Measuring Indigenous food security-A case for Indigenous designed tools.

Food insecurity disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples, leading to significant health disparities. Indigenous peoples globally share a deep and interconnected relationship to their lands, waterways and seas that ensures optimum health, and cultural, spiritual, social and emotional wellbeing. However, food security definitions and assessment frameworks in research and policy predominantly stem from capitalist and colonial food system values.

Reflecting on the quality of a methodologically pluralist evaluation of a large-scale Indigenous health research collaboration in Australia.

Background: Indigenous communities worldwide lead calls for all evaluations of research, programmes and policies affecting their communities to reflect the values, priorities and perspectives of the Indigenous peoples and communities involved. Tools, such as the Quality Appraisal Tool (QAT), are available to assess research quality through an Indigenous cultural lens. Good evaluation requires that evaluation efforts be evaluated.

The 2023 report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: sustainability needed in Australia's health care sector.

The MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change in Australia was established in 2017 and produced its first national assessment in 2018 and annual updates in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. It examines five broad domains: health hazards, exposures and impacts; adaptation, planning and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. In this, the sixth report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown, we track progress on an extensive suite of indicators across these five domains, accessing and presenting the latest data and further refining and developing our analyses.

Producing knowledge together: a participatory approach to synthesising research across a large-scale collaboration in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

Background: Despite that stakeholder participation in evidence synthesis could result in more useful outcomes, there are few examples of processes that actively involve them in synthesis work. Techniques are needed that engage diverse stakeholders as equal partners in knowledge co-production. The aims of this paper are to describe an innovative participatory process of synthesising a large body of academic research products and compare the findings of the participatory process against two traditional approaches to synthesis: a rapid review and a structured review.

Safeguarding against Dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities through the Optimisation of Primary Health Care: A Project Protocol.

This protocol describes the methodology and methods for a collaborative project with eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care (PHC) organisations, across three Australian states and one territory, to increase clinical service performance and access to preventive health and health promotion services for preventing, identifying, treating, and managing dementia risk in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Aboriginal participatory action research (APAR) methodology will be the framework for this project, incorporating continuous quality improvement (CQI), informed by research yarning with stakeholder groups, comprising community members and PHC staff and service providers and data collected from the auditing of client health records and the mapping of existing clinical processes and health services at each partnering PHC organisation. The qualitative and quantitative data will be summarised and discussed with stakeholder groups.

Volunteering as prosocial behaviour by medical students following a flooding disaster and impacts on their mental health: A mixed-methods study.

Background: Volunteering is a form of prosocial behaviour that has a been recognised as having positive benefits for medical students. However, there is a lack of research on what influences students to volunteer during and after weather-related disasters. Our study (1) explores factors related to medical students' willingness and readiness to volunteer, and (2) describes mental health impacts of the flood events on students.

Justice, culture, and relationships: Australian Indigenous prescription for planetary health.

Indigenous communities shoulder a disproportionate burden of ill health compounded by climate change. In Australia, the oldest surviving cultures have adapted their ecological knowledge over millennia and across climatic ages. However, European colonization has severely curtailed Indigenous peoples' ability to adjust to climate change.

The relative value of sociocultural and infrastructural adaptations to heat in a very hot climate in northern Australia: a case time series of heat-associated mortality.

Background: Climate change is increasing heat-associated mortality particularly in hotter parts of the world. The Northern Territory is a large and sparsely populated peri-equatorial state in Australia. The Northern Territory has the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia (31%), most of whom live in remote communities of over 65 Aboriginal Nations defined by ancient social, cultural, and linguistic heritage.

Culturally Informed Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Evaluations: A Scoping Review.

Rigorous and effective evaluations inform policy and service delivery and create evidence of program impacts and outcomes for the communities they are designed to support. Genuine engagement of communities is a key feature of effective evaluation, building trust and enhancing relevancy for communities and providing meaningful outcomes and culturally relevant findings. This applies to Indigenous peoples' leadership and perspectives when undertaking evaluations on programs that involve Indigenous communities.

A Research Translation, Implementation and Impact Strategy for the Australian Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) Research Network.

Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) is the Australian national research network established to support improvements to health, the Australian health system, and the environment in response to the unfolding climate crisis. The HEAL Network comprises researchers, community members and organisations, policymakers, practitioners, service providers, and other stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and sectors. HEAL seeks to protect and improve public health, reduce health inequities and inequalities, and strengthen health system sustainability and resilience in the face of environmental and climate change, all with a commitment to building on the strengths, knowledge, wisdom, and experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culture, and communities.

Impacts of Climate Change on Health and Health Services in Northern New South Wales, Australia: A Rapid Review.

Climate change is exposing populations to increasing temperatures and extreme weather events in many parts of Australia. To prepare for climate challenges, there is a growing need for Local Health Districts (LHDs) to identify potential health impacts in their region and strengthen the capacity of the health system to respond accordingly. This rapid review summarised existing evidence and research gaps on the impact of climate change on health and health services in Northern New South Wales (NSW)-a 'hotspot' for climate disaster declarations.

Trusting relationships and learning together: A rapid review of Indigenous reference groups in Australian Indigenous health research.

Objective: This rapid review aims to identify how Indigenous research governance is conceptualised, implemented and documented within Australian Indigenous health research studies.

Methods: We searched for peer-reviewed English-language articles in two databases and for web-based grey literature published from database inception to November 2021. Reference lists were searched to identify additional articles.

VOICE-Validating Outcomes by Including Consumer Experience: A Study Protocol to Develop a Patient Reported Experience Measure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Accessing Primary Health Care.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' (hereafter respectfully referred to as Indigenous Australians) experiences of health care are shaped by historical, social and cultural factors, with cultural security critical to effective care provision and engagement between services and community. Positive patient experiences are associated with better health outcomes. Consequently, it is an accreditation requirement that primary health care (PHC) services must formally gather and respond to patient feedback.

Correction: Standen et al. Aboriginal Population and Climate Change in Australia: Implications for Health and Adaptation Planning. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 7502.

In the original publication [...

Exposure to risk and experiences of river flooding for people with disability and carers in rural Australia: a cross-sectional survey.

Objectives: In this paper, we explore the exposure to risk and experiences of people with disability and carers during a flooding event and the subsequent mental health impacts.

Design: A cross-sectional survey between September and November 2017. Binary logistic regression models were used to investigate associations between the mental health of people with disability and carers and their exposure to the flood.

Aboriginal Population and Climate Change in Australia: Implications for Health and Adaptation Planning.

The health impacts of climate are widely recognised, and extensive modelling is available on predicted changes to climate globally. The impact of these changes may affect populations differently depending on a range of factors, including geography, socioeconomics and culture. This study reviewed current evidence on the health risks of climate change for Australian Aboriginal populations and linked Aboriginal demographic data to historical and projected climate data to describe the distribution of climate-related exposures in Aboriginal compared to non-Aboriginal populations in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients' cancer care pathways in Queensland: Insights from health professionals.

Objective: To identify points for improvements within the health system where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer patients may experience a lack of continuity in their cancer care. The optimal care pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer (OCP) framework was utilised as a tool in this work.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with health professionals at the primary health care (PHC) and hospital setting.

Utility of the AHRQ Learning Collaboratives Taxonomy for Analyzing Innovations from an Australian Collaborative.

Background: Despite the proliferation of learning collaborations such as innovation platforms, the factors contributing to their success or failure are rarely documented. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality learning collaboratives taxonomy provides a framework for understanding how such collaborations work in different settings according to four primary elements: innovation, communication, time, and social systems. This study applied the taxonomy to assess an innovation platform and the utility of applying the taxonomy.

Collaboration and knowledge generation in an 18-year quality improvement research programme in Australian Indigenous primary healthcare: a coauthorship network analysis.

Objectives: Though multidisciplinary research networks support the practice and effectiveness of continuous quality improvement (CQI) programmes, their characteristics and development are poorly understood. In this study, we examine publication outputs from a research network in Australian Indigenous primary healthcare (PHC) to assess to what extent the research network changed over time.

Setting: Australian CQI research network in Indigenous PHC from 2002 to 2019.

Investigating inequities in cardiovascular care and outcomes for Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: protocol for a hospital-based retrospective cohort data linkage project.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents a significant burden of disease for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, a population that continues to experience a lower life expectancy than other Australians. The aim of the Better Cardiac Care Data Linkage project is to describe patient care pathways and to identify disparities in care and health outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Queensland residents diagnosed with CVD in the state of Queensland.

Methods: This is a population-based retrospective cohort study using linked regional, state and national health and administrative data collections to describe disparities in CVD healthcare in primary and secondary prevention settings and during hospitalisation.