Housing conditions associated with recurrent gastrointestinal infection in urban Aboriginal children in NSW, Australia: findings from SEARCH.

Objective: To examine the associations between housing and gastrointestinal infection in Aboriginal children in urban New South Wales.

Methods: A total of 1,398 Aboriginal children were recruited through four Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services. Multilevel regression modelling of survey data estimated associations between housing conditions and recurrent gastrointestinal infection, adjusting for sociodemographic and health factors.

Housing conditions of urban households with Aboriginal children in NSW Australia: tenure type matters.

Background: Housing is a key determinant of the poor health of Aboriginal Australians. Most Aboriginal people live in cities and large towns, yet research into housing conditions has largely focused on those living in remote areas. This paper measures the prevalence of housing problems amongst participants in a study of urban Aboriginal families in New South Wales, Australia, and examines the relationship between tenure type and exposure to housing problems.

Psychological distress in carers of Aboriginal children in urban New South Wales: findings from SEARCH (phase one).

Objective: To examine the factors associated with psychological distress in parents and carers of Aboriginal children living in urban communities in New South Wales.

Design: Cross-sectional survey (phase one of the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health [SEARCH], November 2007 - December 2011).

Setting And Participants: Primary care; 589 parents and carers of Aboriginal children were recruited when attending one of the four Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) in urban NSW that participated in SEARCH.

"There's a housing crisis going on in Sydney for Aboriginal people": focus group accounts of housing and perceived associations with health.

Background: Poor housing is widely cited as an important determinant of the poor health status of Aboriginal Australians, as for indigenous peoples in other wealthy nations with histories of colonisation such as Canada, the United States of America and New Zealand. While the majority of Aboriginal Australians live in urban areas, most research into housing and its relationship with health has been conducted with those living in remote communities. This study explores the views of Aboriginal people living in Western Sydney about their housing circumstances and what relationships, if any, they perceive between housing and health.

Is psychological distress in people living with cancer related to the fact of diagnosis, current treatment or level of disability? Findings from a large Australian study.

Objective: To investigate whether the observed elevated levels of psychological distress in cancer survivors relate specifically to aspects of cancer diagnosis, to treatment or to disability.

Design, Participants And Setting: Self-reported questionnaire data on demographic, health and lifestyle factors and mental health from 89574 Australian men and women aged 45 years or older, sampled from the Medicare database for the 45 and Up Study from 1 February 2006 to 30 April 2008. Logistic regression was used to examine the risk of high levels of psychological distress in relation to cancer diagnosis and disability, adjusting for age, sex, income and education.

The health of urban Aboriginal people: insufficient data to close the gap.

The Australian Government has committed to reducing Indigenous disadvantage, including closing the life-expectancy gap within a generation, and to halving the gap in mortality rates for children under 5 years of age within a decade. Sixty per cent of the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is attributable to the health of Indigenous people living in non-remote areas of Australia. We conducted a brief review of recent Australian original research publications on the health of the 53% of Indigenous people who live in urban areas, and found that data are sparse; there were only 63 studies in the past 5 years (11% of all articles about Indigenous health during this period).

Emerging themes in Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health: findings from a qualitative study in Sydney, New South Wales.

Objective: To explore emerging themes related to the mental health of Aboriginal children and adolescents ("young people") arising from focus groups conducted in Sydney, New South Wales.

Design, Setting And Participants: A qualitative study was conducted between April 2008 and September 2009 in three Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations in Sydney. A semi-structured approach was used in focus groups and small group interviews to elicit the views of 15 Aboriginal parents and 32 Aboriginal workers from a variety of health and social work backgrounds on important factors surrounding the mental health of Aboriginal young people.