The transformative potential of young motherhood for disadvantaged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Townsville, Australia.

Objective: To explore attitudes to pregnancy and parenthood among a group of Indigenous young people in Townsville, Australia.

Design And Participants: Mixed methods and a cross-sectional design involving Indigenous women from a Young Mums Group designing the research instruments and acting as peer interviewers. Data were collected in 2004 from young Indigenous people who had never been pregnant (171 students at three high schools and 15 people at a homeless youth shelter) using a computer-assisted self-administered survey; from 59 of this group who also participated in single sex focus group discussions; and from 10 pregnant and parenting young women in individual semi-structured interviews.

Tobacco use and measuring nicotine dependence among urban Indigenous pregnant women.

Objectives: To examine patterns of nicotine dependence, the value of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and its correlation with self-reported tobacco use and urinary cotinine concentrations among pregnant Indigenous women in Townsville.

Design, Participants And Setting: Cross-sectional study of 201 consecutive women who self-reported tobacco use at their first antenatal visit to Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service (TAIHS) between 1 November 2005 and 31 October 2007. All smokers were to be assessed by FTND, and 108 women participating in the Tilly's Tracks project (a randomised trial of an intervention to reduce smoking in pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women) were to have a comprehensive smoking history taken and urinary cotinine samples collected.

Sustainable antenatal care services in an urban Indigenous community: the Townsville experience.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a sustained, community-based collaborative approach to antenatal care services for Indigenous women.

Design: Prospective quality improvement intervention, the Mums and Babies program, in a cohort of women attending Townsville Aboriginal and Islanders Health Service, 1 January 2000 - 31 December 2005 (MB group), compared with a historical control group (PreMB group), 1 January 1998 - 30 June 1999.

Main Outcome Measures: Proportion of women having inadequate antenatal care and screening; perinatal indicators.

Attitudes and behaviours of young Indigenous people in Townsville concerning relationships, sex and contraception: the "U Mob Yarn Up" project.

Objective: To gain some understanding of the attitudes and behaviours of Indigenous young people in Townsville concerning relationships, contraception and safe sex.

Design: Cross-sectional study using a computer-assisted self-administered survey and single-sex focus group discussions designed by a Young Mums' Group operating on participatory action principles and acting as peer interviewers.

Participants And Setting: 171 Indigenous students in Years 9-11 at three high schools and 15 residents of a homeless youth shelter in Townsville, Queensland, 27 April - 8 December 2004.

Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in pregnant urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in northern Australia.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in a cohort of pregnant urban Indigenous women and association of STI with preterm birth, low birthweight birth and perinatal mortality.

Design: Prospective intervention program in a cohort of women attending Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Services (TAIHS) for shared antenatal care between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2003 incorporating routine screening for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis, hepatitis B and syphilis.

Setting: Townsville is a provincial urban centre with a regional Indigenous population of over 16 000.

Risk factors for preterm, low birth weight and small for gestational age birth in urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Townsville.

Objectives: To assess the characteristics of Indigenous births and to examine the risk factors for preterm (<37 weeks), low birth weight (<2,500 g) and small for gestational age (SGA) births in a remote urban setting.

Design: Prospective cohort of singleton births to women attending Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Services (TAIHS) for shared antenatal care between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2003.

Main Outcome Measures: Demographic, obstetric, and antenatal care characteristics are described.

Impact of a collaborative shared antenatal care program for urban Indigenous women: a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a community-based, collaborative, shared antenatal care intervention (the Mums and Babies program) for Indigenous women in Townsville.

Design And Participants: Prospective cohort study of women attending Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service (TAIHS) for shared antenatal care with a singleton Indigenous birth between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2003 (456 women; the MB group), compared with a historical control group of 84 women who attended TAIHS for antenatal care before the intervention between 1 January 1998 and 30 June1999, and a contemporary control group of 540 women who had a singleton birth at Townsville Hospital between 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2003, but did not attend TAIHS for antenatal care.

Intervention: Integration of previously autonomous service providers delivering shared antenatal care from TAIHS.