Community Consultation Process Research Articles

The Continuous Improvement Cultural Responsiveness Tools (CICRT): Creating More Culturally Responsive Social Workers

ABSTRACT Social workers play a pivotal role in addressing equity and diversity within Australia using both culturally responsiveness skills and knowledge. This article describes a research project that resulted in the development of the Continuous Improvement Cultural Responsive Tools that can be used by social workers in their practice. This was a large project conducted over three years, which involved engagement and consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community social workers. The community engagement and consultation process included the provision of cultural governance and participation in interviews. The tools developed are linked to seven key domains (Ngurras) that aim to increase the skills, knowledge, and overall confidence of social work practitioners in their culturally responsive practice. This article discusses the tools that provide a clear structure to guide social workers’ critical engagement in becoming more culturally responsive social workers and individuals when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. IMPLICATIONS Social work practices need to address the social injustices faced by Aboriginal Peoples by becoming more culturall responsive. The tools were developed to support social workers in their practice to self-assess their transformation in becoming culturally responsive social workers. Continuous improvement in collaborative and culturally responsive social work will improve services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

The Challenges and Examination of New Programme Ubudehe 2020 in Rwanda

Ubudehe is a Rwandan practice and a cultural value of mutual assistance among people living in the same area in order to overcome or solve their socio-economic problems. In the past, Ubudehe was pre-occupied in agricultural activities to ensure timely agricultural operations for food security purposes. As a form of social capital, Ubudehe involved trust and reciprocity. The practice of Ubudehe in the traditional context was a mechanism of bringing together the community, sharing the burden of problem solving, maintaining social norms, social cohesion and ensuring social control among communities living together. The main pillars of social protection consist of eradication of extreme poverty and ensuring prosperity and wellbeing for everyone, but all these cannot be achieved without a fundamental baseline that is based on poverty levels amongst Rwandan population. The Ubudehe categorization was first established by the Government of Rwanda in 2000 as part of the strategies to address poverty reduction and recently these categories were revised from four numerical naming to five letters (A, B, C, D, E). The discussion with a representative of the Local Administrative Development Entities (LODA) was focusing on putting clear distinctions between the new Ubudehe categories and the previous ones as well as tacking the issue of new aspects and what the general public should expect from the new categorization. At the end of year 2020, all people in Rwandan are giving the main information with categorization in new ubudehe programme 2020. The local government leadership with Loda helps the people to get all information in collaboration LODA and MINALOC. The challenges demonstrate how a process of community consultation and participation is able to identify and rank community members according to “social poverty”, drawing on the Ubudehe tradition which is considered a strength of Rwanda’s social fabric. This article highlights 5 challenges related to new categories differentiations and comparison between the old ubudehe with new ubudehe program: 1) The system used to identify the people from one category refers to the documentation riche and richest poor and non-power ranking and the barriers of lacking information from villages and the population system also can be the barriers; 2) We need to know the difference between the new ubudehe programme and old ubudehe program; 3) Categorization based on the salaries also is a challenge; 4) The same features characterize as old ubudehe programme and all of people do not have a category; 5) No Training for implantation, fail system computerization and no regularly public debates and private with overall objective. Data generated through of 385 interviews were conducted during May 2022 to October 2022 by research survey group at Musanze District with 15 Sectors. On impact, 95% of the sample confirms that their incomes had improved; within that, about 71% consider that their income had doubled and 22% consider that their income had more than tripled. In addition, unplanned and unintended changes occurred through Ubudehe, as actually noticed in the sample of villages with the creation of 4805 temporary or more long-term jobs, through the construction of classrooms, health centres, roads and bridges, mills, electricity and water infrastructures, as well as the creation of radical terraces. The radical terraces make it possible to fight against erosion, which is important in Rwanda because of strong frequent rains on steeply sloping grounds. A notable cultural change has also been witnessed. Currently, under the oversight of the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC), Ubudehe program is managed by the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA) through District and Sector administration.

Process and Outcome of Community Engagement Event on Substance Use and Addiction Risks Facing Their Immigrant Communities in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Canada is a significant destination for immigrants who are drawn from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds some of whom have a hidden risk for substance use disorders due to acculturation stress and are not screened for risks of substance use or addiction when considering medical admissibility. Not surprisingly, healthcare providers in Regina are reporting a noticeable increase in substance use among immigrants. These immigrants experience barriers in seeking substance use prevention and treatment services due to diverse challenges: stigma, shame, and lack of knowledge of existing services. Considering the discussed challenges and risks of substance use disorders in immigrant communities, creating a safe space for discussing these topics is urgent. To understand and address these challenges, a connection grant from the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) to mobilize immigrant communities in Regina to explore substance use issues and their impact on the community was sought and received. Subsequently, a Zoom knowledge-sharing event brought settlement agency stakeholders together to deliberate issues on substance use and addiction faced by immigrants in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Zoom session included presentations on immigrants and substance use from the clinical, community, and lived experience perspectives of immigrants. Because of the challenges and risks, this community consultation process revealed that acculturation stress and the ease of obtaining socially acceptable substances fuel substance use and addiction among immigrants in Regina; this is further exacerbated by the lack of programming available to prevent and reduce the risks of substance use in this population. A team of knowledge keepers with lived experiences, service providers, and researchers was assembled to explore substance use and addiction among immigrants. This manuscript reports the process of community engagement to identify solutions to this budding issue. The strengths, challenges, and lessons learned are identified.

Principles Based Budgeting: Resources for Revisioning Academic Planning

In working toward a budgeting framework that responds to the often harmful impacts of neoliberal accounting practices on people and places, this research has been guided by deep-rooted principles that were gifted to the University of Saskatchewan, through a rigorous Indigenous-led community consultation process which interpreted institutional strategic principles, using Cree and Michif terms: nākatēyihtamowin | nakaatayihtaamoowin (sustainability), nihtāwihcikēwin | nihtaooshchikaywin (creativity), nanātohk pimātisowina | nanaatoohk pimatishoowin (diversity), and āniskōmohcikēwin | Naashkoopitamihk (connectivity). This consultation demonstrated the pressing need to redefine what a successful budgeting framework might mean by looking beyond the role of a financial plan and adopting a more broad-based approach using socially and environmentally responsible lenses that incorporate new directions based on Indigenous knowledges, world views, and values invested in creating a more inclusive and productive campus in targeted, incremental, and structural ways. This exploratory study builds on information gathered internally from the university’s student governance structures, broad conversations within an ad hoc advisory group, and relevant literature. An important role of budgeting is that it can guide performance measurement and management; our exploration included looking for ways to identify potentially “new-old” measurements of success as they pertain to the university’s stated objectives and aspirational goals. Current challenges of resource allocation faced by the university were reviewed to identify bottlenecks based on funding limitations that cause barriers to accessibility to academic and non-academic supports, and undesirable environmental effects. Our study raises more questions than answers, but provides insight into potential future processes, which we anticipate in this field report.

Public Library Building and Development: Understanding Community Consultation and the Design Process

ABSTRACT There is an increasing focus on the public library’s role as a place of and for the community that should have at its heart the needs of that community. In this respect, the development of new or renovated public libraries offers an opportunity for the design of these new buildings to reflect the needs and wants of the communities they serve. The aim of this project was to develop an in-depth understanding of the views and approaches of both librarians and architects involved in public library development projects in Australia. Using data gathered through semi-structured interviews this paper explores notions of community-focused design and co-design and the implications of involving the community in the process of library design for six public library development projects. Participants described a range of community engagement activities, relating benefits and challenges to the community consultation process. However, it was noted that there was also a curated nature to this input, and there was little evidence of community engagement extending beyond consultation to truly participatory design.

O62 - The Ngarrama Story: insights across the first 10 years of a midwifery service for First Nations women and families

The Ngarrama midwifery group practice at the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital in 2012, after extensive community consultation, support, and intentional co-design process. Metro North Elders named the service ‘Ngarrama’ which means “Calling the protective forces, the Birth Spirit, which will protect the hopes, dreams and guardianship of our mothers and babies.” Ngarrama Maternity Services has grown, and collectively provided care for more than 3000 Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander women and their babies over the past decade. A Ngarrama Elder has described the services as “Ngarrama Angels- as you are supporting our women and future generations by supporting traditional ways and importance of country”. This presentation will share the principles and model which the Ngarrama service is founded within and also clinical outcome data from the Ngarrama service, such as preterm birth, mode of birth and consumer perspective insight.

Power Struggles in a Small Town Community: The Intersection of Rural Environmental Protest, Politics, and Hyperlocal News Media

This article presents an in-depth case study of large-scale conflict in a small town, and reveals the complex ways that community groups and activism, hyperlocal news media, and political power intersect through rural environmental disputes. An important but under-recognized feature of such conflicts is the unique role performed by notions of rurality in the construction of environmental protests, discourses, and decisions; that is, the ways in which rural communities’ conservation efforts can be unfairly characterized as “backwards” and “anti-development”. Through a series of interviews and focus groups with protestors and residents, our case study examines a controversial boat ramp development that had a marked environmental impact on the isolated coastal town of Mallacoota (population 1,000) in the state of Victoria, Australia. We show that the environmental activism of protesters lifted the issue's visibility to the level of regional, state, and national news and politics. But the community consultation processes that occurred in response to protests raise significant concerns about government decision making that fails to acknowledge and negotiate the diverse understandings of place and rurality that exist within a community. The outcomes of struggles for power in this small town are lamentable and lasting, damaging the hyperlocal news environment and undermining the community newspaper's reputation among citizens.

The Right to Play: Snakes and Ladders

This case-study will present learnings from the public art project ‘Snakes and Ladders’, a fifty metre, ground plane mural in Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney’s western suburbs. This was a collaboration between Digby Webster, an artist with Down syndrome, and Nadia Odlum, an artist without disability who specialises in playful, large-scale public art. Snakes and Ladders was commissioned by the Sydney Olympic Parks Authority (SOPA) as a result of a community consultation and co-design process, and was supported by Accessible Arts, the peak body for advancing the rights of New South Wales artists who have disability and/or who are d/Deaf. The result was a public artwork that functions as an inclusive playspace, supporting the right to play for all people who visit or live in Sydney Olympic Park.The key achievements of this project were the meaningful inclusion of an artist with disability in a significant public art project, and the creation of an accessible and inclusive opportunity for play in public space. This case-study focuses on process, including the community consultation process that led to the commission; the role of peak body Accessible Arts in facilitating and guiding the commission; the methods used to ensure accessibility in the artwork design; and the collaborative process between Digby and Nadia, including the steps taken to support Digby’s access requirements and ensure his full participation in the commission from concept to delivery.
 
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Meeting unique requirements: Community consultation and public disclosure for research in emergency setting using exception from informed consent.

Exception from informed consent (EFIC) regulations for research in emergency settings contain unique requirements for community consultation and public disclosure. These requirements address ethical challenges intrinsic to this research context. Multiple approaches have evolved to accomplish these activities that may reflect and advance different aims. This scoping review was designed to identify areas of consensus and lingering uncertainty in the literature. Scoping review methodology was used. Conceptual and empirical literature related to community consultation and public disclosure for EFIC research was included and identified through a structured search using Embase, HEIN Online, PubMed, and Web of Science. Data were extracted using a standardized tool with domains for major literature categories. Among 84 manuscripts, major domains included conceptual or policy issues, reports of community consultation processes and results, and reports of public disclosure processes and results. Areas of consensus related to community consultation included the need for a two-way exchange of information and use of multiple methods. Public acceptance of personal EFIC enrollment is commonly 64% to 85%. There is less consensus regarding how to assess attitudes, what "communities" to prioritize, and how to determine adequacy for individual projects. Core goals of public disclosure are less well developed; no metrics exist for assessing adequacy. Multiple methods are used to meet community consultation and public disclosure requirements. There remain no settled norms for assessing adequacy of public disclosure, and there is lingering debate about needed breadth and depth of community consultation.

Erasing queerness in the neoliberal city: The democratic limitations of community consultation in planning

Tension between anti-normative queer politics and the assimilative pull of liberal identitarianism are a fixture of queer life and queer space (Cohen, 2019; Warner 1999; Nash, 2006; Nash, 2013). Recently, this is visible in the actively contested commodification and gentrification of queer neighborhoods that often sterilize spaces of their queerness (Nash & Gorman-Murray, 2015; Bell & Binnie, 2004; Patrick, 2014; Doan & Higgins, 2011; Renninger, 2018). Through this lens, it comes as no surprise that a condo development proposed on the site of a prominent Toronto drag bar has been met with strong community concern or opposition. While the developer is leading a community consultation process that ostensibly seeks to maintain the presence of the bar and to support the cultural legacy of the community (Bousfields Inc., 2020), the possibility of the continued sterilization of Toronto’s gay village demands critical investigation. This study applies a queer approach (Cohen 1997; Cohen 2019; Browne & Nash 2010; Foucault 1978) that makes visible the forces of normalization at work, to assess the capacity for community consultation to protect queer interests. I raise several concerns over the democratic limitations of community consultation in planning. The neoliberal logics of urban growth at work are fundamentally anti-queer. As such, the capacity of existing planning frameworks to make space for queer life in Toronto is questionable. At this nexus of shifting queer geographies, community consultation, and urban development in the neoliberal city lie important questions about how power is geographically structured, deployed, and contested.
 ReferencesBell, D., & Binnie, J. (2004). Authenticating Queer Space: Citizenship, Urbanism and Governance. Urban Studies,41(9), 1807-1820
 Bousfields Inc.. (2020). Public Consultation Strategy Report: 506-516 Church Street. Prepared on behalf of Graywood CM GP. Retrieved from, https://506churchstreet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PublicConsultation-Strategy-Report.pdf
 Browne, K., & Nash, C. (2010). Queer methods and methodologies: an introduction. In K. Browne, & C. Nash,Queer methods and methodologies: intersecting queer theories and social science research (pp. 1-24). Ashgate.Butler, J. (1999). Gender Trouble . Routledge.
 Cohen, C. J. (1997). Punks, Bulldaggers and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics? GLQ, 3(4),437-465.
 Cohen, C. J. (2019). The Radical Potential of Queer? Twenty Years Later. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and GayStudies, 25(1), 140-144.
 Doan, P. L., & Higgins, H. (2011). The Demise of Queer Space? Resurgent Gentrification and the Assimilation ofLGBT Neighborhoods. Journal of Planning Eduation and Research, 31(1), 6-25.
 Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality. Random House Inc.
 Nash, C. J. (2006). Toronto's gay village (1969-1982): Plotting the politics of gay identity. The CanadianGeographer, 50(1), 1-16.
 Nash, C. J., & Gorman-Murray, A. (2015). Recovering the Gay Village: A Comparative Historical Geogrpahy ofUrban Change and Planning in Toronto and Sydney. Historical Geography, 43, 85-105.
 Patrick, D. (2014). The matter of displacement: a queer urban ecology of New York City's High Line. Social &Cultural Geography, 15(8), 920-941.
 Renninger, B. (2018). Grindr Killed the Gay Bar, and Other Attempts to Blame Social Technologies for UrbanDevelopment: A Democratic Approach to Popular Technologies and Queer Sociality. Journal of Homosexuality,66(12), 1736-1755.
 Warner, M. (1999). The Ethics of Sexual Shame. In, The trouble with normal: Sex, politics, and the ethics of queerlife (pp. 1-40). Free Press.

A reporting format for field measurements of soil respiration

Field observations of the soil-to-atmosphere CO2 flux—soil respiration, RS—are a prime example of ‘long tail’ data that historically have had neither centralized databases nor an agreed-upon reporting format. This has hindered scientific transparency, analytical reproducibility, and syntheses with respect to this globally-important component of the carbon cycle. Here we propose a new data and metadata reporting format for RS data, based on engagement with a wide range of researchers in the earth and ecological sciences as well as expert advisory panels. Our goal was a reporting format that would be relevant and useful for synthesis activities, optimizing data discoverability and usability while not placing an undue burden on data contributors. We describe previous RS data collection efforts, lessons learned from related databases and data-oriented networks (e.g., FLUXNET) in earth and ecological sciences, and the process of community consultation. The proposed reporting format focuses on chamber-level data and metadata, specifying measurement conditions and, for a given measurement period defined by beginning and ending timestamps, a mean RS flux (or CO2 concentration) and associated ancillary measurements. With input from the research community, we have also developed research data and metadata templates to support data collection adhering to the reporting format. Fundamentally, this format aims to enable findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable data, while providing ‘future-proofing’ capabilities to support reanalyses using as yet unknown algorithms or approaches. This proposed RS reporting format is openly available online and is intended to be a dynamic document, subject to further community feedback and/or change.

Disrupting landscape: Enacting zones of socio-material entanglement for alternative futures

Emerging discussions frame sites of extraction as ‘zones of entanglement’, and this article considers the condition of mine closure and the decision-making processes around post-mining landscape planning as one of these zones. Focusing on the recently closed Leigh Creek coal mine in South Australia, this article compares the transformation of a specific area of the mining lease by nonhumans with the community consultation processes that occurred during the mine's closure. Drawing from Karen Barad's theory of Agential Realism with the concepts of ‘interaction’ and ‘intra-action’, this comparison considers the way in which discursive frameworks create enclosures that prevent individual community members from enacting their ambitions for the post-mining landscape. Framing nonhumans as agentic actors this paper presents their landscape transformation as an example of what can happen if actors act both below the threshold of company awareness and from within their own worldview. It similarly explores what happens if actors reject or are unable to engage in the dominant discourses that restrict final landscape possibilities. This paper proposes that actors using distributed agency to enact socio-material landscape change presents a methodological alternative to individualistic forms of landscape planning embedded within risk management and economic viability frameworks.

Building with the Community: Developing digital tools for engaging with the arts in Saskatchewan

In May of 2019, a team led by the University of Saskatchewan Kenderdine Art Gallery received a Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund grant to develop a digital service with Saskatchewan arts organizations to allow them to engage with and give voice to their audiences and other art creators. However, the exact deliverable was intentionally vague; rather than presupposing what this diverse group (from internationally recognized art galleries to community puppet theatres) needs, the grant was built around first engaging with both these organizations and their current and potential audiences in order to gain an understanding of their varied needs. Only once this assessment was done would the actual development begin. In this paper we will introduce the project, and the funding program that supported it, and describe the process of community consultation for both the development of the grant application and the needs assessment. We will introduce the findings from the first phase of the Shared Spaces project and the resulting first prototypes for arts engagement, which use augmented reality, that have gone back out to the communities for further consultation and refinement.

Djaalinj Waakinj (listening talking): Rationale, cultural governance, methods, population characteristics – an urban Aboriginal birth cohort study of otitis media

ABSTRACT The majority of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as “Aboriginal”) people live in urban centres. Otitis media (OM) occurs at a younger age, prevalence is higher and hearing loss and other serious complications are more common in Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal children. Despite this, data on the burden of OM and hearing loss in urban Aboriginal children are limited. This project was initiated following a request from urban Aboriginal people who felt the focus on more remote communities often meant urban communities were forgotten. This paper describes the development of an urban Aboriginal birth cohort study of OM that is culturally secure, outlines the process of community consultation and establishment of an Aboriginal Community Advisory Group to provide cultural governance, and presents preliminary results. Djaalinj Waakinj is an ongoing study being conducted in Perth, Western Australia, on Noongar Boodja (country). Aboriginal researchers visit people’s homes to collect sociodemographic and environmental data at enrolment of babies aged <3 months; otoscopy and tympanometry are conducted by an Aboriginal research assistant or a nurse at ages 2–4, 6–8 and 12–18 months, and full audiological assessment conducted at 9–12 months. To date, 125 participants have been enrolled; 39% of 71 children aged 2–4 months and 52% of 44 children aged 6–8 months had evidence of OM. To our knowledge, this is the first prospective cohort study aiming to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with OM in Aboriginal infants residing in an urban area.

Exception From Informed Consent: How IRB Reviewers Assess Community Consultation and Public Disclosure

Exception from Informed Consent (EFIC) regulations detail specific circumstances in which Institutional Review Boards (IRB) can approve studies where obtaining informed consent is not possible prior to subject enrollment. To better understand how IRB members evaluate community consultation (CC) and public disclosure (PD) processes and results, semi-structured interviews of EFIC-experienced IRB members were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. Interviews with 11 IRB members revealed similar approaches to reviewing EFIC studies. Most use summaries of CC activities to determine community members’ attitudes; none reported using specific criteria nor recalled any CC reviews that resulted in modifications to or denials of EFIC studies. Most interviewees thought metrics based on Community VOICES’s domains (feasibility, participant selection, quality of communication, community perceptions, investigator/IRB perceptions) would be helpful. IRB members had similar experiences and concerns about reviewing EFIC studies. Development of metrics to assess CC processes may be useful to IRBs reviewing EFIC studies.

Police as knowledge brokers and keepers of the peace: perceptions of community policing in Tuvalu

ABSTRACT Pacific Island Countries (PICs) face externally driven changes, including an international human rights agenda. Tuvalu was the first PIC to develop a National Action Plan on human rights, with a focus on improving the circumstances for women, children, and people with disabilities. Achieving these objectives requires a whole-of-government approach and a comprehensive process of community consultation. This study, undertaken at the request of the Tuvalu Police Service as part of a community consultation process, aimed to explore perceptions of policing. Interview participants (N = 79) included community members (n = 63) and police officers (n = 16). English translations of interview transcripts were systematically coded and analysed thematically. Alcohol misuse was identified as a central cause for concern associated with disharmony in families and communities. Community members recognised various resourcing constraints, but nevertheless expected a high standard of police service delivery. Reflecting a community policing ethos, both groups endorsed roles for police officers as knowledge brokers and keepers of the peace. Participants emphasised the need for police to work together with community leaders to find ways to bridge the gaps between the traditional and formal justice systems. Future research is needed to explore ways to better align the formal and traditional systems that contribute to progress on human rights.

Articulating 'free, prior and informed consent' (FPIC) for engineered gene drives.

Recent statements by United Nations bodies point to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as a potential requirement in the development of engineered gene drive applications. As a concept developed in the context of protecting Indigenous rights to self-determination in land development scenarios, FPIC would need to be extended to apply to the context of ecological editing. Without an explicit framework of application, FPIC could be interpreted as a narrowly framed process of community consultation focused on the social implications of technology, and award little formal or advisory power in decision-making to Indigenous peoples and local communities. In this paper, we argue for an articulation of FPIC that attends to issues of transparency, iterative community-scale consent, and shared power through co-development among Indigenous peoples, local communities, researchers and technology developers. In realizing a comprehensive FPIC process, researchers and developers have an opportunity to incorporate enhanced participation and social guidance mechanisms into the design, development and implementation of engineered gene drive applications.

Gender, agency and decision making in community engagement: Reflections from Afghanistan’s Mes Aynak Mine

This paper explores what constitutes meaningful participation of women in community consultation processes of extractive operations, through a case study of the Mes Aynak Copper Mine resettlement in Afghanistan. It aims to better understand the factors that enable and constrain women’s agency and ability to effectively influence decisions; and how the understanding of gender and culture in Afghanistan by key stakeholders’ influences women’s participation in the sector. Through a review of the literature and key Mes Aynak project documents, as well as interviews with experts, practitioners and civil society, the paper unpacks women’s participation in community engagement processes, drawing on Arnstein’s ladder of participation (Arnstein, 1969) as a basis to explore women’s participation. It explores the role of gender and culture in determining outcomes and provides reflections on how to improve women’s meaningful participation in Afghanistan’s extractive industries. Crucially, it was found that there is a need to critically examine how key sector stakeholders understand and engage with cultural norms around women’s participation in the sector; as well as the need to work with the Citizens Charter programme to reinforce inclusion and avoid the sector exacerbating existing inequalities.

Identifying culturally acceptable cognitive tests for use in remote northern Australia

BackgroundA lack of culturally appropriate tests hampers accurate assessment of cognition in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. In Arnhem Land, this study employed a community consultation process to evaluate commonly used Western tests of executive function, memory, attention, and visuospatial function.MethodsAn initial consultation process and a follow-up pilot study resulted in the rejection of some common tests, the development of new tests, and culturally adapted versions of others. In the subsequent 30-person main trial, adult Aboriginal volunteers were examined on nine tests, plus the Kimberly Indigenous Cognitive Assessment screen, and a brief literacy test.ResultsExecutive function, memory, and attention tests were found to group separately after an exploratory principal components analysis. Correlations between new tests and similar Kimberly screen items were not significant, but ceiling effects may be relevant. Six of 13 test scores were found to correlate with the literacy measure.ConclusionsA selection of cognitive tests were identified that Aboriginal people found culturally acceptable and engaging. In particular, Self-Ordered Pointing, Trail-Making, a verbal-switching task, and a new test “Which car?” show promise for further development. This work may contribute to the need for culturally appropriate cognitive testing in Aboriginal communities.

Objective monitoring of mosquito bednet usage and the ethical challenge of privacy revelations about study bystanders: Ethical analysis.

Clinical trials and public health surveillance of bednet use for malaria prevention involve the ongoing collection of sensitive data from private settings. This article discusses risks to bystanders, who have not consented to participating in surveillance or research, but whose behavior may nevertheless be recorded. In the case of clinical trials, community consultation and consent processes are one well-accepted way to address potential risk to bystanders. I argue that the intrusive monitoring required by some bednet trials may render this type of consent insufficient. In these cases, either bystanders should be enrolled as participants and give consent or less intrusive monitoring methods should be used. Validated monitoring methods should also have relevance for practice beyond use in a clinical trial. Considering the global impact of malaria, applying these methods to public health surveillance would be a practical use. Existing justifications for surveillance without consent, which sometimes result in coercive public health measures, could apply to the case of bednets. Particularly in cases where there is the potential for harm to others, individuals who were not the original subjects of disease reporting are often caught in the surveillance net. Although an argument can be made that malaria meets this bar, considerations of feasibility, sustainability, and trust make intrusive surveillance unsustainable in the case of a daily, lifelong behavior such as bednet use.