Striking subgroup differences in substance-related mortality after release from prison.

Aims: To compare the incidence, timing and risk factors for substance-related death between Indigenous and non-Indigenous ex-prisoners in Queensland, Australia.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: All adult prisons in the state of Queensland, Australia, linked to deaths registered in Australia.

Barriers and enablers to the provision of alcohol treatment among Aboriginal Australians: a thematic review of five research projects.

Introduction And Aims: To review the results of five research projects commissioned to enhance alcohol treatment among Aboriginal Australians, and to highlight arising from them.

Design And Methods: Drafts of the papers were workshopped by project representatives, final papers reviewed and results summarised. Lessons arising were identified and described.

Validating a screening tool for mental health and substance use risk in an Indigenous prison population.

Introduction And Aims: The Indigenous Risk Impact Screen (IRIS) is a validated culturally appropriate and widely used tool in the community for assessing substance use and mental disorder. This research aimed to assess the utility of this tool in an Indigenous prison population.

Design And Methods: The study used data collected from a cross-sectional study of mental health among Indigenous inmates in Queensland custodial centres (n = 395, 84% male).

Managing alcohol-related problems among Indigenous Australians: what the literature tells us.

Objective: To contextualise and provide an overview of two review papers--prepared as part of a larger research program--dealing with different aspects of the treatment of Indigenous Australians with alcohol-related problems.

Method: The papers were reviewed thematically and compared to identify key issues raised in them.

Findings: Together, the papers highlight the paucity of the evidence base for the provision of treatment for Indigenous Australians with alcohol-related problems.

The development and validation of the Indigenous Risk Impact Screen (IRIS): a 13-item screening instrument for alcohol and drug and mental health risk.

The study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Indigenous Risk Impact Screen (IRIS) as a screening instrument for determining (i) the presence of alcohol and drug and mental health risk in Indigenous adult Australians and (ii) the cut-off scores that discriminate most effectively between the presence and absence of risk. A cross-sectional survey was used in clinical and non-clinical Indigenous and non-Indigenous services across Queensland Australia. A total of 175 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from urban, rural, regional and remote locations in Queensland took part in the study.