Exposure to the Family Wellbeing program and associations with empowerment, health, family and cultural wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: a cross-sectional analysis.

Background: Empowerment is an internationally recognised concept commonly incorporated in First Nations and in this instance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing programs. The Family Wellbeing Program is an empowerment program developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that has been widely delivered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia for close to 30 years. To date, there has been limited quantitative analysis of how this program is linked to health and empowerment outcomes.

"We are not stray leaves blowing about in the wind": exploring the impact of Family Wellbeing empowerment research, 1998-2021.

Background: An Aboriginal-developed empowerment and social and emotional wellbeing program, known as Family Wellbeing (FWB), has been found to strengthen the protective factors that help Indigenous Australians to deal with the legacy of colonisation and intergenerational trauma. This article reviews the research that has accompanied the implementation of the program, over a 23 year period. The aim is to assess the long-term impact of FWB research and identify the key enablers of research impact and the limitations of the impact assessment exercise.

Assessing research impact: Australian Research Council criteria and the case of Family Wellbeing research.

Researchers worldwide are increasingly reporting the societal impact of their research as part of national research productivity assessments. However, the challenges they encounter in developing their impact case studies against specified government assessment criteria and how pitfalls can be mitigated are not reported. This paper examines the key steps taken to develop an Aboriginal Family Wellbeing (FWB) empowerment research impact case study in the context of an Australian Research Council (ARC) pilot research impact assessment exercise and the challenges involved in applying the ARC criteria.

'Bringing back respect': the role of participatory action research in transferring knowledge from an Aboriginal men's group to youth programs.

Objective: This case study describes the efforts of an Aboriginal men's group to facilitate and support the empowerment of young people in their community. It is part of a broader participatory action research (PAR) study of men's groups.

Method: Data was derived from quarterly reflective PAR sessions with men's and youth workers and steering committee members, interviews with workers, and focus groups with young people.

Indigenous men taking their rightful place in society? A preliminary analysis of a participatory action research process with Yarrabah Men's Health Group.

Men's groups are increasingly being accepted as an important strategy in improving health and well-being, especially in Indigenous communities. However, it is hard to find systematic documentation and evaluation of such initiatives in the literature. This paper analyses the formative stages of a participatory action research (PAR) process which aims to engage and support the members of the Yarrabah Men's Health Group plan, implement and evaluate their activities.