and exercise changes need consideration in designing interventions for primary prevention of CVD, as does the importance of promoting heart health in a culturally relevant way. This can be achieved through community direction but long-term support for partnerships and intervention programs is required.

Indigenous Australian Perspectives in Early Childhood Education

A personal account of life experiences and research in relation to the concepts of respect, identity, relatedness and education offered by an Indigenous Australian woman reared by a non-Indigenous family in a non-Indigenous community. Western education philosophies—the goal of becoming the ‘self-realised individual’: the independent self who succeeds as powerful and autonomous—are comparatively analysed with Indigenous Australian education philosophies—the goal of becoming the ‘related individual’ to family, community and environmental resonance. Drawing on recent research initiated and conducted by Indigenous community organisations, Indigenous models for early childhood education are positioned as highly desirable for informing the future development of mainstream early childhood education policies.