Using a participatory action research framework to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia about pandemic influenza.

Introduction: This article describes the use and effectiveness of the participatory action research (PAR) framework to better understand community members' perceptions and risks of pandemic influenza. In 2009, the H1N1 influenza pandemic affected Indigenous populations more than non-Indigenous populations in Oceania and the Americas. Higher prevalence of comorbidities (diabetes, obesity, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) as well as pregnancy in Indigenous communities may have contributed to the higher risks of severe disease.

The logics of planned birthplace for remote Australian Aboriginal women in the northern territory: A discourse and content analysis of clinical practice manuals.

Objective: the aim of this research is to review the content, and describe the structural and contextual discourse around planned birthplace in six clinical practice manuals used to care for pregnant Aboriginal women in Australia׳s remote Northern Territory. The purpose is to better understand where, how and why planned birthplaces for Aboriginal women have changed over time.

Methods: content and discourse analysis was applied to the written texts pertaining to maternal health care and the results placed within a theoretical framework of Daviss׳s Logic.

Paperbark and pinard: A historical account of maternity care in one remote Australian Aboriginal town.

Background And Aim: Maternity care in remote areas of the Australian Northern Territory is restricted to antenatal and postnatal care only, with women routinely evacuated to give birth in hospital. Using one remote Aboriginal community as a case study, our aim with this research was to document and explore the major changes to the provision of remote maternity care over the period spanning pre-European colonisation to 1996.

Methods: Our research methods included historical ethnographic fieldwork (2007-2013); interviews with Aboriginal women, Aboriginal health workers, religious and non-religious non-Aboriginal health workers and past residents; and archival review of historical documents.

'Jumping around': exploring young women's behaviour and knowledge in relation to sexual health in a remote Aboriginal Australian community.

Sexual health indicators for young remote-living Aboriginal women are the worst of all of Australian women. This study aimed to describe and explore young women's behaviour and knowledge in relation to sexual health, as well as to provide health professionals with cross-cultural insights to assist with health practice. A descriptive ethnographic study was conducted, which included: extended ethnographic field work in one remote community over a six-year period; community observation and participation; field notes; semi-structured interviews; group reproductive ethno-physiology drawing and language sessions; focus-group sessions; training and employment of Aboriginal research assistants; and consultation and advice from a local reference group and a Cultural Mentor.

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.

'It still leaves me sixty dollars out of pocket': experiences of diabetes medical care among low-income earners in Perth.

Diabetes prevalence is increasing in Australia, and there are stark inequities in prevalence and clinical outcomes experienced by Indigenous people and low socioeconomic groups compared with non-Indigenous and socioeconomically advantaged groups. This paper explores the impact of Indigenous status and socioeconomic disadvantage on the experience of diabetes care in the primary health setting. Data were collected through focus groups and interviews.

"Makes you proud to be black eh?": reflections on meaningful indigenous research participation.

Introduction: This article outlines the meaningful participation of eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members employed as community researchers investigating the impact of pandemic influenza in rural and remote Indigenous communities in Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation is now a requirement of health research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. There is a growing literature on the different approaches to such involvement.

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the development of pandemic influenza containment strategies: community voices and community control.

Objectives: To develop culturally appropriate and effective strategies to reduce the risk from pandemic influenza (H1N109) in rural and remote Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Methods: Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach that enabled communities and researchers to work together to develop understanding and take action to reduce risk.

Results: The H1N109 pandemic raised deep concerns and serious issues in all of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities involved in this project.

'You get the quickest and the cheapest stuff you can': Food security issues among low-income earners living with diabetes.

Background: Diabetes prevalence is increasing worldwide. More than 800,000 Australians live with diabetes, and there are stark inequities in prevalence and clinical outcomes among Indigenous people and low socio-economic groups.

Aims: This paper focuses on food security issues experienced by low-income earners living with type 2 diabetes in Perth, Western Australia.

In search of wellness: allied health professionals' understandings of wellness in childhood disability services.

Purpose: Wellness approaches are not routine in childhood disability services, despite theoretical and empirical support and an increasing demand for them from health consumers and disability activists. We aimed to investigate how health professionals define or understand wellness and its practice in the context of childhood disability.

Method: A qualitative, interpretive approach was taken.

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.

Retention in the allied health workforce: boomers, generation X, and generation Y.

The recruitment and retention of allied health workers present challenges for organizations in Australia and internationally. Australia, in common with other developed countries, faces the prospect of a rapidly aging population and the high turnover of younger allied health workers (the majority of whom are female) from employing organizations. Emphases on the individual characteristics of Boomer, Generation X, and Generation Y workers may provide a useful starting base for recruitment and retention strategies, but our study shows that these need to be contextualized within broader political, social, and structural factors that take account of gender and the changing needs of workers over their life span.

Reducing the risk of pandemic influenza in Aboriginal communities.

Context: Aboriginal people are particularly vulnerable to pandemic influenza A, H1N109. This was first recognized in the First Nations of Canada. There have been calls for close planning with Aboriginal people to manage these risks.

Toward embedding wellness approaches to health and disability in the policies and practices of allied health providers.

Wellness approaches, based on the social model of disability, are increasingly preferred throughout the health and disability service sectors. Despite this preference, there is a clear misalignment between policy and practice, and many allied health services continue to operate according to medical models of illness. To present an argument toward the incorporation of wellness approaches to health and disability in the policies and practices of allied health providers in Australia, this review is organized into four sections.

'Semen contains vitality and heredity, not germs': seminal discourse in the AIDS era.

Perspectives of public health generally ignore culture-bound sexual health concerns, such as semen loss, and primarily attempt to eradicate sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Like in many other countries, sexual health concerns of men in Bangladesh have also received less attention compared to STIs in the era of AIDS. This paper describes the meanings of non-STI sexual health concerns, particularly semen loss, in the masculinity framework.

Men who have sex with men's sexual relations with women in Bangladesh.

Studies of men who have sex with men in South Asian countries including Bangladesh have tended to focus mainly on measuring male-to-male sexual risk behaviours, with less attention being given to understanding the nature and meaning of their sexual relations with women. This can result in missed opportunities for HIV/AIDS-related intervention. This paper, based on a small scale qualitative study, attempts to develop a cultural model to understand men who have sex with men's sexual relations with women within a gender and masculinity framework.

Safer sex or pleasurable sex? Rethinking condom use in the AIDS era.

Background: Condom use in Bangladesh is low despite nationwide family planning initiatives and HIV interventions.

Methods: Fifty men aged between 18 and 55 years from diverse socio-demographic backgrounds and five key informants were interviewed in a qualitative male sexuality study.

Results: Refusal to use condoms is not only a personal choice, but pertains to relationships.